Cows and Carrots

We usually go see the cows every afternoon. I had some extra carrots and thought we should feed them to the cows. We picked one of the "sweeter" cows to be the recipient of our carrot. Nate thought it was so much fun and Blaze loved it also. I had the brilliant idea that we should give her a carrot every time we go out to see the cows. This was a bad idea. As soon as she would see us coming she would run toward us and then chase us for more carrots. So, we are on a carrot break for a while.

Nate Update

Nate went for his two-year check up last week. It was not a good experience. He usually does okay at the doctor, but not this day. He cried crocodile tears the entire time. He kept saying "need mommy, need mommy." I don't know if he thought I was planning to leave him or what but he was so pitiful. I felt so sorry for him. Is this part of the terrible twos? Nate was still kind of pitiful on the way home so we stopped by a store for some M&Ms (or MMs as Nate calls them). The moment I asked him if he wanted M&Ms he was a totally different child. Thank goodness for M&Ms because they miraculously make all things better. I will have to admit that chocolate can make me feel miraculously better also.

Here are some things I want to remember about Nate at this age.

• He weighs 25 pounds and is 35 inches.
• He is talking a ton! This is very exciting to me and Darren because Nate didn't talk a lot until a couple of months ago. Someone told me that he would have a "language explosion" around age 2 and he definitely did. He started saying a lot of two-word phrases a couple of weeks before we went to Helen and the week after we returned he was already saying sentences. One of my favorite words to hear him say is tomato. He says it perfectly to-ma-to.
• His absolute favorite thing to do is "book read." I was about to list some of his favorite books, but that would seriously take a long time. It's amazing how quickly he learns the stories and gets pretty upset if we decide to skip a line or two. The days of skipping pages have been over for a while.
• He does not like grocery shopping. As soon as I put him in the buggy he says "Ready to get out." When I tell him that it's not time to get out then he starts saying "Home, Home." This goes on the entire time we are shopping. I know shopping isn't fun for him so I always bring things to entertain him - snacks, juice cup, toys, books, etc. These things work for a little while, but when he's finally had enough he takes off his shoes! I used to try to get him to keep them on, but I don't even care anymore. I know we probably look like big rednecks, but if it makes him happy, then shopping will be easier for me.
• He enjoys swimming and is doing really well in just his swimmies.
• He loves to "swing, slide" on the swing set he got for his birthday. He loves to swing high. He'll say "hold tight" and that means he wants to swing higher. He also loves to push his toy cars down the slide.
• My mom has given him several trims (haircuts). I haven't done an official first haircut post because they've just been trims. I'm just not ready to let go of those curls yet.
• He can count to 12, he can recognize and say all of the ABCs and knows all of the main colors.
• He LOVES to go to the store with Pops (my dad) and get M&Ms. They do this every time Nate goes for a visit. The other night we were all in the car together and Daddy and Nate went in a store to get M&Ms. Out they come - Nate with a bag of M&Ms in one hand and a big fat red sucker in the other hand...and the biggest smile on his face. My dad was also grinning from ear to ear. It was so cute. Of course, I didn't have my camera with me.
• He loves music and loves to dance.
• His favorite TV show is Super Why.
• Our bed time routine consists of reading books and praying before bed. Right now Nate wants to "sit in floor" and read, but for several months we would sit in the rocking chair, read books, say a prayer and then I would sing the hymn I Come to the Garden Alone. One night when I was trying to calm Nate down that song popped in my head and I started singing it and it worked. He liked it so much he would even say "gar gar" to get me to sing that for him. I guess we've moved on from the "rock and read" days, but I didn't want to forget that sweet routine.
• Nate's favorite foods haven't changed much. Thankfully, he continues to eat his veggies really well. The only new favorites that I can think of are mac and cheese, pretzels and banana peppers.
• He loves to feed Oscar and Emmy. If they don't have food or water, he will let us know that they "need food, need wa wa." He likes to dip the food out of the dog food container and put it into their bowl all by himself. He really likes carrying the water from the kitchen to their dog bowl. He's getting better about carefully pouring the water into their bowl, but we still have to help him with that.
• He likes to help me unload the dishwasher. He will hand me the plates, bowls, etc and I will put them in the cabinets. One day I saw him open the dishwasher and take one of his spoons out and put it in the silverware drawer. I also saw him walk by and mash the "rinse only" button because I let him help me do that one day. After these two episodes, I decided that I needed keep the dishwasher locked. What did people do before all of these safety features? Teach their children about not touching things. :)

Anniversary Trip

On July 24th Darren and I celebrated our 10th anniversary. It is so hard to believe that it's already been 10 years. We are planning to go snow skiing this winter and knew that we really didn't need to spend a lot of money on a trip right now. As our anniversary got closer we decided that we would go somewhere close for just a couple of days. This would give us a chance to celebrate our anniversary and it would also be a good trial run for leaving Nate since we haven't been on a trip without him. We decided to go to Helen, Georgia. We stayed in a nice cabin about 10 minutes from Helen. The actual town of Helen was somewhat of a disappointment, but we still had a great time and really enjoyed our trip. We got massages, went on a carriage ride, tubed down the river, saw some great waterfalls and had some yummy food. The best part of the trip was the cool weather. The temperature didn't get above 80 degrees while we were there. The morning we went to Anna Ruby Falls the temperature was 66 degrees! It very well could have been 100 degrees.

Nate also had a great time while were gone. He stayed with my parents and he loves going to "Pop's house," but I still didn't want to leave him. He has spent the night with them a couple of times, but it's not the same as leaving him for three nights while we are 5 hours away. Darren and I talked to them a couple of times each day and that definitely helped. Even though I missed him I did not want that to keep me from enjoying our trip...and I didn't. We both missed Nate, but it was really good for Darren and me to have some time to ourselves. On our drive home I could not wait to see him. When were about an hour from home I got so excited. I cannot remember being that excited in a long time. I could not wait to get my hands on his sweet little body. My parents brought Nate to our house and when Nate got out of the car he came running and gave us the best hugs and kisses we've ever gotten.

These past 10 years have been pretty great. Darren is a great husband and wonderful daddy. I am very thankful for him. We have had challenges, but those have just brought us closer together. I love him more today than I did 10 years ago and I am looking forward to many more anniversaries.

Downtown Helen

We ate at this yummy bakery twice - one day for lunch and one day for breakfast. Some of their wedding cakes have been featured on Food Network.

I had to make a picture of these Haman's ears pastries for all of my Esther Bible study sisters.

This is what was waiting to welcome us when we arrived at our cabin.

Giving Nelly a treat after our carriage ride.

I tried to get my hand away as quickly as possible. I'm not a big fan of horse sugar. :)

Anna Ruby Falls

We took this on the porch of our cabin one evening before dinner. The lighting is horrible, but at least we tried.