Learning so much at school!!

He actually pushed his chair under the table before leaving!!!!

I entered his daycare classroom (the new one that we began about 3 wks ago) to pick up our little boy. All the children were sitting quietly at the table waiting on the teacher to start another activity. I said, "hey Stryker." He quickly turned around, smiled, & then looked at the teacher. She is such a sweet & amazing teacher! She said, "go see momma." He stood up, pushed his chair under the table, & headed towards the door looking back at me to follow him. I stared at him in total amazement. I asked the teacher to confirm what my little man had just done. She said they had been working on that along with many other things. When I opened the door, Stryker led me to the outside door. This daycare has been a great thing for Stryker. We have a friend who is a teacher at Gardendale Elementary School. She says children who enter her school from Mt. Vernon United Methodist Church (Gardendale, AL) are ahead of other children. Thank you for such a wonderful daycare/school for our son to attend.

Outside fun

I took Stryker to Star Lake in Hoover after eating lunch with Logan this past weekend. We walked around the lake & watched the geese. Then, Stryker enjoyed "teaching" Fletch how to mow (well, the concrete at least!).

A day of coloring & helping at neighbor's garage sale

"hey, this vacuum is my size!"

"this place needs to be cleaned"

first time to color with markers

Feeding himself

I'm so excited I got this recorded so Logan wouldn't miss it. Stryker's new bowl & spoon was filled with Russian chicken & rice. As soon as it was placed in front of him, he grabbed the spoon with his left hand & started feeding himself like he had been doing it forever!!! We're starting to see that Stryker is going to a child who does new skills when he's ready. Little boy, you amaze us each day. We love you more than you could imagine. I assume you are now growing up & becoming a little boy: sleeping all night upstairs in your crib, feeding yourself, etc. We can't wait to see your next accomplishment!

Happy 28th Birthday (to me)!

chillin in a baseball chair at the allergist's office

look at this big wheel, mom!

another kid or "thing" caught his attention

Stryker's 2 favorite things: balls & water

such a big water table

the funny mirror was not that entertaining

pilot of a space shuttle

love the light shining through...looks as though he's flying towards the sun

not shy, jumped right in to see what the older boys were doing

wheelchair races

ooh! these things feel funny

my boys sustaining hurricane winds

Stryker's face was absolutely hilarious

in the touchable tornado

copying a bigger boy

got the hang of it now

in the foam blocks

of course he'll find any girl to flirt with

he's telling somebody something!

We had these when I was a kid!

the giant piano

fossils from the sea (these were all discovered in Alabama)

pull hard buddy!

sitting at the dinner table like a big boy!

This is where he actually said "red" twice after Coco pointed to a red crayon!!!

Today was my 28th birthday. Logan surprised me with a day off so we could have family time! What a nice & very unexpected gift! Unfortunately, the day began taking Stryker to get an allergy test. Thankfully, it was quick & relatively painless. The test was negative except for ragweed. The allergist has ordered a blood test to check for further allergies because ragweed is typically paired with other triggers. Afterwards, we took Stryker to McWane Center! What an amazing place for kids of all ages. As we stepped off the elevator, the sounds of laughter, kids running all around, & gadgets galore filled the room. Stryker stopped in mid-step with eyes wide open & a moment of breathlessness...utter amazement. He quickly took off, moving from place to place wanting to play, grab, & figure out everything. We spent hours in that 3-story building. We had the best time as you can tell in the pictures. I'm thinking a membership in our new future. Stryker played until he could barely hold his eyes open. He fell fast asleep in the carseat. We let him nap while driving around various places in Birmingham & having an adult conversation! We met Coco & Fletch for an early dinner but not without buying something for the little guy. Yes, I said Stryker not me. I know you're thinking but it was your birthday. As you can tell by all the previous posts, this little boy is spoiled ROTTEN! We bought him a pair of burnt orange shorts that we 75% off at Gymboree. We ate some delicious food & dessert at Sweet Bones in the Summit. I received birthday cards from Logan, Stryker, Coco, Jon (in the mail), & The Pauly's (in the mail). Logan bought me 2 dining room chairs which we will be picking up next week! Coco bought me some clothes & a chair for the living room (will be arriving in about 6 wks)! So excited! Our home is really coming along. Having a rare day in the middle of the week for family time was an extremely meaningful gift.

i think he's going to be a talker

We finally caught him on video babbling to his toys. He does this so often but always stopped when the camera appeared.

Father's Day 2011

Happy Daddy's Day!!!! I like saying "daddy's day" instead of "father's day" because anyone can be a father but it takes a special person to be a dad. This your second daddy's day my wonderful husband. We spent the day celebrating your important role in this family. We began the day jumping on daddy in the bed to wake him up & then handed him cards from both of us. The morning was filled with worshipping our Heavenly Father at Desperation Church in Cullman. It was a wonderful sermon. God spoke to our family through this message during this time of Logan's career change. Stryker loves the church nursery. It makes us feel confident that he is in good hands so that we can freely worship without worrying about him. We ate doughnuts before the service began (the church provides them free every Sunday morning) & mini ice cream sandwiches after the service (the church handed them out for father's day). After church, we headed to Spring Valley Beach in Blount County. Logan had grown up going there on the weekends. Now, there is so much more slides, swimming areas, concession stands, bath houses, etc. Grandmomma, Big Daddy (Brian), & Uncle Cody all met us there for a picnic & a day filled with water fun!

give me a bite daddy

oh so good :)

my boys love ice cream!

Stryker's first water slide to go down

come on dad, let's go down again

love the face

hold me tight daddy

going down the slide with daddy!

going down slide with momma

major waterfall on top of my 2 boys

sliding independently, but of course it must be on his tummy!