Shar

And he knows it!

Tayden knows how to get the most of what he wants!  He’s a quick learner!  Good thing I just vacuumed!

Today we headed over to the Peterson’s house to celebrate Tandyn’s 2nd birthday.  It was so much fun!  Tayden loves playing with Tandyn and Tollin and Seth and I enjoy the company of Kwen and Lacey!  Tandyn made out with some pretty sweet gifts and I think we can say that this was definitely a transformer and car/train themed party!  The food was great and so was the company!

Unfortunately, I only got pictures of them eating the cupcakes but as you can see – they LOVED them!  Tayden is still perfecting the art of getting his food into his mouth on his own! 

I finally feel like Tayden’s bedroom is the way I want it to be and here are the pics!

So, over these past 15 months, it’s taken a while for the animals to get used to Tayden.

Lilly has started spending much more time in the bedroom in her bed or under our bed. So she’s basically always out of sight!

Penny is always on the couch and watching Tayden.  She is either up and out of reach of him or she’s following his every move in anticipation of the next Kix or Cheerio drop or waiting for him to throw her ball.

Emma has created the most problems!  If it weren’t for the immense LOVE that Tayden has for this cat, she would run the risk of being in another home!  She showed her frustration for Tayden by marking her territory in the carpeted basement.    I found this amazing cleaner that has made it easier to clean, so that’s a plus.  The positive is that Emma is very patient with Tayden.  She lets him love on her and hug her and chase her and doesn’t put up a fight.  All in all, she’s probably the best with Tayden!  If she didn’t pee in my basement, she’d be PERFECT!!

My mom’s dog Dottie is pretty good with Tayden but she is still getting to know him so we watch her closely to make sure she doesn’t get to competitive for our attention with him around!

This weekend we traveled to The Cities to throw Sara a baby shower!  It was a blast and so great to see Sara!  I was able to come up a little early to help her start painting the nursery (I did the grass and helped a bit with the sketching of the fish.  Sara did the rest!  Isn’t it awesome?!?!)

The shower was a success and it was great to see some of our old college friends!  We need to get together more often!  It’s basically just babies and weddings that bring us together anymore.  Tayden was present to show Sara and Jay all of the things they’ll need to prepare for!  He was especially excited to get in to as many things as possible INCLUDING their recycling!

He loves to wear mittens and hats!  Inside, that is!  When we get into the car, they come off immediately!

We had a great Valentine’s Day together as a family!  I made salmon, peas and rice with homemade Chocolate pudding, homemade whipped cream and strawberries!  Seth and I loved the meal but Tayden’s favorite was definitely the pudding!  Who’da thunk that 3 years ago we would have preferred to stay in as a little family and chill as opposed to going out for a nice fancy dinner!  We loved it and wouldn’t have it any other way!

Today we went to the pool and I may have had a bit more fun than Tayden did!  He didn’t spend too much time in the water but instead sat at the edge of it and played with the little pumps spraying the water up!  We need to get him ready for summer though, so we’ll keep trying! 

Tayden and I made the trip to Spirit Lake this weekend to spend some time with my mom and family while Seth headed to the farm to celebrate Grandpa Charlie’s 80th Birthday.  Seth had lots of fun getting a taste of what our house is going to be like in 10 years with more than one kid running around as he hung out with all of his little cousins!  Granted, we won’t have 5+ kids of our own, but take our kids and add a few friends and there you go!

Today Tayden ate a great lunch of peas, turkey, cheese, and applesauce so we thought it was ok to give him half of an oreo and he LOVED it!  He didn’t know what to think at first, but that skepticism sure didn’t last long!!

It’s Winter Games weekend here in Spirit Lake so my sisters kept somewhat busy with a few random activities including the Polar Plunge and a Volleyball Tournament.  We brought Tayden to watch Traci play and he LOVED running around the gym in between games!  He had no fear of the other players on the other side of the gym and would have joined their game if they’d have let him!  I sense we have a basketball player on our hands as he loved the court!

                           Future Athlete                              Grandpa Tim’s Hunting Buddy