Things He Did In August

He was playing downstairs (which is usually off limits), but this day Carrie was down there so it was okay. Pretty soon I hear her say, "Go upstairs and show mommy." So Deacon comes upstairs and I say, "What happened?!" and he say, "Eyebrows, mom. Eyebrows."

Even with her down there watching, he is still too fast to keep track of!


Feeding the horses

Fun at Peeples Valley

Playing with the Big Brother activity kit from Grandma Jo

The UPS man dropped off a box and I brought it into the kitchen and set it on the counter. Deacon yells, "Package!" and then jumps of his stool and runs away. I hear him digging in his toy box and a minute late he comes back with this plastic "tool" and starts trying to cut the package open. Where does he come up with this stuff?!Ü

We were using this wedding veil for Adelaide's photo shoot and Deacon started playing with it and say, "Ooooo....pretty."

He loves Addy's bumbo and calls it a potty chair (yikes!!!)

At the jump house for Treyton's birthday party.

He discovered these magnets in the junk drawer one day and played with them for about 3 hours straight until I said it was time to go to bed. It must have been the first thing he thought of the next morning, because instead of waking me up saying he's hungry he "snuck" into the kitchen and stared playing with them at 6:30am. I was laying awake in bed and heard him get up quietly and go in the kitchen, so I followed him with the camera. Too bad it doesn't work every morning!

Fun in the sprinklers after feeding the horses.

Love this shot

We bought this kite at the dollar store (it was actually a two-pack of kites for $1.00) and Deacon loved it. Even though there was no wind, I showed him if he ran really fast it would come up off the ground.

"Actibities" (how Deacon pronounces it) Ü

Most of the ideas I get from the blog "No Time For Flashcards." I get a few from the blog "Chasing Cheerios." And yes, I even make up a few myself Ü

This one is perfect for the heat. We placed various items found in the junk drawer in a bowl of water and froze it. Then we go outside and play with it as it melts until we get our "treasures" out. The original activity said to use warm water to melt it, but that's just not needed here in Phoenix!

A battery, a rubber band, an action figure, a pen, a nickel, anything we can find!

Deacon loves it when I trace his hand and he loves to paint, so making this sun was a double bonus. An then he just wanted to step on it and crack the plate (see pic above).

Another tracing hand activity

The NT4F blog does a letter of the week each week. She did "G" for 'Grass' one week and put fake grass on it. Callie had just mowed the lawn, so we decided to use real grass clippings to glue on our big letter "G"---much messier I might add Ü. He loves using "blue" (glue).

One of the items we found in the junk drawer when we did the ice activity, was a miniature guitar. So we decided to make a big one for him out of a diaper box. Callie gave us the great idea to put some rubber bands on it to twang.

He's not going goth (above), that's just some paint on his lips ☺

On Curious George they visited a friend who had lots of bunny rabbits and George accidentally let them out of their cage, so we made a bunny rabbit with cotton balls.

Deacon discovered a whole set of children's books that Grandma Jo had in her closet. He loved the Lightning McQueen book. We read it every night for about 2 weeks. Then I discovered that Grandma had the movie on DVD! Deacon loved watching it and seeing the story line up with what we've read. So this day we decided to make a checkered flag (the necklace he's wearing has nothing do to with the activity ☺). I didn't have any black construction paper, so Deacon chose blue. I cut them up and drew a grid and marked an X where to glue each square. He did a great job and I think it was because we switched from the glue bottle to a glue stick.

I found a dowel to put it on and he raced around the house saying, "checker flag. checker flag."

This short video clip soooo reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite. How he just runs out of the picture at the end. We had just watched an episode of Curious George about kites, so we made a kite and talked about the diamond shape and the triangle shapes that made the bows, he's holding the kite one second....and then he's gone!

Letter of the week, "E" is for envelope. Then we drew a lower case 'e' on several scraps of paper and had fun putting them inside of the envelopes.

"P" is for Piano. I held his hand and helped him draw the lines. I would do a little line of glue for the black keys and he totally put them where they were supposed to (except I messed up with the glue so there are two groups of threes at the bottom).

'W' is for Watermelon!

Okay, enough for tonight!

He Speaks!

"I bro trong." He started saying this one day and I only knew what he meant because he was flexing his muscles. About 2 weeks earlier, he did not want to take a nap and I told him he needed to so he could "Grow Strong." So now when I say nap time he says, "No Mama. I just did bro trong." As if to say he's already a big boy and doesn't need a nap.

He was in big trouble yesterday for sneaking out of his bedroom during nap time and playing with his trains in the living room. I jumped around the corner and said, "What do you think you're doing?" He took of running to his room and called over his shoulder, "Just. Joking."

I don't like him in my closet because I have my more than just clothes in there. I keep office stuff and craft supplies there too. Today I was telling him he needed to get out and he sat on the floor and reverently folded his arms and said, "But, I be quiet. Deacon be quiet." That's the problem though, he's too quiet and then I know he is drawing on my clothes with markers and crayons!

