Happy day of 2nd birthday Jaydon!

The day Jaydon turned 2 was pretty low key. We had a couple presents for him to open that morning and then, the nice mom that I am, we had his 2 year well child check (yes, he even had to get a couple shots). In the afternoon I took him to one of his favorite parks and then to Dairy Queen hoping he might like an ice cream treat - he wouldn't even try a bite (more for me I guess!). Lastly, I made him a nice kid dinner macaroni and cheese and hot dogs with some strawberry shortcake for dessert.

Opening his presents!

I was again a less than stellar photographer at the playground and didn't get much worth posting but I wanted some actual pictures on here of when he turned 2 so here you go!

What balance! Also possibly a slight trick of photography that he stepped on and off many times from the above picture to the below one.

Strawberry shortcake!

A look into Jaydon's life at 2

Wow, Jaydon is 2! He came in at a little over 28 lbs (he gained less than 4 lbs this last year but is quite healthy so it is not a big deal) and he is 36 inches - 3 feet! He was in 55% for weight and 80% for height (roughly).

He loves spending time outside and he can walk around our neighborhood and visit with the neighbors for hours. Lawn Mowers and Vacuums are still his favorite things with basketball, lego blocks, books and bicycles up there as well. He still doesn't talk much though he is adding to his vocabulary every day and he still loves signing! He is a daredevil and loves to climb and jump just in general show off some of his strength and agility.

He always wants to wear his hats so whenever we go outside he finds one or two to put on. Most of the time he puts on his own shoes, but every once in awhile if daddy's or mommy's happen to be around he will try for those.

He impressed me one day when we sat down to dinner, he got his napkin and put it in his lap - I love that kid!

He really enjoyed the new stroller he got from Tsss (or Sophie) for his birthday. He even tried to sit in in a couple times before he realized he was a bit big. You can see the line up of toys behind him.

Again, always anxious to go outside. If he can't find the shoes and hat he just wore he will go back to his drawer and find an alternative - this time however the wool hat and hiking boots were a bit more than he needed on our hot day.

He has this Busiest Busytown Ever book which is 7 feet of fold out fun. It is a great book and he loves to get in busytown and point out different things he sees. He also enjoys making a nest with his blankets so today he combined those activities and put his nest in busytown.

This one cracks me up. He gets into the pantry and opens many things and takes bites. For the most part he gets fruit and nut combos however this day he got into the Jalapeno chips! His mouth was a little hot for awhile!

Snuggling on the couch with Scout and Lambie and some blankets probably getting ready to watch a Signing Time video - I think his new favorite is the food one though the Farm and Zoo used to be his go to ones.

Jaydon loves his family! He asks for his Papa and many grandmas and grandpa and nanas on a regular basis. He really enjoys skyping so we got a photo of Granny and Papa through Skype!

He continues to be a great source of fun and we sure feel blessed to be his parents. We hope that we can have just as much fun with baby # 2 who should be arriving sometime in later March 2012. Maybe baby #2 will even be a bit better in the sleep department :-)

Happy 2nd Birthday Jaydon!

This was the first of a few different celebrations for Jaydon's birthday! And while I am a slightly bad parent for not organizing a really cool 2nd birthday party with lots of friends and activities for Jaydon we have had plenty of opportunities to celebrate our little guy. More posts to come in the next few days!

This chocolate cake is really good - it is very much like the coscto version just a bit smaller and sold at a store very near my mom's house.

Opening his card from the Austin family.

Enjoying some cake!

Holding his fork and getting ready to go for another bite.

The cake and ice cream helpers.

Singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out the candle. Jaydon impressed me with his ability to blow out the candle since whenever he has tried blowing before he blows out his nose and not his mouth. Glad to see he figured it out here!

Family Reunion

My mom's side of the family gets together a couple times a year and it is always a lot of fun. This year we were missing my cousins Sam and Joe but everyone else was able to be there (including Great-Great Uncle Bill and Aunt Carol from VA).

Jaydon and Ed playing with the duplos!

