New Friends

As Henley gets older I am becoming more relaxed and comfortable about Lash playing with her. She usually wants to be held every waking moment, but lately I have been able to lay her down on the floor while I work. This morning Lash laid down with her and was telling her the colors of the butterflies. Later she began to cry and he said "Sister, plug" and he found her pacifier and gently (as gentle as a 2 year old boy can be) put it into her mouth. This might just be the beginning of a wonderful friendship (at least that is my prayer)!

Guitar Practice

There is a small guitar at Oma's house that Lash enjoys playing when we visit. Here is a clip of one of his recent guitar practices:

P.S. Editing done by Aunt Claire...she rocks!

Lash's New Song

Lash wrote a song about "Ahli Dane" (Henley Jane):

A Day In The Life of Lash

Lash's day starts anywhere between 8:00 and 9:00 am. I open the door and get a very disappointed reaction because I am not Dada or "Oma Tay" (Grandma Kay).

After getting his "biber" (diaper) changed he chooses between his "lello sheen" (yellow machine/trackhoe) shirt or his moose shirt. After getting dressed we head to "breagus" (breakfast). He usually has cereal and iced apple "goose" (juice).

His morning is spent doing puzzles, coloring, reading or watching a small collection of "moies" (movies). Lately his favorites have been a Veggietales story and the "Fruicake moie" (Fruitcake movie).

After lunch, Lash takes a nap with "Pooh, Ger, Bear and Donkey" (Pooh, Tigger, Bear and Eeyore). For snack, Lash eats shark crackers or "anmas cracuz" (animal crackers).

Before bed he plays some "bagabaw" (basketball) with Dada and usually reads his favorite book, which is the Musicians Friend catalog. Throughout the day there will be random jam sessions with his "tockaur" (guitar), bass and "brums" (drums).

We love our Lash!

Sweet Henley Jane

Don't be fooled...Henley is not always smiles and giggles, but we'll take it when we can get it!

Oh, Lash

What a silly boy!

I had gotten up from table after lunch and was trying to get a few things done while Lash was confined to the high chair. After several minutes I went to check on him,,,his tray appeared empty, but he had a sly look on his face. He looks at me, raises his hand and said "Pocket!" He had taken all of his cookies and shoved them down the sleeve of his shirt (at the wrist opening) and pretended it was a pocket. Did I forget to mention that Lash has a thing about pockets?

Not too many minutes later Lash was trying to climb into a laundry crate and I told him "No," but instead of stopping he continued on. I asked him what the word "no" means and he looked at me and whispered "meh meh" (aka the wood spoon that he gets swatted with when he disobeys)...I had a hard time not laughing.

Never a dull moment in this house!

Lash Reading to Henley

The video says it all:

Taking a Hit

Lash enjoys his pacifier, which in our house is called a "plug". He only gets it during naps and bedtime, and the occassional car ride if we want him to sleep.

The other day he was watching family videos upstairs while I was working. He would run into his bedroom yelling "night night" and return a minute or so later. He did this several times and I realized that he was going into his bedroom to take a hit off his plug and then he'd come running back to watch the video. Hilarious!!

Diaper Delivery

One of Lash's jobs around the house is to take diapers from Henley's room and put them next to the door going out into the garage. Sometimes he uses his car and other times he just carries the bag. What a big helper!

Late Night Jam Session

Dada snuck upstairs and I thought he was just going to put his guitar away. A few minutes later I hear Clint plugged in and strumming away. Lash perks up, says "dagar" and starts playing air guitar. He takes off upstairs to check out the action. It wasn't long after he comes racing into the living room repeating "brums, brums"...he grabs his drum set and carries it upstairs (I was shocked because it is very akward). He comes right back down saying "sticks, sticks." It took him two and a half trips but he finally made it upstairs with his drums, drum throne and sticks.

After 10 or 15 minutes he comes running down the stairs and I think to myself "what could he have forgotten?" Around the corner he comes yelling "bass, bass". He grabs his little plastic guitar and runs upstairs.

Later I hear Lash standing at the top of the stairs yelling "Mommy, Mommy!" He comes downstairs with his "bass" and he starts head banging and running around in circles. He says "dhet" and points to the bass and continues running in circles...he even tried throwing the bass around his head Uncle Chet style.

Nothing like a late night jam session to postpone bedtime!

Poop and Cookies

Yes, I am that mom that shares stories about her child's poop, but it's because I am so proud (and I think it's funny).

