A little shelf goes a long way

Thanks to my hoarder of a father ;) I was able to use some of his scrap wood to make a rolling shelf and a shelf for the back of my washer and dryer. I built it all by myself too. Ok, so my father helped a little. He mainly had to show me how to use his tools/supervise. But as you can see by the before and after pictures, it made such a difference! It's so hard to make a place for everything in this little apartment, but we're making it work!

A Long Summer Part 1

This has been a long summer. We lived in South Carolina for a bit of it, moved back home and then left for 2 and a half weeks again. Now we're back, and life is back to being somewhat normal again. 

Father's day:

I made bacon roses. Note the look of sheer joy on Aaron's face. He was quite pleased.  

These puppies were dripping sweet bacon grease nectar.

What a cute matching family. I love us.

And in other news: Dawson turned 2 today!

I love this kid. He has Aaron and I wrapped around his finger. He is such a sweet boy. He is also a flirt and quite the little actor. He can fake a cry better than any Hollywood actress. 

Out of hmmm about 50 pictures, the one above is about the only real framable shot I got. Meanwhile, I made a collage of the typical Dawson faces. I captured most all of them in a single hour. It's a new record.

Then we had a visit from Grandma complete with cupcakes and presents. Dawson first had to pray over his cupcakes and wouldn't unfold his arms until it was time to eat it. Yes, he was trying to pray while he blew out the candles. The first few presents, Dawson was a little timid, by the third one, he was begging for more! It's so fun when they know a little bit more of what is happening. Although, he is still a little clueless and I'm sure he's going to want a repeat tomorrow, but hey, it was fun =)

Dawson, we love you. You've made our lives a joy.

Impromptu Zoo Trip!

This morning, I found a groupon deal. It was $20 for 2 tickets to the zoo. I thought that would be a great Wednesday activity! Se we ran to the zoo!

Dawson had a great time. He just loved the vast space to run around!

He really liked the little cut outs!

He wanted to see what he was posing for ...

We saw some giraffes! They were so neat!

And a strutting crane! He was ruffling his feathers and displaying for the zookeeper. It was pretty funny.

Another cutout. Only this time a little boy joined in the fun =)

Dawson didn't like to share ...

There was a mirror in the reptile exhibit. The plaque read "The most ferocious animal in the world: Homo Sapein"

Dawson doesn't look THAT ferocious!

We love this little dude!

Little Messes

Lately, I have been letting go and letting Dawson make some messes. Which by the way, is a big step for me.

So we went all out and gave him some pasta. 

He loved it so much that he licked his plate clean!

And now he'll drink water ... if it's out of my water bottle. Which makes a big wet mess! I guess whatever makes drinking water fun?

Here is a contained mess:
The ball pit.

Dawson loves it ... sometimes. He LOVED having a friend over to play in the ball pit. They played in there for about 20 minutes! Amazing!

This isn't much of a mess, well if you look REALLY closely it is. 

I made these pants for Dawson. One of the better pairs I've made too!

Here's some cuteness for you:

Dawson and Daddy jammin out to some classic hits. 

Love these guys!

Cookies ... again?!

First things first: For Aaron's birthday gift, Dawson gave Aaron snuggles.

Aaron loved it. Especially since Dawson doesn't snuggle! 

Well, as the title suggest, yes, we made cookies again. Even though Dawson happens to be in the same outfit (Which we have now dubbed the "Cookie Pants") I promise, this was a separate occasion. 

The premise remains the same though: Aaron signed "us" up to bring cookies to a ward function. 

And by "us" I mean me ....

Now, Dawson starts screaming and reaching over the baby gate when I pull out the mixer.

Uh oh.

It's a good thing he's so cute!!

Aaron's Birthday

So today is Aaron's birthday.

It's been a fun day.

In between classes and loads of studying, we managed to do this:

I surprised Aaron at school with an awesome cake. I even secretly invited his friends. We had a good time!

It's a captain america cake!

With an american flag inside! Heck YES!

Then when Aaron came home, I had a little scavenger hunt/clue trail. Each clue led him to another and then another till he ended up finding his present. 

