Niko is now six years old.  Wow!  We celebrated by getting him some new treats, busy bones (his favorite) and a new toy that he destroyed in seconds.  I would say he had a great birthday.

Poor toy never stood a chance.  Niko has an issue with ropes.  He sees one and it is like his brain says MUST...DESTROY...IMMEDIATELY.

Taedon kept teasing him with his bag of Beggin Strips.  He would bring it to Niko, then take it away and walk around with it and of course Niko would follow.

Such a cutie.

Since it has been very warm lately, I put a bowl of water outside for Niko since he overheats once the sun comes out.  He loves the sun but can only be in it for a few minutes.  Taedon apparently thought the bowl was for him to play with.

I finally found a way to keep them both contained.  Taedon enjoyed it, Niko, not so much.

My beautiful hibiscus I bought on my first Mother's Day last year is blooming again.  The flowers are as big as Taedon's head!

With my some of my birthday money I bought myself a bigger diaper bag.  I kept having to take two bags on day trips to take enough cloth diapers with me and decided that I just needed to get one big one for long trips out.  As you can see, Taedon fits in it so I think I got it big enough!

Critter update:  Myrtle the turtle has not come back and Lenny the lizard's beautiful tail has fallen off.  We discovered a large, beautifully ugly black snake living in our front flower bed that thankfully we have not seen again (I tried to get a picture but it slithered off way too fast) and these huge moths (?) were on our tree the other morning.

 For Memorial Day since it was super hot and our AC broke (again) we got outside and tried out his new water table.  He LOVED it!

Taedon turns one!

As promised, here are some pictures from his first birthday party. {finally}

The cake table

The "orange" velvet (red velvet died orange instead of red to match the theme) cupcakes I made.            They were a huge hit!

The party favors.  Popcorn balls with M&Ms.

Trying to see in the tub of popcorn balls.

Being his cute self.

He carried his water bottle around the entire day.

Hanging out with Audrey in her super cute party dress.

Watching guests arrive.

"For me mom?  You rock"  That's what I pretend he was thinking anyhow.

Family pic

Mmmmmmmm...

This...

is...

DELICIOUS!!!

A big thank you to everyone that came, sent gifts and/or all around helped us with his party.  He had a great day and we have wonderful memories of helping him celebrate.

Seven months later, one room is done

Well it may have taken seven months to get one room complete in the new house but we did it.  Taedon now has everything done that we had planned to do and I couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out.  Hey I figure we are doing good to get it done before he turned 18 and  moved out! :)

His rocking corner and reading wall.  He loves that he can reach the cardboard type of books himself.

The view from the rocking chair.

The view from the reading wall corner.  The sign to the left is the one from my childhood amusement park that inspired the entire room.  Thanks again mom for getting it for me!

This picture was made for Taedon by our friend Nicole.  Each color is a separate piece of paper that she glued together to make the scene.  It is sooooo cute and I can't wait for her to help us make some art for the next baby one day.

He decided to help me take the photos.

Enjoying the finished room.

Now on to the next room!!!!!

Well since my last post, we have had a few new animals visit, I am a year older and Taedon has been saying and doing new things.  He now talks to you and will hold a conversation.  No idea what he is saying but he really thinks he is telling stories.  He will now say "da du (thank you)" when you give him something.  We are still working on please.  He walked all around the house saying "ewwww" yesterday.  I will have to get it on video.  It is really cute.  He managed to walk right off the couch and get a carpet burn on his nose.  I'm just thankful he didn't break anything.  He can go down the stairs on his stomach backwards but you have to get him started.  He still tries to just take that first step while walking.  It gives me a heart attack every time.

Now for a view of our past week.

Who knew a wipe could be so much fun?  I got out the camera to record him cleaning everything (which was what he was originally doing) but once I started filming, he did this for about ten minutes.

Loving bubbles!

Niko likes to guard the house when we are outside.  Usually he is just laying in the sun but this time he was on guard I guess.  Like always, he is just happy to be included.

I gave Taedon some applesauce, yogurt, baby cereal and cinnamon as a snack the other day.  He did love it but I was finding it everywhere when he was done.  Poor Niko waited the entire time but never got any food.

Same snack, different day.  He REALLY likes this snack!

We have had a few new pets visit us lately.  I can only imagine will be brought home with a "can I keep it mom?" in my future.

This is Lenny the lizard (or whatever he is).  He has been around quite a bit so I guess he is a permanent resident of ours.  He hangs out on our front porch and in the window.  He has a beautiful bright blue tail but I couldn't get outside to get a better picture without scaring him off.

This is Myrtle the turtle.  She appeared in our driveway today so we will see if she comes around any more. We have had a lot of rain lately so I'm guessing that is why the sudden appearance.  I thought a front leg was missing but it was just tucked up in there tight.  Niko really wanted to get a closer inspection.  Taedon was inside asleep or else I'm sure he would have wanted in on the action as well.

We also have our deer from the last post and tons of frogs since we have a pond instead of a house in our next door lot.  I wonder what we will find next?  I'm hoping it isn't of the rodent, snake or giant bug nature but I'm sure those are coming one day.  Yuck...  I did see a large bird flying with a large snake in it's claws in the trees behind us last week.  I shuddered and closed the blinds immediately.  That was enough nature that day.

Taedon tried to take Niko on a walk the other day.

Niko was not thrilled at the idea.  He had his "this is a joke right?" face on.  I get that face from him a lot when Taedon is involved.

They didn't get very far.  It's hard to control a dog that weighs the same as you.

I celebrated my 33rd birthday last week.  Wow when did I get this old?  If you go back to my blog post from my birthday last year, I took this picture in the same pose only Taedon was quite a bit smaller.  I would do a comparison but I have a different computer and don't have that picture on it.  I don't realize how much he has grown until I start reminiscing through old pictures.  He and I spent the day shopping in downtown Annapolis.  We met up with Dontae for lunch since he works there then hit up the cute stores on Main Street afterwards.  We finished our afternoon by having what I would have to say was the best ice cream cone I have ever had. It was a waffle cone dipped in chocolate with sprinkles filled with french silk (like the chocolate pie) ice cream.  My mouth is watering just typing it.  Taedon is not a big shopper.  He is ok in the stroller as long as it is moving but immediately wants out if you stop.  So it was a lot of walking by things and   just glancing as I passed by.  All I ended up buying that day was the ice cream.

 He was not in the mood to take a picture.

Really, he just wanted my cake.

I think he liked it.  You can't go wrong with a Coldstone ice cream cake.

I got a sewing machine from my mom for my birthday.  I have wanted one for years!  Taedon loves the blanket I made him as my first trial run at sewing.  He kept rolling around on it and bunching it up so I couldn't get a good picture of it so I took a video.