We are trying to get Lash interested in pooping on the potty chair. Clint is trying to bribe him and told him a couple weeks ago that if he poops in the potty chair they would bake cookies together. Well, Lash pooped in the potty chair! Yay! Lots of cheering and dancing followed!

Monday, I walked in to the kitchen to find Lash and Dada baking cookies. I see Lash standing on a chair dumping chocolate chips into a bowl that has white sugar and brown sugar in it. I ask Clint if they are following a recipe and he said they were using the one on the chocolate chip bag. After observing for a minute or so I halted the cookie baking and showed Clint the fine print on the recipe...the part below the ingredient list that gave the actual instructions. Rather than following the instructions, the boys were just adding the ingredients (in a random order) to a big bowl. I did a little damage control and the cookies turned out great!!

Bless Clint's heart...he was trying hard!!

CKB's new drummer

This morning Lash was messing with the radio in Henley's room. He suddenly ran out of the room and toward the tv saying "Dada" repeatedly. I realized that he was wanting to listen to Clint's first CD he recorded. I told Lash that we could go upstairs and watch Dada on tv.

We went upstairs and I turned on the DVD of the final CKB show. A few minutes later I realized that Lash had disappeared. I yelled his name and discovered he was on his way downstairs to get his drumsticks. After helping him, he had his drums set up in front of the tv and was playing along with CKB.

Lash sold Chet's black bass

Our dinner conversation retold by Clint (aka Dada):

After hearing "MINE!!!  MINE!!!"  way, way, way too many times from our child in a highchair.... I had a discussion with Lash.  It went very much like this:

Lash:  "Mine!!!  Mine!!!"

Dada:  So, that's yours huh?  Did you go to the store and buy it with your own money?
Lash:  ...Yup

Dada:  Where did you get the money?
Lash:  Duikar  (guitar)

Dada:  You got the money from a guitar?
Lash:  Yup

Dada:  Did you sell a guitar?
Lash:  Yup

Dada:  Whose guitar did you sell?
Lash:  Det

Dada:  You sold Chet's guitar?
Lash:  Bass

Mama:  Did you sell Chet's guitar or Bass?
Lash:  Bass

Mama:  What color was it?
Lash:  Black

Our parenting and reasoning skills quickly became ineffective at that point...  We'll keep working on him.

Lash the storyteller

Lash is quite the storyteller. It is really interesting since he says "yep" to almost any question or statement. Lash and Clint came in from outside the other evening and this is how Lash explains their adventure:

Lash turns 2!

I can't believe that Lash is turning 2. Time has flown since he was born. Part of me is thankful that he is getting older and wiser and able to communicate a little better, but I kind of miss the baby he was. He has turned into a little boy right in front of my eyes.

Here are just a couple of things that Lash does that makes me laugh:

1) When you put your drumsticks down you make sure they are perfectly lined up.
2) The other day you took my phone and had a conversation that went like this: "Dada...hi....me".
3) In the morning when I get you out of bed you ask where Dada is...I tell you that he is at work and you always break into air guitar playing!
4) When I was pregnant you would hug my belly (the baby) and offer the baby a drink by holding your sippy cup up to my belly button.

Here is a list of some of Lash's favorite things (in no particuliar order):

1) Blueberries
2) Dada and Henley
3) Music - drums and guitar
4) Sports - golf, basketball, football
5) Being outside
6) Watching family videos
7) Reading books
8) Puzzles
9) Coloring
10) Grandma's IPad
11) Jayhawks
12) Hats and sunglasses
13) Captain America aka "Lello" (our cat)

Lash loves Henley!

Lash absolutely adores his little sister! He loves her and is always wanting to give her hugs and kisses, get her the plug (aka pacifier) when she is crying, etc. Unfortunately he does not understand that he is much bigger than she is and he has a hard time being gentle with her.

The other day I asked Lash if he wanted to read to Henley and of course he did. I grabbed a book and sat he and Henley down on the couch and we read together. Here is a peak of how it went:

Henley Jane

Henley Jane was born on Sept 7...a little earlier than expected. We had a c-section scheduled for Sept 16, but she apparently was in a hurry to arrive.

We are praising God for this blessing!!

Books

Since Lash was about 6 months old he has loved books. He enjoys being read to, but he is also content to read to himself. He almost always has a book with him when he is riding in the car and he has a collection of books in both of his play areas at home.

