playdoh!

I just love the concentration on Xavier's & Siena's faces as they manipulate the sticky, smushy, & colorful playdoh. Xavier could play with this stuff for hours -& I'm not joking when I say hours. I ask him if he wants to move on to another activity after a half hour, after an hour, an hour & 1/2 & he tells me repeatedly: "no! -mo paydoh! mo paydoh!" His attention span for the things he loves is really pretty astonishing.

reading his "tractor book"

He must be tapping into his North Dakota farmer roots, because this kid loooooves reading about tractors & various other farm equipment.

a tape deck & a microphone

Beth gave us this kids tape deck & mic that her kids played with way back in the olden days (tapes? -really?). Xavier loves it, except he cannot seem to hold the mic button down & he mostly just wants to heavy breathe in the mic:

helping in the garden

Xavier loves to help out in the garden: "wawa gagan! help me gagan!" is what he says when we head out. He enjoyed trying on some mama-sized gardening gloves. Maybe we should get him some of his own!

sillypants

chatterbox

Xavier's language has exploded this summer. He's gone from uttering a handful of words at the outset to piecing together entire sentences by almost 18 months. I am convinced his skills in this area is making our first foray into the toddler world a bit easier than many have it & I feel lucky on that account. He never screams or tantrums, but I am guessing he might if he did not have the words needed to make known his various needs.

Blogger won't let me upload this super cute but long-ish video, but I wanted to share it nonetheless. Follow the link to be charmed!

hood river day trip

Here is a link to a bunch of fun photos.

felony flats annual block party, numero dos

We blocked off our cul-de-sac with Brett's truck & had our 2nd annual neighborhood block party. It was a blast. The kids dragged a bunch of toys into the street & we sucked some beers & raised some hell. More pics here!

(Xavier is asking for "wowies" in this photo)

giggles

wonder how long we can get away with the bath pics?

Anyone for a bath video?

apple eater

We got a ton of apples on our tree this year. Lucky for Xavier because if there's one thing he loves it's an apple. And boobs. He's pretty big on boobs too.

buddies

X & O try out the new fort/tiny-house. I have a feeling this is just the beginning...

clark county fair

On a whim we decided to hit the Clark County fair for a couple hours before nap time today. Xavier had a blast checking out the petting zoo & was mesmerized for a long while as we watched a street magician & some Native American dancers.

mesmerized by the spectacle

vantasizing

Our neighbors got this awesome old school orange van & Xavier has been dying to give it a test pretend-drive. He finally got his chance & to make the occasion extra special we figured we would dress him in his fancy, loungy-looking golf outfit that his Grandma Katz sent him a few months ago.

When vantasies turn into nightmares....

book fiend

Xavier has fallen head over heels in love with books. It is the first thing he wants to each day (either that or color with crayons) & the last thing we do each night before bed. "No night Moom" is his favorite book, with "Yuyee, Yucky" coming in second (Goodnight Moon & Yummy, Yucky respectively). I have even chanced to find him slowly turning the pages of several books at the same time. He just cannot get enough.