Happy Birthday, John!

The most exciting part of the past week was Monday because it was John's 26th birthday! We spent the day playing with Dawson in the playroom and John getting to open a couple gifts from me and one from Dawson. In the evening we went to our small group at church, where we celebrated John's birthday too! We took a white birthday cake with fondant icing that I made (pictured above). It was my first attempt at fondant, so it wasn't perfect, but it still tasted good, so I won't complain. We also took some special snacks requested by John (sausage balls and homemade chex mix) to share with our friends. John said he had a great 26th birthday!

Over the weekend John traveled to Tunica and Memphis for the bachelor party of one of his friends, Jeff, who is getting married next month. John said they had a great time hanging out, watching the Tennessee game, telling stories, and having a good time. Of course, I don't have any pictures of their weekend since guys don't think to take pictures! :)

While John was gone I tried to do a few special and fun things with Dawson, since I figured he was probably getting bored with just me being at home to entertain him. So on Friday night, we had a Mommy-Son dinner date! We went to McDonalds which was a real treat for Dawson, and he loved it! He ate an entire Happy Meal. He thinks he's such a big kid that he wouldn't eat nuggets if I tore them into bites, rather he wanted the whole nugget to hold so he could bite off of it. Such a big boy! We sat at a table near the window so he could watch the bigger kids playing on the playhouse outside. We spent nearly an hour at McDonalds and then came home to play outside for about 2 hours! Needless to say, Dawson was worn out, and he slept 12 hours that night!!!

We also had a playdate last Tuesday that his friends Connor (23 months), Ethan (25 months), and Austin (25 months) got to come to. Dawson was a little clingy to me, but had a good time!

Dawson has had a runny nose and a little cough on and off, so we decided to take him to the doctor. We are thankful that it is just his allergies that are bothering him rather than an infection, but still hope that they clear up soon. We were encouraged though because his doctor said his ears looked perfect (which we were concerned about since we will be flying on Saturday) and his lungs sounded pristine! :) Since we took him to the doctor, I know his weight for 16.5 months and it is 25 pounds and 9 ounces!

Dawson has been staying busy with a few things recently. One of his current favorite toys is a rocking horse that sings. He has learned how to make it rock, and LOVES to ride this horse all the time. Unfortunately, he has turned into a little climber recently and decided that he could work for the Dixie Stampede since he tries (and can!) stand up on the horses back. He thinks this is hilarious, and we're having to work to teach him not to climb (but, oh, how he enjoys climbing!).

Another recent favorite is the word "hawt" (translated "hot"). Several months ago when Dawson became really interested in the oven, I started warning him that it is hot. Sometimes I will tell him food is too hot and needs to cool or even that it's hot outside. He has picked up this word and added a southern twang to it. Hot is now "haawwt." I may have mentioned this in a previous blog post, but now even more things are haawwt! If I give Dawson food he doesn't like it's hawt, randomly toys get handed to me because they are hawt, sometimes cold drinks of water are even hawt. So, to try to teach him that not everything is hawt, I've been letting him play with some ice cubes, but, you guessed it, they are also hawt! :) He does understand the concept because he will point to steam off of food or a candle burning somewhere or a fire and say hot, but I think there is something fun about that word to him. So for now, everything at our house is hawt!

Dawson also continues to be obsessed with clocks, which he can now say correctly, thankfully! He finds clocks everywhere and loves to point them out. He finds them in stores, other people's houses, at the doctor's office, as people's watches, and driving down the road. The other day we drove by the Providence sign which has a clock on it. I had never ever pointed this out and neither had John, but Dawson proudly announced to us from the backseat CLOCK! He pointed to the Providence Clock on a sign as we drove by. He is so observant at this age and doesn't miss a thing!

One final thing that Dawson loves right now is brushing his teeth. We can tell him it's time to brush his teeth, and he will RUN to the bathroom and wait. He loves that we brush first and then he gets a turn to brush his teeth. He can hardly stand it if he sees me or John brushing our teeth and he doesn't get to brush his. Hopefully he will always be good about brushing his teeth so I'm not going to complain about this at all! :)

We are counting down the days until we get to go on vacation to the beach and cannot wait to see what Dawson thinks of the sand and ocean. Last October when we went to the beach he was so tiny he slept most of the time in his swing on the beach, so hopefully this year he will enjoy it a lot more! Most likely our next blog post will be the beach trip update, so be sure to check back. For now, enjoy the pictures below!

Happy 26th Birthday, John!

Dawson and I love you!

Above: Dawson wanted to help blow out the candles!

Above: Dawson taking his turn brushing

his teeth.

Above: Dawson will probably hate me

for this picture one day, but for now I could

not resist. He LOVES to get in my purses.

He will search through to find small ones

and put them on his shoulder and run around

the house. The other morning we were trying

to get ready to go (why he's not fully dressed)

and he got out this orange purse and put it on his

shoulder. He also knows the word and will say purse.

He's my boy! :)

Above: John reading to Pat the Bunny to Dawson.

Dawson loves this book, especially the page

where you get to smell the flowers!

Above: Up to no good, I'm sure. Dawson

caught me taking the picture!

Above: Dawson climbed on this box in the closet

and then thought I was the funny one!

Such a silly boy!

Above: I asked Dawson if he loved his horse

and could give it a hug. Sometimes he just goes

up to the horse and hugs it like this.

Above: Riding the horse.

Above: Getting silly.

Above: Dixie Stampede here comes Dawson!

Above: I know I've mentioned it before, but I finally snapped

a picture of this...When we go on long walks Bentley gets too

tired and has to ride under the stroller. Spoiled dog, I know.