A week or so ago I was in the kitchen cooking dinner and I see Lash climb onto the couch. I gave him a minute or so to get comfortable and I snuck around the corner of the couch to see this:

Playing the guitar

Uncle Chip (aka Booga) has a small guitar that Lash enjoys playing when he goes to Papa and Oma's house. Lash has been known to have jam sessions with Uncle Caj (aka Djj) but on this particuliar Sunday he jammed solo:

My little helper

We were without power for 13 hours last week after some strong storms moved through. Friday morning I was not able to work because of the power outage, so I decided to get some cleaning done. I started up the Bissell Perfect Sweep Turbo sweeper (this thing rocks) and Lash races over to me because he wants to use the sweeper. This is not the first time this has happened....in fact, I rarely get to use the sweeper because Lash loves it as much as I do.

I told Lash that he could use it as soon as he picked up all of his toys in the living room. Wow, within minutes all of his toys and books were put away...it was amazing! Here is evidence that at one time in his life he actually enjoyed cleaning (notice the picked up living room, with the exception of his drum set made out of taped together oatmeal containers!):

The Making of a Rock Star

Lash has a hard time keeping track of guitar picks. The other day Clint went in search for a couple...he found a green pick and a pick with a Jayhawk on it. We gave the new picks to Lash and of course he wanted to try them out.

Clint, Lash and myself went upstairs for a jam session. Lash was super excited...take a look:

After he grew tired of playing the guitar and singing, he moved on to playing the drums:

Blueberries

I believe that if Lash had to choose one thing that he could eat at every meal it would be blueberries. This kid LOVES blueberries!! It's quite fascinating.

When I give Lash blueberries I usually put them in the bottom of the bowl and cover them with strawberries and bananas...don't ask me why.

Here is a video showing his approach to eating fruit (sorry for the length...and for all of the laughter and camera shaking ):

Group hug

Last night Lash was getting tired because he had only had a 30 minute nap. After dinner he wanted Clint to hold him. I was finishing the dishes and Clint and Lash were hanging out in the kitchen with me. Lash puts his arm out and says "two" indicating that he wanted a group hug. After the hug he reached over with both hands, grabbed my face and got a kiss, then he did the same to Clint. I think we did this same thing at least 4 or 5 times...it was so precious!!

Hats

Lash has worn hats since he was really tiny. He loves hats and he usually makes sure he is wearing one before he leaves the house and he'll let us know if we forget. He can put them on and take them off himself. Sometimes the hat is on correctly and other times he puts in on a little crooked, backwards, or not all the way down on his head.

The other day he was playing with his "galuck" aka his tractor and he looks at me and says "hat, hat". I look over and see this:

Family Reunion - a weekend of "firsts"

Last weekend was the annual family reunion at the lake for my mom's side of the family. We had a small crowd this year, but it was fun and relaxing nonetheless. The weekend included a lot of "firsts" for Lash:

First time swimming:

First time riding on a jet ski:

First time riding in a paddle boat:

First time riding in a big boat:

First time eating corn on the cob:

Along with boat rides, great food, sweet tea, and swimming, there was some Wheel of Fortune that took place. Clint, myself and Grandma E  played against each other, every person for themself, for a couple of hours one afternoon. Amazing how competitive my grandma is...during the first bonus round that Clint was trying to win my grandma says "I hope you don't get it right!" She was completely serious!! I laughed so hard I nearly wet my pants! Sorry to say that Grandma E didn't win any of the games, but she fought hard. Clint and I won a combined total of over $200,000...not bad for a lazy afternoon!

I love you too!

Last night at dinner Lash was being kind of a twerp, which is not an uncommon occurrence around meal time. Sometime during the meal, without any prompting, Lash says "I love Mom, Dad"! He was signing it at the same time, so it was kind of a slow process, but I knew what was coming and I almost cried! It was so sweet! Sure, it could have been a fluke, but I don't care!! I sure look forward to hearing that more often!

Denim clutch

After having Lash I realized that I could no longer carry a purse, a diaper bag and an infant car seat; therefore, I went in search of a cute clutch that could easily fit inside the diaper bag but could also be used independently. I found a small mustard yellow clutch at Target that I fell in love with. I'm sorry to report that it has seen better days. The leather (or whatever it is) has been peeling off of the outside for some time now and it just looks terrible!

I got the idea a couple of months ago to make a denim clutch. We recently cleaned out our closets and I was able to talk Clint out of a couple pairs of jeans and jean shorts. I finally got some free time to work on this project and I am pleased at how it turned out. (I wish I would have taken pictures along the way because it would have made for a great tutorial!)

