February Update

Stro man hanging with his friend Dalia.

Milk and cookies, yum. Thanks for visiting Nancy.

These fit! See mama, I can walk in "yours" boots!

Rodeo!

Funnel cake please!

I love his sweet bed head at breakfast time.

Strother started montessori this month. He loves wearing his back pack ("pack back")and bringing a brown bag lunch.

I'm so cute. Seriously. Painfully cute.

First try at big boy underwear. Great fit. Great look. Terrible absorption rate. Back to the diaper please.

Little cuddle time with mama on her big belly. He has no idea how much his world is about to change.

Strother reads at a VERY early age...

That's entertainment

While fine dining in Haskell, Texas we were able to capture Strother singing. He's normally such a ham, but a bit camera shy when he knows it's on tape...

Christmas and beyond

Who is this creepy bearded man, and why does my papa keep asking him for a new roof?

You can't see it, but I am barefoot. (Yes, all cliches apply.)

Strother relies mostly on Lily, James and Jack to direct his decorating sensibility.

Back to Rule, Texas... Real life. Earth. Land. Cattle. Goofy hats.

Just had to prove to Strother's brother (seven months in the making) that I'm still a real cowgirl... Can we go back to the house now? I want eat and sit down somewhere with cushions.

Recent pics

Stro loves to shave with papa

We're so proud of Strother's gingerbread man. It was a blast to make (and taste test along the way).

Munching on carrots with our friend Dahlia

Hats rule

Bath laughter

Short Videos!

For those of you who are into Strother's daily life, or just exceptionally bored, I offer an assortment of videos...





I figured out how we whittle away an entire morning accomplishing very little. It's good fun though...


Back to our road trip...

We found a train to ride in Pheonix. One of Strother's favorite activities by far...


For those of you wondering what in the world to get Stroey for Christmas, well, here you are!

Cousin J girl

We love to ride bikes. Strother will tickle whomever is the driver. It's hilarious.



I can't believe he was ever this little. We started on a bike at four months old!



I kid you not, this is the look on my son's face when I say naptime! He cracks me up. Note that he took the time to take out his fa fa (pacifier for those not in the know) long enough to growl at me properly.

Look! We got a photo of two babies smiling at the same time! What are the odds?
He loves his baby gril cousin Julianna. No, that's not a spelling error. To Stroey, she a gril and he wants to hold it.

Halloween

Strother got a handle on Halloween this year as Yoda. It did not take long to figure out what "Treat or Treat" meant. He was so proud of the candy he garnered throughout the evening. Little did he know we gave it all away at the end of the night! Two year olds are still easy to fool. Won't last long I'm sure...

Two Norman Boys

They really do look like brothers no? Just in case you can't tell, Strother is the second photo...

Second Birthday

Strother celebrated his second birthday with his best buddy John Hilton and a few friends. It was a gorgeous Thursday afternoon and all the kids had fun riding the train, sharing popcorn and eating cake (red velvet!). Strother especially like shouting, "All aboard!" over and over again. It was a perfect afternoon.








Fine dining al fresco with Beckett. Hey buddy, you're a great dinner guest. Come back over again soon!

Vocabulary

I was wondering this week how I'm ever going to remember Strother's hilarious vocabulary these days. I love his sentence structure and the form it takes on every day. Of course! I'll blog about it. This blog has more than his baby book ever will anyway! This morning, as Papa was walking out the door, Darin said, "I love you." Strother looked at me and said, "Papa love you me." It was so cute. He uses me and now all the time. He'll say, "Hold you me mama" instead of pick me up. He uses outside for both outside and inside. Raisins are rainies. He used to say pish for fish, but he's picked up the f recently. Tookies are cookies. I was taking his picture last week and he said, "No cheese me mama." So funny. Email me if you've heard more...

Here's the video of Strother at the Tuscon Zoo watching the monkeys.

Got away this week...

We flew to Montrose Saturday and spent the weekend at Lake City...

By the way, for those of you working on your birthday/christmas ideas for Strother, he found what he wants...

Box Canyon Lodge, Ouray, Colorado is quite possibly the most beautiful place to stop in the fall on a road trip. Enjoy the leaves falling and the hot springs flowing...

Silverton, Colorado. Just after a brief and unscheduled stop for lunch, a giant steam engine train pulled in front of our restaurant. A near-two-year-old's dream come true!!

Mesa Verde, an amazing native american indian colony built homes in the cliffs 800 years ago. We spent forty five minutes in awe (that's all a 23 month old can be in awe of anything...). Incredible.

This is how you drive five hours at a time with a little one. Yay for The Jungle Book on dvd!!

Four corners monument. 7 am.

Ok, Strother looks pleased but mama and papa are just happy to get away from this nasty, gross, stinky, secluded indian casino in the middle of the desert.

Blythe was blinded by the lights. The lights mean nothing. The place was grodey. Grodey.

Back at the four corners. We can't decide what state we like best.

I think Strother likes Colorado best.

We happened across the Grand Canyon. Grand is an understatement. Even Strother peed in his pants... Wait, he's not potty trained yet.

Thank goodnes for Darin's long arms. We'd never be photographed together!

On a whim, we drove to Sedona, Arizona. This is the view from our restaurant. It was a serendipitous stop for our third year anniversary celebration.