Random Happenings, 4th of July, and the dreaded croup!

First the Random Happenings.  Matt continues to work on using the potty.  Sometimes it happens, sometimes not, but he's working on it. I'm hoping we can get him trained before the arrival of Baby Sister, so that Jamie and I only have to deal with washing diapers for 1!

He has now graduated to a big boy room, no more crib!  

It took a little adjusting, but he's now loving it.

Matt's much faster than he used to be and the cats no longer stand much of a chance.  

Chicken is pretty tolerant with him though, and he gets daily cuddle time.

Jamie thought she heard a mouse in the house the other day, so Matt and I went mouse hunting.  Didn't get any though.

What a clown...

At the urging of our new neighbors we decided to head down to the new beach property over the 4th.  They claimed the fireworks show would be fantastic, and they were right!  Most of the community is on the hill above the beach, so they all come down to the community center and boat launch for the 4th.  The show went on for about 4 hours.

The Clampets have arrived!

Little yellow finches were everywhere for some reason

Headed to the beach with Auntie and Grandma

Matt, prepared for the sun and noise

Auntie bought him a bug catcher vacuum.  He caught a lot of stuff, but no bugs.  This was catching farts.

And firework confetti

Dump truck in the pool?

 Before he actually passed out for his nap, we all heard from inside the camper "Monkey Bars!" at which point his end of the camper collapsed. Apparently it's not designed to have 2 year olds hanging from it.

Too much fun.  

Getting Ready....

The neighbors setting up for the show.

These guys showed up with a literal boat load of fireworks.

He had it rigged to launch with a garage door remote...

Getting ready to watch the show!

Fireworks!

The calm after the 4th.

When Matt woke up on the 5th he wasn't feeling well.  We though he was tired and had too much junk food, but turns out he's got the croup.  He's lost his voice now and is so sad to listen to, but he tries.

Poor Monkey

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

Jake

Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Day weekend this year we went to the Cabin in Cle Elum for a few days.  Matt had a ball, he loves it when he gets an overload of attention from  my parents, Auntie, Uncle and even Poppy.

It was a pretty lazy weekend, so no big adventures, but we got out to the park in Cle Elum for a while to burn off some of that 2year old energy. I love this park because it's still got all the old school stuff from when I was a kid that has now been deemed "unsafe" by most playgrounds.

Playing with some other kids on the old metal Merry-go-round.

Swinging on the "kiddy swing" that just had a strap wrapped in electrical tape to keep kids from falling out.

Going for a horse ride.

Awesome polished metal slide so you can real get some speed up.  He actually went off the end once.

Playing a little soccer with Uncle.

 Like any 2 year old, Matt loves to splash in the tub.  Those of us that have to repair water damage are usually against this, and so an often nightly battle occurs.  The solution?  Tub Time Cabin Style.

Going for a swim

Check out those rubber duckies!

It wasn't as warm as a regular tub though, so Auntie had to warm him up a little.

Playing with Poppy and Grandma after waking up waaayyy too early.

We went down to the lake to do a little "fishing"  He's a few years from getting trusted with a hook though.

Getting ready to go for a little quad ride!

Random stuff

Nothing too exciting from the last couple of weeks, mostly just doing what a 2 year old does.

 Working in the garage.  Look at that concentration.

 We went and got some pizza on one of our few nice weekend days lately.

 Then we went and got some ice cream for the beach.

Playing with Dad's SCUBA gear.

Cousin Isaac came to visit and gave Matt a music lesson.  Matt's always excited to see cousin Isaac.

I don't think Drew or I had seen each other in months, so it was great that we managed to hook up with the Hiedergott crew last weekend for some pizza and beach time.  I think all the boys had a fun.

 Ben's still got him by a hair, but not much more.

 Having a good time at the playground.

Matt's in trouble now!

Meet ......Little Sister.  Poor Matt has no idea what he's in for

Arrival date scheduled for Sept. 28, 2011.

We've been calling her Sprout.  No name yet.

Easter Egg Hunting!

Matt had a terrific easter, with 2 easter egg hunts, and more sugar than one two year old should ever consume in a single day.

Getting ready for the big day by watching dive videos and having some "coffee".

Lambie.  Lambie now goes everywhere, and has joined the zoo that collects in his crib every night.

New bunny, ears, and a banana!

Dying easter eggs! Luckily the weather was nice enough to do it outside, so permanent staining of the carpet was avoided.

The hunt!

Got another one!

How many marshmallow Peeps can Matt get in his mouth at once?

The booty!

Grandma helping with the 2nd hunt.

"What's in there!?!"

More Peeps!

One of the cool things about having a two year old in the house.  You find random stuff like this around.  I'm sure there's a story, I just don't know what it is.

Tiger in the booster.

Skinny monkey!

This has become one of his favorite things, back rides.

Self portrait.

Matt got to spend 3 whole days at Grandma and GranDan's house while Jaime and I got away for the weekend.  These are some of the pictures I got back on the camera.

Working in the yard.  No shoes, no pants, no diaper.  ?????

Drilling holes in the living room.  At least he's got on pants.

Water balloon tossing.  Bombs away!

Inside Poppy's house.

More to come after dinner tonight...

Jake