In case you are wondering...it was very easy to put together and probably took me less than 2 hours. And, this was my first time sewing a zipper, which can be very intimidating!! If you have specific questions about its construction, let me know and I will be happy to help.

"Rocks" and "Roos"

Lash has a hard time saying the "sh" sound, so when he is talking about socks and shoes he says "rocks" and "roos"...it is super cute. Whenever we are getting ready to go outside we tell him to go get a matching pair of socks...sometimes he gets it and other times he doesn't, but we're working on it.

We have a piece of furniture in our utility room that is home to lots of pairs of shoes. Lash likes to pull a pair of "roos" off of the shelf and try them on. Lash's shoes are on the top shelf and he can't reach them, so he goes after whatever pair he can reach...sometimes he chooses mine and sometimes he chooses Clint's.

Today, after trying on a pair of Dada's shoes I told Lash: "Those are awfully big shoes to fill!"

Little Drummer Boy

To say that Lash loves to play the drums would be an understatement! Lash is obsessed with drums! He is always tapping his fingers on something when he hears music.

He has been using chopsticks to bang on ice cream buckets, oatmeal containers, etc., but last week Dada brought home a brand new pair of real drumsticks (aka "dee dees"). They are a little big/heavy for him but that doesn't stop him!

Here are a couple of videos of Lash playing drums with his beloved chopsticks:

P.S. He learned most of his awesome drummer moves by watching Uncle Cy (aka Bubba) play the drums at church.

Celebrating in Missouri

Clint's grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in June. The whole family got together for a weekend long party. There was great food, fishing, lots of games, swimming, bonfires and just hanging out.

  

Kisses

Lash has not learned to give kisses with his mouth closed...at least not usually with me. There are some times when I will ask him for a kiss and he will grab my face in his hands and come at me with an open mouth. It is hilarious!! As much as I'm not a fan of the teeth and spit...it is so precious and I am going to miss it when he stops.

Here is a short video demo:

Sidewalk project

We are never bored at our house and usually have several projects on our to do list. We had decided last year or early this year that we wanted to put in a sidewalk from the driveway to the back porch. This was mostly due to the path that our dog, Harley, had created, and to make feeding and watering the cats easier (their food dish is on the back porch).

I happened to glance at a Home Depot ad a couple of months ago and saw that brick pavers were on sale. Although at the time we weren't in a big hurry to start the project, we decided to go ahead and purchase the pavers. Three truck loads and 900 bricks later, we were ready to get started.

Here are some pictures documenting the project:

First we mowed where the sidewalk would go.

Then we rented a sod cutter (smartest thing we did) and rolled up all of the sod.

We installed a plastic edging piece and put gravel down where the gutter water would go.

Next came the layer of sand.

Then the fun began with the brick laying.

It went pretty fast on the straight part, but the curve was not so easy.

And there you have it!

Wonderful visit to Utah

Clint surprised me with plane tickets to Utah for my birthday. I was completely shocked and kept repeating "You bought me plane tickets!"

My older brother lives in Utah and we had not seen his family for almost 2 years. We had a great trip (except for the actual traveling part) and got to do lots of fun things. We played golf, enjoyed some wonderful food and frozen yogurt, visited Zion National Park and just relaxed. Lash enjoyed getting to know his cousin Drew and by the end of our visit they were quite attached to each other.

Here are some of the best pictures from the vacation:

"Big guy" hammer

Clint was doing some work on the door that goes between the house and the garage. Lash was hanging out with us trying to be a big helper. Clint had the hammer out and Lash tried to pick it up. Clint gently told him "No, no, no. That is a big guy hammer! You have to be a big guy to use that hammer."

A few minutes later Clint had moved into the foyer to work on a different project and Lash went upstairs by himself, which is very rare for him. He came back down proudly carrying his little wooden hammer.

(I apologize for not getting a photo, but it was late and we were needing to get Lash into bed. I only thought about the photo the next morning.)

Trip to the zoo

This happened back in March, but it was such a great memory...

After 7 wonderful years of marriage, Clint and I decided to celebrate by taking our 18 month old son to the zoo (I know...we're weird like that). This was his very first trip to the zoo and we were excited. You see, Lash loves animals...he can say over 15 animal noises and identify even more.

We spent almost 2 hours at the zoo. We got to see lions, tigers, giraffes, elephants, hippos, a bear and many more animals. You want to know what Lash's favorite part about the zoo was....being outside and getting to run around! He also loved getting to see so many other kids. We're not sure how much he liked seeing the animals, but he had fun nonetheless.

Here are some pictures to document the wonderful experience: