Damon Turns 1

I didn't quite figure out that we would be in Childress for Damon's birthday until we had already left.  So we did some quick planning and came up with a little party.  My party planning skills need some major work, but at least we celebrated, right?  Sunday was such a crazy day that nothing went as planned, and we were flying by the seats of our pants.  I am such a bad mom that I didn't even make a cake for him this year.  Luckily Aunt Savanna threw one together for us so we at least had a cake.  We didn't quite make it to the frosting, but we did have ice cream.  Who cares about cake when you have ice cream?  So during the commercials of the Olympic closing ceremonies we had a 'party.'

He really wasn't sure about the whole candle thing.

I apologize for the dirty shirt too.  We were running out of clean clothes, and he had a little too much fun with the Kool-aid at Nanny's house earlier.

We definitely need to practice the whole blowing out candles thing before next year.  This was even round 2.  

I promise he had seen a present before, but the whole experience seem absolutely foreign to him!

He sorta got the idea of the wrapping paper, but lucky for us there were plenty of cousins to help!

The only thing I did right the whole night was get him this big orange ball.  I think he liked it!

This is what Kyler was doing while Damon was opening presents.  Little sneak.

Another new experience... ICE CREAM

He pushed the cake aside to make more room for ice cream.  I don't think he took more than one bite of cake.  He knows better than waste any room on cake.  Ice cream is the way to go!

And it was late, so we had a few melt downs too!

I think he had 3 helpings it was so good!

We all scream for ice cream!!

I have to admit that this year has gone by fast and slow at the same time.  I never thought we would make it to 4 months let alone 1 year with our family intact!  Damon threw us all for a loop, but we love him dearly.  He is a crazy little boy that adores his big brother, loves to see his daddy walk in the door, and occasionally lays his head on his mom's shoulder.  He has the biggest and most contagious smile, and he loves to scream!  He can whistle almost better than me and is FINALLY sleeping through the night (most of the time).  Our lives have been forever changed because of this little boy, and honestly, we wouldn't have it any other way!

Fun in Childress

We headed from Uvalde to Childress to visit some more family on our break from school.  Kyler was so excited to get to Nana and Papa's house this time!  He couldn't wait to see Kacy and Keyan, and everyone else.  The boys had a great time with everyone in Childress.  They loved going to Nanny and Papa's house with the horses, and orange slices (candy), playing with their cousins, jumping on the trampoline, getting ice and water from the refrigerator door, and just having fun!  We were able to go to the river and the lake while we were there.  These boys love playing outside! 

Kyler had special time with Papa every morning.  The first morning we were there Kyler got out of bed and found Papa at 6:30.  He watered the garden and the grass, fed the dogs, took Kaden to football practice, and just followed Papa everywhere.  He cried when Papa told him he had to go to work, so Papa decided he didn't have to go to work just yet and let Kyler continue to follow him.  Eventually, Papa put Kyler in bed with Nana and left for work.  Kyler did all of that without Kenney and I knowing.  We didn't even hear him leave our room.  He did this everyday except one (he was finally so exhausted he slept in).  Papa said that Kyler never said one word to him but would just follow along and help.  Kyler loved being with Papa!

We had never seen so little water at the river, but it was still fun for the boys to play in the sand/mud.  I thought it was yucky, especially when Damon got a bottle the kids were using to catch minnows and took a swig of the water.  I almost puked, and of course Damon didn't seem to notice anything different about the water.  Gross boys!!

Catching minnows with Nana and Daddy

Naked boys cleaning off the sand by running through the sprinkler!  I love cute little naked butts!!

These boys LOVE their Aunt Kacy

On the way to the lake, Kyler threw one of the biggest fits to date.  He screamed and cried and kicked for literally an hour before he fell asleep.  Of course he finally fell asleep right as we pulled up to the lake, but this is the pathetic face he had when he gave up.  The frown, the pouty lips, the tears.  All because Mom wouldn't let him play with her sunglasses!

Once he took a short nap, he went down to the water and played football with Aunt Savanna.  He loved being able to get in the water at his own comfort level.  It was good to see him enjoying the water again rather than being scared.  Kyler took a few boat rides and was able to get on the tube with me.  He was the most boring, non-expressive kid ever.  He never smiled or cried or anything.  I could never figure out if he liked it or not.  He wouldn't say anything.  Weirdo!

This kid is always happy when he has food in his mouth!

Kyler decided to go rock climbing and it scared me to death!  He was just following his cousins, but I didn't trust him.  I was completely amazed when he made it to the top without any problems.  I was mostly terrified that there would be a snake everywhere I looked, but thankfully, for all of us, there were no snakes!  Kyler had a blast climbing.

Damon trying out the rock climbing himself.  He wasn't quite so successful, but he had fun trying to catch the big kids.

Kyler dumping sand in Uncle Kaden's hair.  I love Avery in this picture too.

Vampire Kyler.  I have a much better looking vampire than Twlight!

Damon was either screaming mad or happy all day long.  There was no middle ground.

Finals are over... Let the fun begin

After Kenney finished his finals we headed off to Uvalde, Texas to visit the Payne's (Kenney's sister and her family).  Kyler was so excited to get there.  Every time we would stop he would say, "There it is."  He thought every house or store was Tyce's house!  It was fun to see Kyler and Damon play so well with their cousins.  Poor Brek was left out a lot of the time because Kyler and Tyce played so well together.  It was nice to relax and enjoy being around family.  We even got to play volleyball and saw a movie without kids around!!  Wow!  Thanks for letting us come visit Payne family.  We had a blast!

The kids were waiting for the parade to come.  Apparently we were an hour late.  Oops!  They did have fun watching traffic though.  Every time a big truck was coming they would duck down and hide.  You could hear all of them saying, "Get down!  Get down!"  It was fun to see that they didn't need much for entertainment.

These boys LOVE to run!!  They ran for hours back and forth through the house.  Uncle Brock started giving the boys obstacles to run over.  It was funny when the boys were running in opposite directions and hit each other.  We were proud of Kyler because he is finally learning how to take a hit!  They both loved playing with one another no matter what they were doing.

Tyce got some pretty good air on this jump!

It was hot down in Uvalde, so we decided to go to the river one day and go swimming.  We went to a place close to Camp Wood, where Brock and Shayla used to live.  The river was pretty, and the kids had a good time!

This little guy doesn't look too happy in this picture, but he was so content to just sit in the stroller.  Luke liked the water too, but he was happy as could be watching everyone else.

Silly, Silly Brek!!  We love this girl!!

Go figure, Kyler is not in the water!!  This child loved the water earlier this summer and something happened to make him scared.  Although, he did love the snacks.

The boys thought it was a lot of fun to be spun in circles.  Kenney started by doing both boys at once, but we got a much better dizzy effect when each dad spun the boys.

 

 Damon often screams like this when he gets excited.  It's really funny when Kyler and Damon scream back and forth in their room when they are supposed to be going to sleep!

Just some silly shots of Damon at the table!

For some reason he likes to suck on his big toe while sitting in his seat.

That is one BIG mouth!