Which was:

Aaron really likes this game. It's a gambling game, but a fun wholesome one where nobody really knows the answers. 

Sadly though ... when we were at the school, Dawson started getting warm and lethargic. 

He has been like that all day with a fever.

But he's gotten some fever reducers, cuddles and snacks so he's been a cooperative boy!

Dawson is starting to cut a few molars. Because of this, he's a wee bit crabby.

I really had to make cookies for a ward party tomorrow.

So:

Dawson got to help me =)

He REALLY liked being in the kitchen with me. He hates it when I go in there without him (which is everytime I enter the kitchen)

Without encouragement, he decided to stir. Baby see baby do!

But THIS was NOT a baby see baby do moment. He's a smart kid. He realized this was sugary deliciousness really fast. 

Going in for seconds.
See that binkie behind him? I know I post his binkie on here a lot, but he seriously doesn't get his binkie unless he is sleeping. There have been a handful of exceptions since this rule was made 6 months ago. 

But anyways, the binkie: I pulled it out of his mouth to give him a little bite of cookie dough. When I pulled it out, I put it on that jar behind him. When he was done eating, he put it back in his mouth. When he went to get another bite, he reached back and put it back on the jar. What a funny kid. Later, he dipped his binkie into the cookie dough and then back into his mouth. What a stinker!

I love you because ....

Dawson,

I love you because,

You give faces like this:

And you watch T.V. like this:

Aaron,

I love you because ...

Your eyes go "off-center" when you're tired. And you let me take a picture of you so that I can show you (Even though you can hardly tell in a picture!)

 And because my boys give me new reasons to love them every day, and because some days I need a reminder on why I love them, 

I made this sign.

I put it in the hallway right outside of our bedroom door.

So I pass by it several times a day, and I try to update it every day as well. 

Aaron and Dawson, I love you because ... you are my boys, you are my family. 

My Little Man

It's official: In this outfit, Dawson looks like a little boy. He's growing SO fast! I can't keep up!

In other news:

I guess we played really hard today. Because Dawson was trying to nap during lunch.

But being the adorable kid he is, he was still chewing even though his eyes were closed. 

Don't worry, we put him to bed after we shot the picture.

Happenings of Late

About mid-December, Aaron finished his first semester of Year 2. This marks his halfway point of his "schooling" (His last year will be rotations ... i.e. internships). He also had a particularly hard semester. So he came home to this after his last final.

He got his favorite candy, celebratory cake, eggnog, and a few "cold ones". He also came home to a blanket fort in the living room ... that was his request ha ha. So we watched a movie and had snacks to celebrate.  

Then came Christmas. We spent it with my parents. We had a nice, warm time. 

Lisa and Darin (My brother and Sister-in-law) had all of us put our kids' hand prints on these aprons. They turned out way cute and mom and dad loved them. 

We did our hand prints in the tub. Dawson LOVED the paint, but he was pretty angry about the manhandling and the astounding lack of water in the tub!

Our tub is still orange from the paint ... but at least it's a fun memory!

Grandma and Grandpa Nethercott got Dawson a "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" Laptop. Dawson loves it! He plays with it every day. I hope he'll be able to learn letters and numbers from it.

Grandma and Grandpa Isaksen gave him a ball-popping elephant. He loves that too, he likes to tilt it so the elephant blows in his face. Silly kid. 

We got him goldfish. They were just as well received as the elephant and the laptop.

Dawson loves "Dumbo" (perhaps that's why he loves the ball-popping elephant so much?). I  usually let "Dumbo" babysit Dawson so I can do my hair and make-up. It usually lasts for 5 minutes, but hey, that's 5 minutes of him not stealing my hairbrush!

The other day, it was really quiet. Suspiciously quiet, so I went to check on him and this is what I saw:

Nothing like "Dumbo" and a good book. He's getting the finest education at home ...

In my last post, I had made a nativity for Dawson. He got pretty mad at me when I took it away with the rest of the Christmas decorations. So I decided to make him more decorative blocks. I think they turned out pretty well!

And yes, that is cardboard covering the T.V.s buttons. And yes, he IS that tall ... Nothing is safe anymore.