The best present....

This was the best present under my tree this year!

Merry, merry Christmas!

This Kid....

This kid is going to give his momma a heart attack.

What I love - Month 38

1. I love when he snuggles into our bed early in the morning and then lays spread out on top of me across my back to be close to his momma.
2. I love that he is naturally curious and is always saying "Why'd you do that momma?" or "Wh'd you say that momma?".
3. I love that he loved Halloween!
4. I love that he tells me I am his best friend! "Momma, you're my best friend".
5. I love that he loves puzzles.
6. I love when he tries to stall before bed by saying "One more show" or if I say "5 more minutes" he counters with "10 more minutes momma"!

What I Love - Month 37

1. I love that when he wants me to carry or rock him, he says "I carry you Mommy" and "I rock you Mommy".
2. I love that he plays hopscotch in the driveway every morning before school.
3. I love that he about passes out with anticipation to come wake me up on Saturday mornings when his dad lets me sleep in.
4. I love that he drags my Mr Bones Halloween skeleton around the house by his top hat. In the mornings he exclaims "Its my Halloween stuff!" when he comes down the stairs.
5. I love that he plays "show and tell" at home.
6. I love helping him make his own chocolate milk after he gets out the milk, the syrup and the spoon.
7. I love listening to him and Grandma hide in the closet at her house. Its their own special thing.
8. I love when we are out in public and he wraps his arms around both my legs. I used to do the exact same thing to my dad.
9. I love that he loves cheetos and apples.
10. I love that a little girl in his classroom calls him Zachie-poo when I come to get him each evening...."Zachie-poo, your mom is here!".
11. I love overhearing him sing songs to himself.
12. I love that he constantly surprises me with things I didn't know he knows.
13. I love that he knows the words to our song "My Boy" which is actually to the tune of "My Girl" by the Temptations.
14. I love that he LOVED Halloween!

Pumpkins!

Cousins

Boy do I wish these two could hang out more often.

Rock Chalk!

This was the first year that Big Jay and Baby Jay

made an appearence in the parade at the

Maple Leaf Festival.

A boy and his dad

When?!

Seriously! When did my baby

become such a big kid?!

What I love - Month 36

1. I love when he says "Let's do this together Mom". Whatever it is, I am in!
2. I love seeing him with a milk moustache.
3. I love when I am sewing and he sits at the table to color alongside me.
4. I love the look of pure fun on his face when he rides high on his dad's shoulders.
5. I love that he always wants the tags cut out of his pjs.
6. I love that after putting him to bed at night, he sneaks into our bedroom and falls fast asleep face down sprawled out on our bed. I love scooping him up and carrying him to his own bed once he has fallen asleep.
7. I love that he can spell and trace his name on paper.
8. I love that he yells "Come on people" when we are stopped at stoplights.
9. I love that he wants to brush his teeth up to 8 times a day because he can now do it himself.
10. I love at the State Fair of Texas he still loves the animals and corn dogs.

State Fair of Texas 2010

This weekend we spent a day at the great State Fair of Texas!

We seem to have a tradition developing where we start with

feeding the animals, then we stop to eat famous Fletcher corn dogs

(the official food of the state fair) before ending the day

with a ride on the carousel before heading home.

Although you can see this year we added playing in the

fountains to the list.

We had a great time!

These frisky little goats would steal the entire

paper cup right out of your hand!

Z calling over the giraffe

(see him holding out his little cup? so sweet)

Z also really enjoyed watching the kangaroos,

which happened to share a pen with an

enormous turtle. You can see him in the corner by Z.

Corn dogs! YUM!

More ketchup? Yes please!

Fountains with mom!

Fountains with dad!

Carousel with mom!

Do you recognize this boy?

Because I don't.

I mean, he is not a baby, he's not a toddler, he is not even a little kid.

He is a big kid.

A big kid that speaks in complete sentences,

can spell his name and trace it on paper,

and a kid that yells "Come on people" when we are stopped at stoplights.

If he doesn't stop growing I might cry.

More happiness....

Happiness: My boy falling asleep on the couch

with his puppy dogs

after a mid-day bath on a lazy Sunday.

Hi Z,

Please stop growing up.

Please.

I picked you up this morning and almost cried.

Love,

Mom

Boy toys are so much cooler than Girl toys!

(thanks Grandma!)

3!

Happy Birthday to my sweet 3 year old boy!!!

You have been more fun, more wonderful

and you have filled me with more love

than I ever could have imagined!

Your dad and I love you Z!!!

What I love - Month 35

1. I love that when our family came to visit for the weekend, we didn't have to leave the house once for Z to have the time of his life.
2. I love that he was really sad when they left because it expresses how much he loves them.
3. I love that he doesn't remember places we go by the people, but by the animals we go to visit. I know he knows the people too, but I love that he is an animal lover.
4. I love playing "monkey on my back".
5. I love when he sits on my sewing table and "fishes" off the side using my soft measuring tape for his fishing pole.
6. I love hearing him exclaim "What a minute! I have an idea!"
7. I love sitting at the kitchen table watching him color in his coloring books.
8. I love when he introduces me as "And her name is Mommy". I love when he calls us the "Imagination Movers".
9. I love that he loves old classic cartoons like Tom & Jerry.
10. I love when he asks for me to write his name, and mom and dad. I love hearing him recite the letters out loud.
11. I love watching him jump up and start dancing out of the blue.
12. I love that he uses knitting needles as his magic wands. I love when he looks at the "wand", shakes it and declares "Huh. There is no magic left in it."
13. I love watching him hug the dogs. I love when he tries to "show" Macy something, or how he calls her when he wants her to come see something he is looking at like she is his bed friend. He will say "MeiMei, come here. Come here MeiMei, I want to show you something. Please."
14. I love racing around the yard playing super soaker with him!
15. I love that he has been the best 2 year old I could imagine.

