Happy birthday, Garrett!

Wow, Garrett is one year old already! We had a birthday party Sunday night with some friends and family. It was a nice time, and Garrett had no problem being the star of the show. Here's a slew of pictures for those that can't be here in person...

"Happy birthday, dear Garrett..."

I think he shoved the whole cake in his mouth!

Build-a-Bear from Grandma Boni

While I'm posting, may I just brag at all Garrett's new abilities... he can say and sign more than I can remember to list. Just today, he did 3 or 4 more signs and said "tee" for tree. He's quite the explorer climbing on everything. He's such a delight.

Summer Fun

A slew of summer fun pics...

Garrett went to Rachel's day care to play in the water.
(Braiden wasn't enjoying it!)

Here's an update to my veggie garden. We've been enjoying fresh green beans and chives, and the cucumber and squash is starting to go nuts- probably twice as big as when this picture was taken! There are little baby veggies all over the place.

Love the doggie!

July 4th:

Meme shares her brownie.

Grandpa tickles!

Dinner at the lake

Cousins' kids! (Elizabeth, Gabe, Garrett, & Maddy)

Taking a tour of the lake in the pontoon boat.

Sparklers! Mike and Blake set off a bunch of fireworks, and Garrett wasn't scared at all! He just watched all the action, both on the dock and in the sky.

Lake Springfield Beach:

June

June is flying by! Here's what's been going on with us, in no particular order...

Happy Father's Day! This is Garrett sleeping on Daddy's shoulder after church Sunday. Sunday evening, we had Dan & Amy over for dinner. We had a great time!

Garrett is 11 months old! He is starting to say Yeah and no no. He signs food/eat. He's pretty quick at walking around, quite independent.

Here's what the back yard is looking like. The patio is finished!

Yes, this is a photo of GRASS growing in our back yard. It's pretty exciting around here.

Here's Sabastian on his new bed that I made him.

This is just plain cute. :-)

We had a cookout for the Deaf church/community Thursday. It was hot and sticky, but great! We had several visitors, 2 of which were first timers. We just started meeting on Sundays again. It was nice to be back! (We had been meeting on Fridays due to lack of classroom space.)

Back yard renovations

Well, my first official Mother's Day was spent working in the back yard with my parents and husband! Thanks for everyone's hard work! Over the course of a few weeks, we have transformed what was once just dirt and weeds (and some dog surprises) into a new patio, garden, and play place for Garrett! There's lots more work to be done, but things are getting better and better. I also started growing my very first vegetable garden! They are called pyramid gardens, and you're supposed to be able to plant 3 times the plants as regular rows. So far, so good- well, except for the animal who has been eating the seeds and stealing the seedlings!! I've got some chicken wire to put up before I replant any seeds. Humph. Here's some pictures!

Blake's grandparents and cousin & her family were here last weekend. It was a very nice visit. We spent some time outside enjoying the weather. One of the days we invited everybody over to grill for dinner.
Garrett's 10 months old! Recently, he has learned how to "dance," and is now signing about 5 words (milk, more, diaper, bye bye, please...). He can take about 10-15 steps on his own now and continues to love any kind of food we put before him! :-) He weighs 18 lbs 13 oz and is 28.75" tall as of this morning's dr. visit.

9 months old

Garrett had a rough start to being 9 months old. Last Sunday night (the 19th) we went to the E.R. as Garrett had a 103.7 temp. The hospital reading was 105! Poor baby had all kinds of tests and it was decided he probably had an ear infection. I think we left a little after 2 AM. *yawn* Thank the Lord, he is doing so much better now!! He is also standing better and better, can push a walker across the room, and is taking 1 step on his own. He also is signing "more" and clapping. Acutally, they are the same thing- you need context to know the difference, ha ha. As always, here's some pics...

Showing off his Bears outfit from Uncle Shawn & Aunt Lisa

Standing and taking 1 step!
(and yes we put an Illini jersey under the Bears outfit, ha ha)

"First Kiss" - Julie's girl Willow gets a kiss.
(Garrett loves to give kisses!)

9 months old!

and here's a video of Garrett laughing his head off. sorry the lighting is terrible!

More diapers

For those interested, I finished a bunch more diapers yesterday. I think he's up to 10 or 11, so we are saving money right and left now. :-) (Except that I've spent about $50, but that's one month's supply of disposables!) Here's a few pics.

I tried using home printed iron on transfers in 3 of these- chili peppers, "G" and "B", and "I love you" hands that say "I love Mommy" and "I love Daddy" below. :-)

These are called pockets- you stuff them and take it out before washing so they dry MUCH faster. The stack of inserts is made of microfiber towels folded in thirds, with a layer of terry cloth (dish towel) in between and fleece on top.

Anniversary, Birthday, & 8 months old

Boni and Casey came down for a short visit March 16-17. We went to the zoo with Rachel and her day care kids on Monday. It was small, but fun. Very good to see them.

Aunt Casey sneaks Garrett Cheetos!

Then, on the 17th (Our anniversary), after breakfast with everyone at Charlie Parkers, we headed off to St. Louis for a few days. First, we went to the St. Louis Zoo. It was gorgeous weather! We all had a great time.

See how blond Garrett is in the sunlight? You can actually see his hair in this pic- it keeps getting longer, thicker, and lighter. (above)

There was also some fun pool time at the Baymont Inn...


The next day, we went to the City Museum. It was so neat! It has modern art all over the place that you can see, touch, and even climb around in/on. The outdoor portion was open, thanks to the nice weather. There were all kinds of pathways, stairs, slides- it's hard to explain, just see the pics below! Also, there was a really cool pipe organ that you could get close enough to touch a couple of the wooden note things. It played automatically and had percussion, pipes, wood, and more. It was my favorite part of the museum! I couldn't get a good picture of it though- you'll have to go see it for yourself. ;-)

Blake and Garrett in the plane (shown below)

Garrett is 8 months old! Here's his monthly rocking chair photo. He is now crawling up a storm, and pulling himself up all the time.
Here's one of my latest creations- a chili pepper diaper. I've also made a couple with sign language on the tabs. One with "G" and "B", and one with "I love you" hands. So cute! I think he is up to 5 or 6 nice, fitted waterproof cloth diapers. I just keep picking away at it. I have a bunch more cut and ready to go when I have time and when the sewing machine is cooperating. 0:-)