Our Dude the Reader

Nanna was in town last week for an education conference and we were lucky enough to spend some snipits of time with her...swimming in the hotel pool, cheering on Cara's volleyball team, puzzle making and reading books (or rather, dude reading to Nanna as seen below). He has his "Going to Bed" book memorized...in dude language that is. Note, at the last page he finds a string on the page and needs to immediately dispose of it. Can't have any sort of mess in his presence. We miss you Nanna!

Fwiends

Dude loves life. And why wouldn't he? Hes got the raddest friends in town. He got some quality time with his girls this weekend, romping around in the leaves that are so quickly descending to our lawn. Then he got some quality wrestle time with Bradster and Cara and Wes. As we got into the car that night he said, "Payton, Bwady's house....SO FUN!" Last night he was given the opportunity to charm baby Chloe and Caroline by jumping up and down in a sort of dirty dancing move and saying "BOO!" over and over. He had the 8 month old little cuties in stitches. To which he says, "Wylan so funny." Friends. They're the best.

Dude's Poo Pot

I wouldn't have thought to refer to my little man's big boy pottie as a "poo pot" .....until I picked up this must have work of children's literature. You see, Sally Sue needed to poo, but a local cow stole her red poo pot. His fellow farm pals find this invention to be quite innovative for farm hygiene. But Sally really needs to poo and finally, at the conclusion of this quirky work of fiction, Sally Sue finds her poo pot and all is well with the world of bodily functions.


Just like Sally Sue, Dude has a red poo pot. He has mastered it....in terms of using it for all his stuffed animals to poo on. And for using it as a stool for all his bath toys. And for sitting on, talking about pooping. Then, when the actual act is about to occur, he runs to his room and gets a diaper, screeching at us to put it on NOW. Then, after he's in the comfort of his mickey mouse huggies, he acts rather proud of himself and talks about pooping on the potty. Note, dude does not differentiate between pee and poo. It's all poo to him. We're not quite there. He does think flushing is quite nifty though, so there's always that.

poo pot use #1

poo pot use #2

poo pot use (or lack of use) #3

*I promise to avoid the word "poo" for all remaining September posts. Can't make any promises for October.

No Go for a Dragon Halloween

When a free halloween dragon costume was offered up from a neighbor friend, I grabbed it. Dude likes dragons, it was warm and again, free. Since I can't thread a needle, an innovative costume will never exist in dude's future. This was just the ticket. Until we put it on. Enjoy. I know I did:)

Lunch Dialogue

Today's lunch dialogue went a little something like this....

"Dude, come up for lunch. Want some Dora soup?"

"Yes, okay! I'm cooooming Mommy! Sit in new chair now!" (his chair is like a year old, but is still referred to as his "new chair.")

"Here's some ham, pea pods and dora soup. Take some bites please."

"Wylan eatin tea pots (pea pods)! Mmmm...good tea pots. Soup too hot (pulls his head to the side and refuses to even look at the soup.) "Good ham."

"Want to try a pickle dude?"

"No way." Pause... "Okay....Mmmmm. Good tickle!"

"Want another one?"

"Yes, okay." 5 minutes later. Still holding the tickle. And still chewing a tea pot from 6 minutes prior. Finally finishes the tea pot and says, "Tea pot go away! Eatin tickle now."

"Want some soup now?"

"No way. Too hot." Agrees to take one bite and pulls a puckered face like I just fed him anchovies. I try it. It was nasty. 25% less sodium equates to 50% less taste. Entire can of soup goes down the drain.

"Just tooting Mommy. No poopies now. All done Mommy. Come on! Go play toys now Mommy! Come on!"

2 pieces of ham, one bite of soup, 2 pickles, 3 pea pods and milk. Oh, and one M&M for good measure. The diet of our 2 year old. The end.

Not so Vegasy Vegas Vaca

The "Vegas Strip" isn't my cup of tea. The chaos, sweaty bodies, an overflow of exposed cleavage and mullets galore, baking sun, smoke...you get the idea. But when Tim and I came across an auction package at a recent work event for The Ritz at Lake Las Vegas, we bit. Not expecting to win. Well, we won. An agreement had been made with our neighbors to take each other's kiddos for a weekend get away, so we used this past weekend and stole away to Vegas...but not really Vegas.