People in the neighborhood just smile and look at Dawson AND

Bentley in the stroller...I know it's ridiculous! :)

Above: This is what Dawson does when a plane

flies over. You can ask him where the plane is,

and he will announce "UP!"

Above: Dawson on our Mommy-Son date to

McDonalds eating his whole nugget.

Above: Loving the food.

Above: Eating his nuggets.

Above: Another new "trick" Dawson has been doing

is hiding things in the two kitchen cabinets we have not

locked. There is nothing dangerous in the cabinets so we

left them un-baby-proofed. Dawson hides cups, toys, books,

and pacificers in these two cabinets. Here is Dawson first thing

in the morning going to look for something he apparently hid in the

cabinet the night before. Silly boy!

Above: I thought this was too funny. One evening

Dawson kept getting in trouble for messing with Bentley's

water bowl, something we haven't had trouble with in a while,

when all of the sudden he stumbled and sat IN her water bowl!

There was a perfect circle of water on his bottom from the bowl.

It startled him enough that he quit messing with the water, but

unfortunately he decided he could climb the kitchen chairs. You

can see the perfect circle of water here...but he learned his lesson.

Above: Dawson standing on his ride-on dinosaur

pointing out the window.

Above: Being silly on his new dinosaur.

Above: So silly.

Above: And so sweet!

Above: Dawson playing with one of his friends at our playgroup!

Above: Dawson's favorite part of this kitchen is the light switch.

Above: Dawson playing with a friend (he snuck his pacificer

in his mouth it looks like!).

Above: I couldn't resist posting this. This is the

finished product of John's hard work in our playroom

closet. The best part is that it is organized and all of

the toys do not have to be lined up around the wall.

I am so thrilled! Thanks for doing all of this, John!

3...2...1....Blast Off to a Busy Week

The past week has been busy and VERY fun for us! Last Wednesday, Dawson's friend Connor got to come over to play. They had a great time, and played together really well. Their favorite things to play with were the toy vacuum cleaner and recycling truck. I got some really sweet pictures of the two playing together.

Then on Saturday evening John had his work picnic at the Space and Rocket Center, and we all had a great time! Dawson loved looking at the tall rockets everywhere and playing in the kids area. Of course, he loved all the attention he was getting from John's co-workers as well! Dawson was so tired on the way home that he was just being REALLY silly in the backseat.

On Sunday we went to church. That evening our friends, Eric and Heather, had us over to cookout. We had a feast, and we all had a great time. Dawson got to play with his friend, Jack (22 months) while we were there. Their favorite thing to do together was watch their Dad's out the window grilling.

On Monday morning John had Eric help him finish our shelving project in the playroom closet. John and I did almost all of it ourselves, but the last few shelves were getting difficult with Dawson "helping" and not being able to do work on it while he was sleeping since the drill woke him. I am SO SO happy to have this project completed, and now we can store toys in the playroom closet so they're not all lined up around the playroom! I'm very pleased with the closet now! While Eric helped John complete the project Dawson got another opportunity to play with his friend Jack, and they enjoyed each other's company again!

The past week has been a lot of fun with our friends, and we're looking forward to all the fun in the coming weeks as we prepare for our beach trip!

Enjoy the pictures below...

Above: Dawson at John's work picnic at the Space and Rocket Center.

He's supposed to be in the astronaut suit! :)

Above: Dawson and Jack in the wagon!

They were having a great time until I stopped pulling the wagon

to take this picture. They wanted to GO!


Above: More wagon fun.

Above: Dawson and his friend Jack watching the

grillers (their dads)!

Above: Dawson looking sleepy in the backseat

after all the fun he had at the Space and Rocket Center.

Above: Dawson being silly in the backseat.

Above: The rocket up close.

Above: Dawson and I in the astronaut suit.

Above: Dawson playing in the "Mars Play Area"

at the Space and Rocket Center. (If you can't see

it, his shirt says "S is for Spaceship!")

Above: More fun on Mars.

Above: A slide on Mars?! Who knew!

Above: Dawson with Daddy playing.

Above: Climbing up all by himself.

Above: More Mars fun!

Above: Playing...

Above: Dawson and Connor playing with the

recycling truck.

Above: More playing...

Above: Dawson playing with his Weebles

van.

Above: Dawson playing with a hat.

Above: Dawson wanted Connor to enjoy

the hat too!

GO VOLS!

On Saturday we had some of our friends over to watch the Tennessee v. Oregon game! Some how we've managed to find several Tennessee fans here in Bama and Auburn territory, and we were excited for John to have a Saturday off for us to have them over and enjoy watching the game. Everyone brought delicious food, and we had a great time watching the game and hanging out. Even though the game ended in a loss for Tennessee, we still had a great time!
I wanted to share some pictures below from the Tennessee Party at our house!
GO VOLS!

Above: Our family decked out in our orange!
Above: This photo is obviously not from the game,
but we took this quick picture on Sunday morning
before heading to church.

Above: The cake I made for our Tennessee Party on Saturday.

Above: Some of the girls at our party.

Above: Dawson hanging out with the guys (and being silly)

during the game!

Above: Dawson didn't just have to hang out with

the boring adults during the game, his friend Connor

(23 months) was here to play too! The Cozy Coupe is always a

favorite toy with his friends (thanks, Logan!). Dawson

was always very concerned when Connor got a turn

to sit in the car! :)

Above: I made this coloring sheet for Dawson

to color during the game. We obviously only

gave him orange crayons. I was impressed though

as he's actually a lot more interested now in making

marks on the paper!