We talk about Grandpa and Grandma Jo and how they're on a mission and when you ask him where, he'll say, "Washyton." So then I tell him that daddy went on a mission to Australia and tell him he can go on a mission too, when he's older. In the mornings, he's been asking about dad when he wakes up and I say he is at work (he leaves at 5:30am). Well, the past three days when he wakes up in the morning, Deacon says, "Daddy gone to Austraileeya!"

Whenever he wakes up from his nap, he lays on the floor in front of the door and smooshes his lips to the gap underneath and calls out "Mooooommmmaaaa" so I will come open the door and let him out. When I open the door he looks very guilty (like he's not sure if he's done napping yet) and explains, "I just waked up." And I say, "Okay. Good job." Then he looks relieved. He also sticks one hand under the door, so when I walk up to it I see four little fingers and it is soooo cute.

In case you can't tell, Deacon uses the word "just" in a lot of his sentences. But he kinda throws it in at the beginning, and says it haltingly so it's almost it's own sentence before adding what he really wants to say. I don't know where he got it from. My favorite is when he wants me to follow him. For instance, I'll be feeding Addy in the bedroom and he wants me to feed him in the kitchen. He'll come up to me and say, "Just. Walk this way." It's so cute because he kind of motions towards where he wants me to go and then looks over his shoulder to make sure I'm following. And if I'm not right on his heels (which I never am) he says again, "Momma. Just. Walk dis way!" And I can't help but channel Steven Tyler---everytime---as I boogie on down the halway after him ☺

July

It's official. We can only have two kids. Haha. As soon as Addy came along, I have neglected Deacon's little journal. He is no longer an only child! ☺

Helping dad pack up the garage at our old place. For some reason this pic reminds me of New Kids On The Block

5 minutes after we moved in to Grandma Jo's house, he was devouring Callie's watermelon.

Our first Sunday here, we crashed mom and dad's house for dinner. I got this awesome air shot of Deacon jumping on my parent's bed.

Funniest Pic in a Long Time

Weston is always parked on the couch playing video games when we go to my parent's house, usually scantily clad. He has a headset, but it's broken so he has to use a sweat band to attach it to his head. This day, he was able to borrow his friend's headset. So Deacon was free to rig the sweat band to hold the old headset. Nathan took these pics and I'm so glad because I love this one below:

You HAVE to click to enlarge it because his grin is so precious. Did you hear that? I said HAVE TO!!!! ☺ ☺ ☺


Deacon out on the farm. Helping dad the first time he irrigated.

Of course you need a screwdriver while irrigating.......????!!!

Trying to swim in 6 inches of water and horse manure ☺

Deacon is ALWAYS loving on Adelaide. He loves to put his face next to her and nuzzle her. One time he did this and her hand flew up and hit him in the face. He thought it was the funniest thing ever and has been FOREVER trying to get her to do it again. He'll come and nuzzle her and wait, and wait, and wait, giggling the whole time and closing his eyes in anticipation of being slapped.

One of many days playing outside. He plays with a white cat the lives in the yard and belongs to no one. I actually heard him talking to it the other day. He was pointing at the sky and saying, "Look cat. Airplane." On this day the cat was climbing a tree in the backyard and Deacon was trying so hard to do the same. That's when I went to get my camera, but this was the only shot I got:

Getting sooooo dirty at the family reunion....and loving it!

He started wearing is rain boots ALL the time shortly after we moved here. I figured out it's because they're the only shoes he can put on by himself.

Don't you always go running on the treadmill in your rainboots?

Playing with the hammer thing

Pointing out characters like Elmo and "Tookie Monster" on his borrowed chair from Treyton. He also points out Oscar the Grouch but he says something unintelligible every time.

Love this shot of him catching air (and yes, that is the Laurence Welk show on in the background).

Deacon has become sort of a momma's boy now that I'm home full time. He sleeps on a large bed (I think it's a full or a double) now, so I often lay next to him at bed and nap time to read a book or sing. He hates it when I leave and asks in the sweetest voice, "Sing a song a 'nother one?" And I just melt and stay and sing some more (he currently loves Wheels on the Bus). Anyway, he's getting quite possessive. He will wrap is two arms around one of mine (see pic below) and hang on and say "my mommy" if I try to leave.

We tried to potty train him, and he seemed interested for a little bit (like one day). We're on a break right now. I just thought this pic was funny because he likes to sit on the chair while still wearing his underwear! Also, I love the cowboy slippers that are still 3 sizes too big but he wears them because, like the rain boots, he can pull them on by himself.

Don't worry, it only "looks" like he is having a BM

Build and Grow workshop with dad

And one of my favorite pics this month:

Have I mentioned that Deacon LOVES Adelaide. I turned my head for one second and he was out of the bath tub, streaking down the hall, balancing on the edge of her bassinet, and all I heard was a big old "Mwwwwwa!" of a kiss.

The kid has a good memory. Back in June, when we were still in Utah, Nathan showed Deacon how to skewer his foam letters on a screwdriver and call it a shish kabob (see video below, so cute as he pronounces it "sushi bob"). Anyway, over a month later we're here in AZ and he finds a different screw driver and starts loading different items on it and again announces it's a sushi bob!