Yeah, yeah I know....

Blame Jamie the slave driver, she's had me out in the yard building fences instead of writing blog posts!  I have a lot to cover, and my memory is not so good, so you're all just going to have to follow along with my "stream of consciousness" blog post.

Hard to believe it's been a month since Easter already.  Matt continues to improve his verbal skills at an astonishing rate.  As further evidence of Jamie's slave driving, the other day Matt woke up, and Jamie told him I was outside.  Very matter-of-fact he simply said "Diggin".

He is also getting to be quite the helper.  He will routinely pick stuff up off the ground and take it over to the the trash stating "Garbah!".   The other day I had him in the garage with me while I was working and he started picking stuff off the floor "Dirty.  Garbah."  I blame Jamie.  He does do a good job of helping the yard, with "Weedin'".

Helping with putting on baby locks to keep him out of some drawers.  He has to have his own tool all the time.

Still a good eater, loving the "Blues"  (bluberries)

We have also found some time for fun.  We managed to get the boat out, Matt did a good job of driving, when he wasn't spacing out from the motor vibration and the waves.

This is safer than it looks, and he LOVES Wagon rides.

Wagon from Virnig Family on Vimeo.

He seems to watch everything we do.  The other day he picked up my keys, and was trying to get in the car.  I'm pretty sure he was after his wagon.

We spent some time with all the grandparents, Matt has gotten to go see the Johnson's puppies a few times.  Jamie is bad about taking the camera however, but we do have one of Matt lounging with GranDan.

GranDan also taught him the "Get 'em" game with poppy.  Not sure who 'em is but they had a lot of fun.

Get 'em from Virnig Family on Vimeo.

Thanks to Auntie Tina for the cool summertime hats!

Auntie got this for him, the monkey tail is a leash.

He's incredibly mobile, and with as tall as he is, very little is safe.  Mommy left her phone a little to close to the edge of the table.

Phone from Virnig Family on Vimeo.

He made it down the stairs and was playing with the catdoor.  I hear from the kitchen "Help!"

He has gotten really good at opening doors.

Doors from Virnig Family on Vimeo.

On Mothers day Matt got a haircut after breakfast, it was getting rather long and shaggy.
Special note: When cutting the babies hair after french toast breakfast, it's a good idea to wipe them up first.  Check out the beard.

After haircut and nap we made the rounds to the grandparents, first a quick visit to the Johnson's to visit and see puppies, then off to the Cougar Mountain zoo to see the Virnig clan.

Matt got to throw some apples to the reindeer, but his throw wasn't quite powereful enough to get all the way to the pen.

Luckily, reindeer are resourceful.

Who didn't see this coming?

They had some regular deer that you could get closer to.  Matt had a GREAT time feeding them apples.

After that we headed to the park, where auntie 'lecia broke out the baby quad.  He figured this thing out in about 3 seconds, and was OFF!

Quad Ride from Virnig Family on Vimeo.

This was my chair.  When I got up to flip the chicken on the grill.  I hear "Daddy's!".  Sneaky little booger stole my chair.

Just a matter of months before he's buying toys online.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mothers day!

Jake

Easter!

Well, it's Easter weekend.  We started it off Friday by going to the beach and looking for baby crabs again.  No pictures, I mainly mention it because all of the pictures highlight the barnacle tattoo on Matt's forehead.  He and I took a spill in the rocks at the beach.  Don't carry the baby at the beach wearing crocks.  It's a recipe for disaster.

Saturday we played it mellow.  Donuts for breakfast and Matt got his very own donut. I think he liked it.

Donut from Virnig Family on Vimeo.

Then we went to Grandma and GranDan's for Easter dinner.  Auntie arranged an Easter egg hunt that Matt had a blast with.  She put a half of a gummi bear in each one.  Matt has learned to say "Gummi!" very well.

Sunday we had grapefruit for breakfast.  It was hard to tell his thoughts on it.

After Lunch we gave Matt his Easter basket.  Jamie bought the ears, I take no blame.

We also got him some new house shoes.  Check the style!

Giving them a test run!

After nap time we went to the park with Grandma and Grandpa Johnson and Aunt Ann.  Matt had a great time playing on the swings, with the animals, and in the woods.  The got him a great ball, some chalk and crayons, and a truck!

It  was all lots of fun and very exciting.  He passed out in my chest in the ErgoBaby  when we got home.  When he woke up we finished our Easter with some delicious mexican food.

Poor Matt at the end of the meal had too do some business.  Apparently we fed him too much cheese or something this weekend, 'cause after a few seconds of making "that face" he looks at us and just says "help?"  Not much you can do for them at that point though.  He ate plenty of beans at dinner.  I'm thinking it won't be a problem tomorrow.

Hope everyone had a good Easter!

Jake

Catching up part II

Ok, life's been pretty crazy, but it's time to catch up again.

We've been doing trips to the beach a lot lately, sometime in good weather, sometimes in bad.  Matt has an absolute blast throwing rocks and helping Jamie turn over rocks to look for sand crabs.

Since he likes getting into the water a little, we bough him some water socks.  That lasted until his toes hit and he just shouted "COLD!" and he froze up.   Instead he now has some rockin' boots for the beach.  These worked much better at preventing soaked cold feet.  We just have to wait until he grows into them now.

Elicia and Ryan joined us for lunch and some time at the park a few weekends back.  Matt still loves the swing.

Grandpa and Grandma Johnson came over with their big truck and let Matt "Drive".  Nobody told me about this so I was kind of surprised when I took him to the store and the whole way all I heard from the back seat was an urgent " Drive, drive, drive, drive!"  so when we got home I put him in the front seat and he went nuts playing with the steering wheel and any buttons he could reach.  15 years from now is going to be a scary time on the road.

One day when it was getting sunny, we dug out a baseball cap for him to wear ( Thanks Craigs!)  He absolutely loves it, and sometimes likes to wear it around the house.

We also got out his booster seat and let him sit at the table after his done with the majority of his food.  He's so proud of himself sitting at the table like a big person, it cracks me up.

He's also developed a fondness for the fat cat.  (At least somebody has) He follows him around "Chicken, hold!"  and we let him sit down and hold the cat.  It never lasts long though.

Matt was in need of another haircut.  The place with the airplanes and cars was really cool, but at $25, it was a one time deal.  Time to break out the clippers.

Looking long over those ears buddy.

Much better!

This is the top of his drum.  Don't ask me to explain what he's doing.

Lastly some videos.  We gave him angel hair spaghetti the other day.  It was a big hit, but it's hard to eat with little fingers.

Spaghetti from Virnig Family on Vimeo.

The other night I was cleaning some stuff up in the kitchen and Matt was being a treat, so to distract him, we played baby bull fighting.

Baby Bull Fight from Virnig Family on Vimeo.

Happy Easter everybody!