A true Oregonian

After church I sat down to feed Eliza and Zay asked if he could go outside.  We have a covered part on our back deck so I let him go out even though it had been raining.  He came back inside a minute later and was absolutely soaked.  He is so efficient when it comes to getting wet, dirty, etc. 

All winter long I've been feeling bad because I only took him puddle jumping once.  As it turns out he didn't need me to take him after all, he managed to figure it out on his own.  He found where the roof drips the rainwater along the edge of the deck and makes a long (muddy) puddle and splashed around in it while it poured.  As a northwesterner myself, I'm proud that when it comes to loving rain he seems to take after me rather than his desert-born daddy!

Binky Trick

Binky Trick a video by Jerel & Amanda on Flickr.

Zay & Emma at the zo

It took me forever to get this video to upload.  It's Isaiah and his friend Emma at the zoo last month.

"Mommy walk"

When Zay wants to go outside, he cleverly phrases it as a suggestion for something I might want to do, thus "Mommy walk."  He said it a million times the other morning because I'd told him we were going to walk to story time at the library and he was getting impatient to leave.  I explained that I still needed to pack the stroller--it's kind of a long walk, so I bring extra bottles & sippy cups, snacks, diapers, toys, etc.  So while I was in the kitchen getting snacks ready, Zay took care of packing the stroller...He cleared off a whole shelf of books, shoved in every diaper he could find, and thew in a dozen Hot Wheels cars to top it off.  I'm not sure where he thought Eliza was going to sit, but he's sure a funny little helper!

The Park

This afternoon Zay, Eliza, & I went to the park with my friend Stephenie and her two kids. She has a son Zay's age and an older daughter. Zay played really well with Finley and that was fun to watch. Most of the time he just plays next to other kids rather than with them, but he actually made a few attempts to interact with Fin. He was even brave enough to go down the slide by himself and kept saying "Cooooooo" (cool) when he got to the bottom. He always says it in this really high-pitched voice; it's pretty cute.

Little Laney

Laney is a friend of Isaiah's. It's handy since I'm also friends with Laney's mom. They live right in our neighborhood and also attend our ward. Zay and Laney attend nursery class together and seem to get along well (that means Laney doesn't get TOO mad when Zay hits her).  Laney got to stay with us the other day while her mom was at work. She is so quiet and shy compared to Isaiah and it was fun to watch them interacting. Zay even let Laney wear his warm coat while we went on a walk. He loves having kids to play with and I think Laney enjoyed herself too. We had fun being the backup daycare for the day!

Our little party animal

That's right, Eliza is a party animal. She is so afraid of missing out on something fun that she even sleeps holding on to her toys. I thought it was cute when I found her like this the other day. She loves to lay there and play with all the toys hanging above her. This time she just got all tuckered out and decided to take a little snooze.