MotY

This may or may not get me the

Mother of the Year Award

Cuter than cute

Z started off the celebration of his birthday week today

with a play date with Mattea at Chickfila.

The two of them are super, super cute.

He is going to hate me one day

Just in case there was any question,

this is what happiness looks like.

3 puppy dogs and a little boy.

My sister, Syd, Soph and Chance

came to TX for a quick summer visit last

weekend, and while I would love to be able

to share more pictures, unfortunately I can't
because the two boys pictured above insisted

on running around without any clothes
on the entire weekend.

Okay, so I have a few more to share, but not many.

Really, I think that is all I got the entire weekend.

He may almost be 3 years old,

but he will always be my baby.

No matter how old he is,

my heart will always be full

when he climbs up on my lap after naptime

and lays his head on my shoulder.

My boy.

What I love - Month 34

1. I love when he looks at me, sighs heavily and says "Oh mommy."
2. I love that he loved fireworks again this year on the 4th, especially sparklers.
3. I love that he LOVES our KS family and can not stop talking about the donkeys, Crooked Neck, Forrest, Moose, the Ponies, going to the Spoke and asking for quarters to play pool balls.
4. I love watching him sprint from place to place to place all around the house because he wants to get some place so fast!
5. I love that he makes our house a home.
6. I love hearing him say "Mmmmmm it is so delicious!" anytime he eats something he likes.
7. I love playing the kissing game. I love when he kisses his puppies spontaneously.
8. I love that we had our first ongoing 15 minute conversation about his day at school on our way home one night. It was so fun and I caught myself smiling several times because I was just amazed that we were conversing back and forth over and over and over.
9. I love how much he loves popcorn, it is his favorite snack.
10. I love that he takes the long way around the house to get to the bathroom.
11. I love watching him eat corn on the cob.
12. I love hearing him sing the VeggieTales song.

Seabrook - July 2010

After Z asked every day for a week for a boat ride,

we traveled to Seabrook this past weekend to

visit Grandmom and Grandad.

Z had a GREAT time!

He even took his first tube ride!

Though almost immediately upon getting on,

he wanted right back off!

His exact words were "Get me off this

thing now momma!"

We also went to an Astros game,

which has always been Max's favorite

baseball team. Z just loved the popcorn.

Teepee for Me

Thanks for the teepee

GranDad and GranMom!

On our recent trip to KS,

Z and I stopped in Tulsa and

stayed with the Stanfords.

The boys had fun!

What I love - Month 33

1. I love saying the alphabet with him when we take turns saying the letters. I say "A", he says "B" and so on.
2. I love when he says "What's this mommy? What's this?". And then when I say "What is this Zach?" he says "Its a ....". I love how he absorbs EVERYTHING.
3. I love that he wants his privacy when going potty.
4. I love how excited he gets for "splash" day at school.
5. I love sharing breakfast with him on the way to school in th
9. e morning.
6. I love watching him use his tools to work on his bike and his scooter.
7. I love watching him water the flowers to do his "chores" each night.
8. I love watching him sing and dance along to his Disney CDs.
9. I love that only a kiss from momma will make a boo boo all better.

What I love - Month 32

1. I love watching him do the bear crawl.
2. I love holding his hand in parking lots.
3. I love that when he eats a the snack size bag of party mix from school he eats everything but the imitation captain cruch. It is the only thing left in the sack when he is done.
4. I love hearing him yell "Mollie and Mei Mei, Wonderdogs!".
5. I love that he now tells his little friends "bye" at school and hearing him call them by their names.
6. I love watching him ride his "bike" and ask to wear a helmut.
7. I love taking mom-son exploration walks around our neighborhood.
8. I love watching him read his books while sitting on the potty.
9. I love that he yells "another one, another one" as we bounce over the speed bumps in our neighborhood.
10. I love that he looks more and more like his daddy every. single. day.
11. I love hearing him yell "Mommy! Mommy! Where are you Mommy?" when he is looking for me around the house.
12. I love hearing him sing to himself.
13. I love being surprised by things he knows that I had no idea that he even knows.
14. I love that he loves the swimming pool and jumping off the side into my arms.

A boy and his....

...and his puppy dog.

...and his bike.

...and his momma.

....big bag of chips.

Funny boy!

What I love - Month 31

1. I love that he loved every minute of being in Kansas.
2. I love that he is learning to say "thank you" and "excuse me" because he means it.
3. I love that he went to his first swap meet with Papa Ron.
4. I love that after Papa Ron went home Z has continued to ask "Where Papa Ron go?".
5. I love hearing him say "I love you momma".
6. I love watching him help his dad make coffee.
7. I love still rocking him to sleep at night.
8. I love that he can still climb up on my lap and fall asleep in my arms after a long day playing with our family in Kansas.
9. I love that he loves to ride in the car with his window down.
10. I love watching him and Macy place "chase" in the backyard.
11. I love hearing him say that he loves something..."I love CDs", "I love monies (quarters)", "I love apples".
12. I love playing "hot potato" with him.
13. I love he started saying "sweet dreams" at night before we put him to bed.

Riding his "bike"

Z LOVES riding his "bike" up and down

the driveway, chasing both his mom

and Macy.