Happy Birthday to me:)

My birthday was this past weekend and it was great! We got to spend time with both Russell's family and my family, eat lots of good food and opened gifts. And since I was the birthday honoree, I didn't take any birthday pictures so I'll need to get those from everyone else. However, I am old and knocking on 30 and would prefer to just put pictures of my child and not myself on the blog. Have I mentioned my child likes to help me cook, specifically smelling things and holding the utensils? Well, he does and if he wants to be the next Bobby Flay, then that is okie dokie with me! However, mental note....do not leave wooden spoon sitting on the floor after playtime when there are ravenous wild animals in the house (aka miniature dachshunds)....

Dinner

Here is Cole's dinner from the other night (fresh peas and squash from Nana and Pop's garden and baked sweet potato):

And here is mine and Russell's dinner (all the meats with stuffed crust Digiorno):


Can you say "Do as I say and not as I do?!" In our defense, we did have a salad and normally eat rather healthy meals. Cole ate some of his veggies but his true favorite at the moment is fresh seasoned avocado, some of which is decorating his face in the picture below:)

11 months old!

Oh my, it can't be almost a year yet...I'm not ready for a toddler (plus I need more time to lose that last pesky pound of pregnancy weight!). Well, maybe I am ready for a toddler that can move across the floor and not fall down to it all the time... and me chasing him might help with the losing of that pesky pound! Cole is enjoying solid foods more and has a much bigger menu now but doesn't get to eat everything he would like too....

He likes to talk on his phone and chew on ours....

He loves things with buttons and will crawl across the house to the radio/cd player (even when mommy is mean and closes the door)....

(I call this picture "I love you technology"!)

He loves to point and grunt at EVERYTHING...I dont' have a picture of that put here are a few of him actually looking at the camera and showing off those guns!

Dolphin

So the MckMama blog, creator of Not Me Mondays, is starting another endeavor entitled "Out of the Mouths of Moms". I figured I wouldn't have anything to submit to this quite yet as Cole is just now getting into everything. Until early this week when I saw this:


And said, "how did the dolphin get in the toilet?"...like there was a reasonable answer to that question! I think the towel fell off the shower rod and hit the dolphin and knocked it in there, but who knows? And for those of you wanting to see cute pictures of the boy and not listen to his mother's random banter, here you go:

Gardening fun

My parents were excited to move up here and buy a house to 1. be closer to their new grandbaby 2. be closer to their new grandbaby and 3. have space for a garden (ok, maybe number 2 is closer to their daughters and son-in-laws!). We have been enjoying lettuce and spinach from the garden so far and now the squash and peas are ready! Cole LOVES being outside and being in only a diaper hence the big smile in the picture. And did you know squash plants have these little clear thorns on them? Well, I didn't when I reached in there for my first squash and was more than happy to wear the very attractive gloves when going after my second one!

Goofiness

First, I want to say that I think Russell's first blog post was very good and sad and Hunter will be missed very much. I have already informed the stuffed animal thief (aka Baxter) that he has to live forever because I don't handle dogs going to heaven very well. I will try to get Russell to blog more in the future as he is the writer in the family and I'm just the weird math person that hasn't been posting very often. Part of the reason for the small number of posts (I have had less than 10 posts per month so far this year...) is due to the mobility of my subject I normally blog and post pictures of. I couldn't understand why some friends of mine complained about getting pictures of their toddlers because Cole has always loved to pose for the camera. But now there is way too much to investigate, like the dog bowl and toilet bowl (I'm starting to see a theme emerge...), to sit still! Here are a few shots I got of him in action moving through the den.

Here he is pulling up on my leg...."Hey Maaaa!"

My child, the next Michael Jordan...if he gets his jumping skills from his Dada!

Loss of a Good Friend

I never thought that I would ever write a blog, much less write one about a dog, but this isn't your ordinary dog. I got Hunter in January of 1998, much to the dismay of my parents, but I thought I need a lab for duck hunting and so the story begins. Hunter was a great dog and a loyal friend. He was always happy to see you and even happier when his kennel went on the back of the truck which meant he was getting to go somewhere (most times out to the country to swim and work on our training). He was a gentle soul and wouldn't hurt anyone, however he would let you know if he didn't like you by growling in which he did a couple of times at the local meter readers there in town. Now I know that Hunter was technically my dog, but after I moved over to College Station, Hunter became my parents dog. You could find them on the back porch in the rocking chairs and Hunter right there with them wanting to be petted and combed. We also had our moments of funnier times, in which Hunter carried the mini-pumpkins around the yard from mom's harvest display and deposited them in various places around the yard and no matter how many times she put them back they always seemed to dissappear. But as we all do as time goes by we all get older and Hunter did this very thing. Without going into too much detail, Hunter became sick and it gradually got worse and a trip to the vet, we found out that Hunter's condition wasn't good at all. The hardest decision I have ever made was on April 30, 2010, when it was decided that instead of suffer and continue to be in pain, that we have him put down. After he was put down, my dad and I picked him up and took him back out to the country for the last time and laid him to rest under an old oak tree. I think we both shed a few tears that day as we were down on our hands and knees to finish placing the dirt on his grave, but we knew he was in a better place. So with that said......Hunter you will be missed.

Rest in Peace
Hunter J. Meier
January 1998 - April 2010