My family is known for being a bit 'Strange' we even stand around and stare at each other all day (reminds me of a Scuttles quote).

This year we went with build your own kabob! With of course a couple brats thrown in because you can't be a german family without having some bratwurst at every bbq.

Aunt Carol and Uncle Bill, Grandma and Gram, Sarah and Laurent

Jaydon enjoyed playing lasso golf!

My Uncle Bill, Jaydon's Great Uncle Bill, not to be confused with my Great Uncle Bill and Jaydon's Great-Great Uncle Bill, got it? Playing with some marble duplo things!

Cousin Jim playing some football

Jeremy playing with cousin Jim. Britt and others in the background playing baseball.

More duplo building.

Jaydon loves his chariot. Grandma brought it and he enjoys sitting in it, going for rides and he is careful to make sure he has on his helmet!

Playing lasso golf with my Great Uncle Bill, Jaydon's great-great!

This photo is a bit reminiscent from last years reunion. Check the logs from September of 2010 and see if you can find last years reunion photos. I can't seem to figure out how to link it here.

Jeremy found a snake. I did a good job of staying away, he did a good job of not coming too close!

Jaydon's approach to lasso golf was a bit unique. But he did score a couple points so we won't hold it against him.

County Fair

It is a real bummer that Jeremy has to work! There are often adventures and things he misses out on and if we could just win the lotto and both stay home that would be amazing (of course I guess you have to actually play the lotto to be able to win it...)

I decided to take Jaydon to our county fair and enjoy a late morning of going on some rides, seeing some animals, eating some fair food and listening to music.

Jaydon saw this car ride and he felt he really must try it. The only good thing is that with him at this age they let them ride with an adult but the adult doesn't have to pay (thank goodness, it already costs an arm and a leg for a short ride)

Here he is driving his car!

Looking at the goats. He really wanted to pet the cows but we didn't ever get to the petting zoo area (my bad for not actually realizing they would have one and trying to find it) so he had to do with just posing with animals through a gate.

He loves corn on the cob! It was also fun because as we were sitting and eating our corn we saw our neighbors who Jaydon calls nana's. It was great to see them and chat for a little while. Jaydon of course wanted there to be more music and when we sat down to eat, the band took a break so we missed it!

Last stop before heading home was the carousel. I think this was Jaydon's first carousel ride and he did great. He picked his own horse and held on well.

Quite a fun day!!

Northwest Trek

Grandma has been dying to take Jaydon to Northwest Trek. It is a place we used to go on occasion as kids and it is a pretty cool wilderness area that has been designed as a large space zoo/park/wildlife preserve. I was excited to take Jaydon but also knew we were talking about a two year old on a long car ride with an almost hour long tram tour ride and then walking around to see animals. He did a great job but we will now be able to wait a few more years before going back.

The tram tour - Jaydon spots an animal!

The lake on the start of the tram tour, there were many animals around it but you can't tell in the picture.

The wildlife is pretty cool: bison, elk, moose, deer, goats, caribou, etc. My camera battery died not too far into the trip so I didn't get that many photos!

Bill's Party

My uncle throws a great sailing party every year (you can check it out at Billsparty.com) out at his place (weird to say that because it used to be my grandparents place). Lots of little sailboats racing around, capsizing and having a great time. This year we took Jaydon out for a little while on Sunday.

'Flying' on the ferry with daddy's help.

In the canoe with mommy and daddy, he was happiest when he had his own paddle. Thankfully they float!

Getting the boats ready for the days adventure.

We had a really old inflatable life raft from ProTanto (my grandpa's old boat) no one would take it because it was expired so Bill decided to pop it and see what happens. While I wouldn't want to spend a few days lost at sea in one with five of my closest friends it was kind of cool to see one up close. Jaydon was not a huge fan!

Daddy found a nice crab that Jaydon could play with.

Video of our canoe adventure. We will need to head out on Saturday next year because that is the day they race around in the harbor, Great Uncle Bill will have to take Jaydon for a ride!