One Year Ago...

One year ago today we closed on and moved into this house. I can't believe we have been here an entire year. Time has flown by. We miss all of our precious Muleshoe friends, but treasure our sweet new friends in Belton & Killeen, too. Just thought I would commemorate the occasion with a post.

Little Man's Video Montage

Jonathan hasn't had just a whole lot of blog time lately and I really want to catch up on here with all of his little milestones so I don't forget them. He is still on the verge of walking...we've been saying "any day now" for about two months now! But, he will actually walk down the hallway holding onto the wall..and then give up and crawl because it is faster! He just doesn't seem to have a huge interest in walking. Dr. Farmer used to say Benjamin was "very cautious" before he walked and I really see that with Jonathan, too. His pediatrician doesn't seem too worried. So, I'm trying not to be, either. Barefoot, he'll stand on his own for quite some time. As you can see from the following video, he wasn't quite as smooth with shoes on and mastering a stand:


We took another video tonight on the way home from LIFEGroup. We always say that we really want to "capture" that sweet little voice he has...and we finally did! Every other time he is talking and I turn the camera on he immediately stops, but tonight he was in rare form (as was Benjamin who really wanted to share in the spotlight). I truly apologize for the "Blair Witchiness" of the footage. You may want to take a Dramamine before pushing play. I just had to get him talking, though!



Some of his other words (besides "hi" and "bye" and of course the usual "daddy" and "mama") include:
BALL-- he loves any type of basketball or baseball he can get his little hands on.
EYE-- can't quite pinpoint it on his face, but knows the word.
DIS-- aka "this"; this is his classic word for anything he doesn't know the proper word for but wants to get his hands on. All day long I hear, "Dis...dis...dis."
NANA-- aka "banana"; he is now eating an entire one for breakfast, plus a whole slice of brown sugar breakfast bread toasted with butter! He seriously won't touch it if it doesn't have butter...such a southerner.
CHEEE-- aka "cheers"; he likes to clink his sippy cup with Benjamin's cup before they eat and they both shout "Cheers!" It really is quite funny. David and I laugh so hard when they do this. We have no clue where it came from! Jonathan is also usually the "cheers" initiator, too.
PEAZ-- aka "please"; he has found that it really is the magic word in terms of getting you what you want.

I am amazed that this little boy is already sixteen months old. Where has the time gone?
Jonathan, you bring us such joy every day. We love you, kiddo.

For some reason (and I can't quite put my finger on why) but we are all pretty wiped out by a busy week. So, we decided to stay close to home for Family Funday and go to Wazoo's, which is right around the corner from us. This is one of those huge buildings with about a dozen inflatables for kids to play on and run around.
This was Daddy's first time with us at one of these type of places and he even took a few turns sliding and bouncing! Jonathan had a blast and held his own among the big kiddos. We ended up not even taking him into the little toddler play zone because he was so into the bounce houses and all that those entailed.
Benjamin amazes me at places like this. This is one of the rare places that he physically can master. I don't know what it is about it, but his confidence is high and he just gets in there and does his thing. He'll climb the biggest of slides and scale the largest of the inflatable "rock-wall" type things without blinking an eye. It is quite interesting to watch him. It is like he is totally in his element. Even when other three and four year olds will cry at the thought of climbing the big slide at Wazoo's, Benjamin just goes for it and does great. For some reason, it also doesn't bother him that the place is so crowded, whereas in other crowded kiddo settings (like a McDonald's play area or a park), he'll sort of shy away from the craziness. Today was particularly hoppin' at Wazoo's since a local day care had brought every child in the facility to play. At first, I thought, let's not try this today, what chaos. But Benjamin really wanted to be in and a part of it all. I was so incredibly proud of him.
All in all, a super fun day. The boys are completely tuckered out and snoozing away!

He went around and around the big yellow pillar in the middle of this one!

Daddy getting in on the fun on the Enchanted Forest Bouncer.

Climbing out of an obstacle course.

Daddy and Jonathan tackled a big slide together!
This was the bottom of it; they were too fast for my camera.

Exiting the Pirate Ship bouncer. What a fun time!

Happy Day to You Two!

Just wanted to take a minute and wish my parents a Happy 53rd Anniversary! Have a fabulous day, you crazy kids. We love you so much.

For all of you Belton, Killeen, HH friends...

Okay, ladies...let's talk shopping. A few of you have asked if I know what shops are going in the new shopping center in Harker Heights. I knew off hand that Target (duh, it opens in three weeks!), Barnes and Noble, Chick-fil-A and Bed Bath & Beyond were in there. But, as I keep seeing new signs going up (Lane Bryant, Ulta, Dollar Tree), I started to get a little curious as to what else is going in.
I stumbled onto the best website that answered all of my questions! (By the way, Fred & Nyla...we're getting a Cracker Barrel!!). If any of you are interested, click here and then click on Property Browser. Select Killeen/Harker Heights and voila! Just mouse over the shops to see what is going where!