We are in Idaho and Caleb has spent a week with his great grandparents (Stoddard). He has learned to say "knock, knock" while tapping the door. He can give a "high five" and he is starting to run-walk when he gets excited...so I had better put my running shoes on because with his powerful little legs, I'm sure he'll really be moving. He got a chance to play with some second cousins on the Stoddard side and had a blast! It was great to see Cherie/Dave and Stephanie! Cannon is on a fire in Redding, CA and is more bored than he expected to be, but he is enjoying himself and making good money, so he'll deal with the boredom! We hope you are having a great week!
With our mac on the fritz, I can't email or blog or download pics regularly(I'm using Cannon's work laptop at the moment). So I'll give a recap of our week, if any of you are interested. It has been overcast all week. Fortunately, a new wild flower blooms each day. For instance, 2 days ago, we noticed wild daisies all over the neighborhoods and town. Honeysuckle, lilac and other blossom trees are in full bloom too. The rich greens that carpet the lawns, trees and mountains make up for the gray days. I checked out the one and only mall a few days ago. It is not a bright, airy mall like the ones in Phoenix. But it has decent shopping. I've been enjoying my daily jogging adventures--no moose sightings this week. We made s'mores one night in the backyard in our new fire pit. Caleb was more interested in the grahams than the chocolate or marshmellows. We rented "National Treasure II" and we are spending a lot of time in the backyard. Cannon has been working on getting rain gutters up and has done a better than professional job. Caleb has figured out how to open the DVD player, open the dishwasher, open the french doors. He loves reading and being read to. He loves to climb up on us and sit on our heads and babble. He can say "night, night", "hi", "bye", "mom", "dad" and he can sign "more". If you catch him opening the dishwasher and you say "No, no!!" firmly, he will crinkle his nose at you and say "na, na, na!!" loudly. And he absolutely loves playing peek-a-boo! He's mister independent a lot of the time. He's cute as a button. We hope you all are having a good summer!
Our mac crashed this week and life as we know it almost ceased...but somehow we've improvised, adapted and overcome (IAO). We don't know how long we'll be IAO'ing it. But if Cannon doesn't fix this problem fast, my blogging withdrawl will get the best of me...and that wouldn't be pretty.
Yesterday, I went for a run and I got to thinking about how all of my posts on here are happy, happy, happy! Sickenly sweet, perhaps. I'll admit, there are times when I don't want to look at other people's blogs because they are so stinkin' happy...their lives seem so perfect...no rough edges. And while I don't want to be depressing with my posts, I've decided to keep it real. Actually, I think that the real life stuff is more humorous, because we can relate to it. Most days are not very exciting, but they are enjoyable. Today, at church, Caleb was a bundle of fireworks. We aren't sure why we attend church right now because he isn't yet 18 months and therefore, too young for nursery. One of us usually ends up chasing him up and down the halls and it's usually Cannon. So today he left the meeting to let Caleb get the wiggles out. After sitting alone for quite some time I decided to check on them. I found them out in the car, having gotten into a key lime pie (which was placed in the car seat), which they were eating with a ladel (yes, a soup ladel, because there were no other utensils) and Cannon had Caleb on his lap, in the driver's seat...and Caleb was having a ball, trying to steer and adjust the mirror and turn on the radio. Surprisingly, there wasn't a huge mess. Oh, and I went for a run (which was actually jogging) because I'm trying to lose weight. And since I'm keeping it real, I will confess that I was the one eating key lime pie after church.
P.S. We had the key lime pie in the car because Cannon left it in the car after we got home from the grocery store, and in Alaska, you can leave a pie in the car and it will stay refrigerated.
Notice the lawn--"It looks like the map of the world!" exclaimed Cannon. He put fertilizer on the grass with a paper cup, rather than one of those scatter tools and so we have really green patches and then not-so-much green patches. Ha, ha, ha! And I love this lawnmower because it's powered with sweat rather than gas.
I like to call Caleb "Buster" and I'm not sure why...it just fits him. Today he was having such a great time exploring the backyard. He slid face-first down those rocks that you can see to his left in the pic below. He loved it. And he was attacking the dandelions, trying to pull their yellow heads off, without much success. He pushed his car around and around and around the deck. He walked all over the whole backyard, up and down hills, crouching low to look at the grass and dirt. Oddly enough, he never wanted to taste any of it.
He's got the perfect blend of Stoddard and Mix genes...nice profile, Buster!
We are so excited because Dianne and Trent found our old camera. I've posted some old pics and a new video (this morning). Actually, for the record, cousin Allison's husband, Jay, found the camera. Thanks Jay!
C & C took a much needed nap...love this picture.
We took the ferry to Seattle and had some good eats at the classic Ivars Restaurant.
Caleb had their purple potatoes...he wasn't sure what to think of the first bite. They were very, very good. He ended up eating quite a few spoonfuls.
Just moments after getting my braces off. Thanks a million Trent!!
This is from this morning's breakfast...Caleb loves feeding himself. After a few hit and misses, he just decided to bag the whole proper etiquette thing. And yes, I did help him eat a few more bites after he was done dumping the bowl onto himself.
Cannon took some pics of Caleb in our backyard tonight. One of these days we need to build a treehouse, hang a tire swing, secure a zip line and a string a catwalk up in those trees. What good is a backyard without a zip line?
Caleb likes to kill the "ballerina flowers". The pods make a popping sound when he squishes them in his hand and it is tough to prevent dancer fatalities...he's quick!
Cannon showed Caleb the "Mama had a baby and it's head popped off!" trick with the dandelions...I was giving him a re-cap.
| You Are a Carrot Cake Cupcake |
 You are drawn to a cross section of people. You friends play different roles in your life. You are like a cupcake because you are are deceptively simple. There's actually a lot to you! There are many ingredients in your life, and you only want them in proper amounts. Being you is a delicate art. |
