My Birthday Present

All I wanted was a simple swing/slide combo for Erin for her birthday.  I surfed the net to find some ideas and got started.  I sketched out what I wanted and I asked my dad for help.  As usual, anything for me and especially Erin and he was more then eager. 
I wanted 2 swings and a slide.  I told him I wanted him to make it "build-on-able".  Meaning, I wanted to be able to build on to is as Erin grows.  Right now we don't need all the bells and whistles.  Well.... Daddy didn't get the memo.

He didn't want to make it out of pine because EVERYONE makes their swing sets out of pine.  He wanted cedar.   Nothing but best for our little Erin.  So, we have cedar.  He said we might want to add another swing, so we bumped it up to 3 swings and a slide.  Then, the slide needed a platform for her to climb up on.  From there, Daddy wanted to put a cedar shingled roof on it.  LOL!!  I said no, no roof.  Then he wore me down.  So, Erin's swing set will have a roof on it.  (We settled on the canvas swing set tarp.) 

Then... Daddy wanted to add a water feature.  He suggested hollowing out one of the legs on the swing set and putting a pop up water sprinkler on it.  From there, he was going to tap into Tommy sprinkler system!!  LOL  Yes, it's a cool idea, but a little much!!!  Then he decided she was going to get hot out playing on the swing set and "designed" a wooden, retractable patio umbrella!!!  I had to say no to that too.  She'll just have to get hot!!!  It didn't kill me or Tommy!

He's been so busy building it in his garage, that his neighbor decided they want one.  So, when Daddy finishes Erin's swing set, he's building one for the neighbor's 1 year old granddaughter! 

I pick on him, but my Daddy is so good at this stuff.  I have no doubt that the water feature and the retractable umbrella would have been great, just a little too much for a 1 year old!!!  He is sooooo excited about this project.  He took Erin over to his house today so he could show her. 

Pictures to come...

Fun Day In the Country

We made a spur of the moment trip to see Granny and Grandpa today.  We left pretty early so Erin could sleep on the way.  Our timing was perfect.  She napped until we got there, then ate and played with Granny and Grandpa.  Erin was more then happy to show off her new crawling skills as well as her lungs!  No crying, just really, really loud "talking".  It's too cute.  We also took some of her more noisy toys.  Add those to the ones Granny already had and it made for a very interesting lunch.

The cows were up near the house in the shade so we walked out there.  We put Erin in her stroller so she was eye level with the new babies.  It was great.  She had never seen the cows before.  She just looked at them and never got the least bit scared or intimidated.  One of them even stuck her head thru the fence and licked Erin's little foot and E didn't even flinch.  She just chilled and scoped and never even moved her foot away.  (For those of you who don't know, cows have very rough sandpaper like tongues!  It had to feel weird or at least tickle.)

Erin didn't get a normal nap in, so she crashed on the ride home.  She made it to about 2 miles from the house before she woke up.  All in all, a great trip!  Of course I had my camera, so check it out.

Most of the shots below are with Cupcake2.  Erin's calf.  She's gotten so big since I last saw her.  There may be a drought, but the eatin' is still good at the Mize Ranch!

Cupcake2 is wondering why Louis doesn't push HER around in the stroller!

These are sunglasses Cupcake2.  You ALWAYS need them when you're cool!

WOW!  She's way bigger then Roxie!

...and then I want a puppy, some rabbits, some piggies, a lamb, some chickens and a PONY!

Chalk this one down to things we thought we would never see!

(Only thing better would have been a pink stroller!)

Cupcake2's 15 minutes of fame.

I like being in the country.  Just wait until I can put my boots on

and get out there with my cow.

Daddy and the calf made me laugh!

Shuffle, Ball, Change

Erin has learned to crawl and you've seen the videos. But...I just got her preferred mode of transportation caught on tape. It cracks me up. She has the left/right/left thing down.

Splashing Around

After lunch today we bought Erin a little pool.  Of course, it's pink!  We got home and Daddy filled it up so the water would have time to warm up while Erin took her nap.  She got up and the fun began.  I was a freak-a-zoid with the Flip capturing video. 

Warning, there are 3 videos.  None of them are too long, but they are less then exciting!  Not sure what the "growling" is about in the first video.  That's something she does some times, but was REALLY doing it while she was in the pool.  Go figure.

Tragedy!

My laptop is dead.  There will be no visitation services.  In lieu of flowers, you can all come by and kick it when you walk by.  I'm upstairs and Tommy and I are now having to share a computer again.  Recipe for disaster.

Look Ma! Both Hands!

Some nice action shots of America's Next Top Model.  Check out her name on her rumpus.  The thread is light, but isn't it just too cute.  

Enough already with the camera!

Super Star!

Can I have two of these next Christmas??

New Favorite Toy

Ready, set, go!

We're off and crawling. Erin is funny. She can crawl all over and does, but she gets sidetracked easily and finds new "fascinating" discoveries along the way.

Her new favorite toy is the door stop for the "Harry Potter" closet door.  (For those of you completely lost, Harry's bedroom is the space under the stairs in his aunt's house.  So, I call our under the stairs closet the Harry Potter closet.)

Attached is a little video Erin and I shot this morning after breakfast but before our nap.  I'm not sure what the "runner's stance" is all about.  That's a new one.  (How stinkin' cute are those monkey jammies??)  You get a little bit of everything in this video.  She crawls, talks, patty cakes and plays with her new favorite toy.

A Very Busy Week...

We're back from our week long cruise and Erin Grace has been very busy.

While Mommy and Daddy were gone, Gram and Pawpaw were in charge. And when I say they were in charge, I mean they were here with Erin while she ran the show!

Before we left, Erin was getting up on all 4s and rocking back and forth. We knew it wouldn't be long until she was crawling. Tommy and I had been laughing because we both knew that no matter when we left for the cruise, she was going to crawl while we were gone. Yes, you guessed it. She started crawling Wednesday night. Granny Mize was in on Wednesday during the day to spend the day with Erin but unfortunately she waited until Granny was gone to start her tricks.

So, to recap her week. Erin learned to crawl, sit up on her own, say dog...rrr, and to drink thru a straw. Pawpaw told me when he went to get her out of bed on Thursday morning, she was sitting up in the bed smiling at him and playing with the flowers on her sheets. I had seen her sit up on her own once the week before we left, but she hadn't been able to do it again. Gram said she learned "dog...rrr", while we were gone, but we've only heard it once since yesterday.

The other surprise came last night when she showed us she could use a straw. Since we were gone and I hadn't went to the store, so we ate out last night. We were at a little Mexican place by the house and I ordered her a child's water. Just to see, I held it for her. To my surprise, she started sucking it right up like she's known how to drink from a straw her whole life.

Attached is a little video of her crawling. She's still practicing and reverts back to scooting on her rear and rolling a lot, but she can get there now.

Warning - she does a lot of "talking" too and this isn't the world's most exciting video.

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