July Daze

The summer is passing so quickly. I can't keep track of days or when we did what. It's good that I'm posting things more frequently because I can manage to remember some things. Of course, if I didn't have the pictures and the timeline from that, I would be in even more of a daze. It's fun to look back on the past week and remember what has been happening and the fun things the boys have done. Here are our highlights:

Kyle's birthday was last week and we got to spend time over at his house for a party during the day and a family dinner that night. Nathan and Kyle ate on the little picnic table. Nathan was pretty excited to see the cat, who kept him entertained during dinner. Aaron was a good sport and wore a party hat. Lately, whenever I take pictures of him, he tries to reach and grab the camera. I love his blue, blue eyes.

Aaron is beginning to pull himself up on furniture, window sills, pretty much anything he can reach. He loves to look outside and is just not quite tall enough to see much on his own.

I couldn't hear Nathan for a few minutes the other day and I called out and asked him what he was doing. "I'm getting dressed." He was in my closet and, sure enough, was getting dressed in my clothes.

We went on a walk last Saturday and ran into a couple of garage sales. At one, they had a toddler bed, so we decided to get it. Here is Nathan napping in it on Saturday afternoon. He did great and really liked it, so we took the crib down and just left the bed in his room. We left the door open just slightly, so he could come out when he woke up. He slept really well on Saturday night, and Sunday morning at 6:30, Ryan and I heard the little feet coming toward us and then saw one cute little boy who was incredibly proud of himself run into our room. It was fun to see him so excited.

On Sunday night, Nathan had a harder time going to sleep, but he was still good in his bed. At around 2:00 am, I woke up to the sound of knocking. It kind of scared on me, but then we realized it was Nathan knocking on his door. It wasn't shut all the way, but he didn't think he could get out. He told us there was a monster in his room. I rocked him for a few minutes and then we turned on the kitchen light so he could see that there wasn't a monster in his room. He wanted the light left on, so we did. He still didn't want to be there on his own, so I laid down on the floor by his bed for awhile so he would feel better. Eventually, I went back into my own bed, and he was still awake, but he must have fallen asleep shortly after, because I didn't hear any sounds.

Here is Ryan and Nathan all dressed up for church. Nathan looks so cute in his new white shirt and tie. He is feeling all grown up these days - a new bed, a tie like Daddy's - it's cute to see him grow and learn. He is getting so much better these past few weeks. He's polite, kind, and much more obedient. I'm sure we'll go through some more rough phases, but it's fun and rewarding right now to see his progress.

We pulled out the walking toy this past weekend. Aaron loves to pull himself up, so we thought he might enjoy this. He's a great crawler and really fast. This video is him crawling as he pushes the toy. He can walk with it too, but it's much slower, and if he falls, he just keeps pushing it on his knees.

Aaron is a happy little guy and loves to laugh. If anyone laughs, he starts laughing. He even tries to make himself laugh. He is also a good eater. He doesn't like baby food anymore, but if I mix some baby cereal and then also put some yogurt on the spoon, he'll eat it. He also loves bananas, bread, and graham crackers. He and Nathan are getting along much better, although keeping their sippy cups separate is a chore. One or the other always takes the one that is not his and we have minor breakdowns over it occasionally. But, all in all, for two such little boys, they do really well.

Basketball and Smoothies

Aaron is beginning to like basketball like Nathan. He likes to pick up balls and throw them. The other day he discovered the big basketball hoop. He was still a little too small to get the ball in, but he sure tried hard.




After our hard work on Saturday, we had strawberry smoothies. Nathan liked drinking it out of the straw. Aaron got a few tastes from Dad.



This is Aaron and some of his first ice cream. He pulled a face because it was so cold, but he kept wanting more. I think he is like his brother - never say no to ice cream or more ice cream.

Videos

Here are a couple of videos of the boys. The first one is Nathan reading one of his library books. I was taking a shower and he got all of his books on our bed and went through them all. He remembers the story, so as he turns the pages he tells it. Sometimes it's word for word, other times he just makes it up based on the pictures. He loves books and reading stories. This video is kind of long and hard to hear. I didn't want to get any closer because I didn't want him to stop and just "cheese" to the camera.

This video is of Aaron having ice cream. This is only the second time he has had ice cream. He had two small bites at Grandma & Grandpa's Sunday, but today he had several bites. He also wanted to feed himself, so we gave him the spoon and he did pretty well. The only problem was that he didn't want to let go of the spoon to refill it.

Aaron's new haircut

We just gave Aaron a haircut a week ago, but we only used scissors and clipped a little, so on Saturday night I decided that he needed more. He has a lot of hair. It was hard to throw it away, but really, how do you save baby hair? So I took a picture. I put a pile of it next my ring box, so I could remember how much there was. That's not all the hair we cut off, but a good portion of it. There were some really long pieces.

I think he looks really cute, but so much more like a little boy than a baby. I can't figure out who he looks like now. I see someone in him, but I don't know who it is. He is a sweet, happy, cute little guy.

4th of July

We had a terrific 4th of July. It was a long day, but we were able to do a lot of things and it wasn't too hot thanks to the overcast skies and the breeze.

We met over by Brad's office for some breakfast just before the Kaysville parade. All of the little grandsons had new flag shirts from Grandma Taylor and they all looked adorable in them. We even got a few decent shots of them all looking.


Then we enjoyed the parade. At first Nathan was worried because he didn't want to be sprayed on, but we told him that water was at the very end, and they threw candy. He overcame his fear pretty fast and waved and collected lots of candy. Aaron enjoyed sitting and watching, too. He was really pleasant the whole time.




After the (long) parade we went home and the boys got naps. Grandma & Grandpa Hillstead came down that afternoon and we all went over to Grandma & Grandpa Taylors for a cookout and fireworks afterwards. It was fun to watch the little boys playing together. Aaron and Luke are paying more attention to each other and trying to figure it all out.


Aaron got his first taste of popsicle. He pulled a face, but wanted more. I think it was just cold for him. Nathan and Kyle enjoyed the popsicles on the top of the slide.


We let the boys stay up late to see fireworks. We thought Nathan would really like them, but he was tired and scared of them "spraying" on him, so he stayed inside. He could hear them and the next day he told us how the fireworks went "boom, boom, boom," and he saw a few from the porch, but that was it. Aaron quite enjoyed them, though, so that was good.