Lake Las Vegas is 20 miles off the strip and is a little taste of heaven. The hotel was gorgeous and the package came with a 1,000 square foot suite. It had 2 bathrooms! And views of the lake and mountains. And big white fluffy pillows. And mints on your pillow at night. We figured we might never treat ourselves to this decadence again, so we inhaled every precious moment of doing absolutely nothing for 2 days. Well, we did go swimming, slept a lot, ate and drank a plenty, listened to live jazz, watched a NBA wedding in the gardens and did a bit of gambling. But with no agenda, life was sweet. Other than missing our flight on the way home and being stuck listening to hung over frat boys and countless people sleeping with their sunglasses on to block the lights in the Vegas airport, the weekend was perfection.

My winning bet on the Notre Dame, MSU game. $17 baby!

The private "lagoon" area. The water was creepy and filled with fish, so we stuck to the pool.

We had a lovely dinner with Dad and Diane on Friday night.

The views at night. Live jazz played in the background.

Oh and dude had the time of his life too. 2 days with his girlfriends and a yellow lab. I don't think he even noticed that we had left. Thanks to Maria and Tim for a fabulous weekend! We can't wait to take the girls and let you do the same:)

Dude and a Rainbow

There was a massive rainbow that blessed the end of our street the other night. Dude thought it was pure awesomeness and told us every color he saw. And he wanted his white bear to see it too, so here are some shots from our precious moments with the rainbow.

Oh Cottonwood Tree.....

how lovely are your branches....until they plummet to the ground, land on some unsuspecting guest's head and cause brain damage and a pending law suit. Thus why we are in tears this afternoon after the second "tree man" as dude calls them, confirmed that our source of shade and greenery in the backyard needs to come down. All the way down. And it's not free. Not even close to being free. Anyone want to join us on a random Saturday to climb the beast and start hacking away? If only we could.

This is the saddest "over $1000" that we have ever spent. But given the fact that the trunk of our tree friend is hallow 5 feet up and 3 feet across, we really can't let it exist in the hopes that it'll stay upright much longer. Maybe we should have taken a clue when a five foot branch fell on my dad's head this summer? Sorry about that Dad. It won't happen again.

It holds our tree swings, provides shade for the sand box and dude's room...so very sad.

Hallow. Completely hallow. They weren't cool with my suggestion of filling it with concrete.

Alabama Numero Dos

2nd annual Orange Beach trip with Grandma V and "Grandma Mike" (Grandpa Marc).....

Dinner at Tacky Jacks...dude loved saying that over and over and over.

That's Tim's head that's chopped off. Dude LOVED his dad's gymnastic aquatic abilities.

Swimming in the ocean side pool with Grandma. He got the best of both swimming worlds but would run past the pool to get to the "big waves."

Some of us found it difficult to get out of the "big waves."

Dude got a real kick out fishing...until he felt a tug, then he'd just throw the pole.

Mom and Marc spoiled us ROTTEN with home made sea food delicacies. This meal was a bed of greens, topped with crab cakes and mango chutney and fried green tomatoes with home made tarter sauce. YUM!!!!!!!!!!!

Mommy got into the whole fishing sport too. I reeled in my fair share of croakers (they croak like bull frogs when you hold them). Not that I held them.

When no one was willing to brave the waves with dude, he opted for building (smashing) sand castles with Grandma.

Our little fam taking a sunset stroll down the beach.

Grandma Mike thought he'd get away with not wearing his bathing suit. Yeah, dude made sure he regretted that decision.

Thanks for another memorable trip Mom and Marc! We had a great time and can't wait to do it all over again.

Faces of Hunger

The Denver Mag, FOX 31, Fat Tail & Food Bank team.

I kinda like photography. Dude can definitely attest to that. In fact, he says "cheeeeese" and squints his eyes the second the big black camera comes out. A few months back I took on a "me appropriate" project for my work that turned out to be pretty cool.

We tag teamed with Denver Magazine and FOX 31 in hosting a Faces of Hunger photography contest for local Denverites. Photographers submitted photos and stories of people struggling with hunger and a panel of judges picked winners. Last week they were all displayed at Fat Tail gallery downtown Denver for the public to view. We posted the stories that correlated with the photos next to each one so people could get a feel for how close to home the issue of hunger truly is. 1 out of 8 Coloradoans don't know where their next meal will come from and only 12% of those people are homeless. The folks we're seeing come through pantries these days have been laid off and have run out of savings...never did they think they'd find themselves in line for a food box. Life happens. I guess you just pray that it doesn't happen to you.