Date night

For Valentine's Day Ty got me a gift certificate to go to the Paint Mixer. I was so excited to finally get to do a painting class! The Paint Mixer is a studio where you pick a painting that you want to paint, sign up for that painting's class, and then have an instructor teach you step by step how to paint the picture. It was one of the best date nights we have had in a long time! It is true when people say that when they paint their mind gets taken off of everything else.

Ty kept saying that he was going to be really bad at it but he killed it and did way better than me! The whole time I was asking him how he did something on his painting and to help me fix mine :) And, of course, the teacher loved Ty and would compliment him on his work all the time ;)

Ty working on his painting.

This was mine.

Finished products! It was crazy to me how different everyone's paintings turned out even though we were all told the same directions. But now I am officially addicted and want to go back and do more paintings. Hopefully there will be more posts about this in the future!

We Have a Talker!

Life has been so crazy that I feel like every post I make is going to be titled, "Catch Up". Hopefully I can be better at making blogging more of a priority. I would hate to forget all of the fun things that Milo is doing right now.
Milo is going through a stage where he is picking up on everything around him. He learns a new word everyday it feel likes and I love it! He says, "Uh-Oh", "Woof Woof", "Danger" (that was not a difficult word for him to learn since he has radar for the dangerous things around the house), "Cracker", "Cookie", "Cup", "Shoes", "Dada" for Ty (still won't call me Mama but he says "Moooom" in this long drag that is so dang cute), "Dirt", "Rock", and the best words of all that he says are "Thank you!" I take no credit at all in teaching Milo to say thank you, he picked that up on his own and he says it all the time and truly knows what it means I think. If he drops something and you pick it up for him, he will tell you thank you. If you get him his cup of water, he will say thank you. If you put his shoes on, he will say "Dank you!".
Milo saying thank you all the time truly just goes to show what kind of a little boy he is. He is the most endearing child out there. He loves to give people hugs and kisses. All of his stuffed animals get big hugs and kisses too :) He loves to cuddle and be close with us. The couple half hours that Milo is down for nap are filled with me hurrying as fast as I can to get things done because that second that kid is up he is attached to my hip. Even though it makes it hard at times, I like to know that he likes us so much!
As I was going through the pictures on my phone, it is crazy to me how big he looks to me now! He is growing up so fast and I am loving every minute of it!

This picture just gets me every time. Look at those tennis shoes, grass stains on the knees, and a scraped forehead. He is turning into a little boy! He wants to be outside ALL the time. If he's not outside, he stands at the back door crying to go outside. When he is outside he goes right for the dirt. Hence knowing how to say dirt and rock.

He thinks that he is even big enough to start feeding himself, which has made for a constantly messy kitchen floor!

And he can handle the big size cups now :)

Him and Lu will give each other hugs and say "Ohhh" while they do it. It's the cutest.

And this face? Oh man. He is a goofball.

Waiting for mom while she gets ready can be so boring...

We must take note of Milo's first selfie.

And we can't forget to mention Miss Lola who is Milo's new cousin. Their relationship struggles a little bit since she likes to run Milo over, but I'm sure they will soon be good buds just like Milo is with Izzy (Aunt Cayleen's dog). Milo gets to help take care of Lola some days during the week so they get to spend lots of time together :)

Well that's all for now! Maybe Milo will slow down a little bit so that I don't fall so behind on all this blogging. Yet, I highly doubt that will happen, that kid is always on the move.

Why My Child Is A Gremlin

First off, if you have not seen the Christmas movie, The Gremlins, you are seriously missing out and you will have no idea what I am talking about in this post :)

Look at all these adorable pictures of our sweet baby. It kind of reminds you of this, right? Sweet, little Gizmo.

Well, don't let it fool you. Just like with Gizmo, there are certain rules that you need to follow with Milo to keep anything bad from happening. 

1. Do not put him down for a nap in his crib. You may only put him down for a nap while riding in the car.

2. Do not leave your wallet or recipe box anywhere within reach. Or, rather, do not leave anything that has objects that can be taken out of it anywhere in reach.

3. Keep him strapped in his stroller at all times when out in public.

If you break any of these rules then...

1. He will wake up from a nap in his crib like this 

2. You will lose all contents of said items.

3. He will run away as fast as he can, grab anything within sight to take with him, and have this look on his face.

And there you have it! 

Lucky for us, that is a very short list of rules to follow, and Milo is usually an amazing baby. In fact, we would not change anything about him for a second. 

Milo loves to explore. That is my favorite way to describe what he does best. He takes interest in everything and wants to see how it works and then do it himself. The kitchen is his ultimate exploring playground. He loves to have us pick him up and he will point to his favorite drawer (the one with all the giant spoons and random gadgets) and pick which utensil he wants, then walk around the room banging it on things and pulling out pots to cook with. If we go anywhere, you can bet he has been running everywhere that he can just so that he can catch a glimpse of all the new things.

Milo loves anything soft and cuddly. Give the kid a stuffed animal and he will hug it so tight and then carry it around like it is best friend. My favorite is watching him carry around pillows just to throw them onto the floor and dive on top of them.

Milo is giving. Holy cow, does he share everything with us! If he is eating or drinking anything you can count on him trying to shove some of it into your mouth too.

Milo is a helper. I never do anything on my own anymore. Laundry? Milo is there putting clothes in the washer and pushing the buttons. Sweeping the floor? Milo is holding the pan for all the crumbs to be swept into. Wiping off the counter? Milo has his own wash cloth. 

Milo is happy. If there is one thing that I hope Milo keeps with him throughout his life, it would be his confidence. He thinks that he is the funniest person ever!! He will laugh at anything that he does and, he is right, it is freaking hilarious! We don't understand what he is saying just yet, but whatever it is, Milo will let you know it is the best joke of the century. Even if he isn't laughing at himself, he will just be smiling and laughing at you and think that you are the funniest person ever. He even has quite the fake, chuckle type laugh down. 

To sum it up, Milo is the bomb.

Sledding!

Just look at this kid in all his glorious get-up. Snow boots and snow pants can not get any cuter!

For Milo's first birthday, Ty and I got him all the gear he needed to go sledding. We took him out on the most perfect Saturday, with fresh snow and the sun shining. We walked to the hill from Uncle David's house and Ty and Milo found it rather enjoyable to pull Milo in the sled with him laying down :)

First time going down the hill with dad! He loved it until a blast of snow hit him in the face... then it wasn't so awesome.

So Nana and Uncle David went to have a go.

and Milo and I hung out at the top watching everyone. He looks super unhappy right now, but wait, he gets better.

Cayleen and Ty and David had quite the race going down the hill.

I wish I could put videos into my blog books that I print out because Milo started doing his little happy dance where he stamps his feet as fast as he can because he was finally happy being in the snow and loved running around in it.

Not pictured was Milo finally deciding that he liked sledding and going down the hill again and again, laughing the whole way down :) It was a perfect day! Now if we could just get one more snowfall this year so we can go sledding at least one more time.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Before we even get to actual Christmas, we were sad this year that Aunt Mckenzie was going to have to work on both Christmas Eve and Christmas day, so we decided to get together a few days earlier to make sugar cookies and open the presents from her. 

We always start Christmas Eve off with a buffet breakfast at the Little America Hotel. It is one of my favorite traditions that me and Ty started. This year we almost missed the window for brunch since it's a little harder to get out to door with a baby in tow. But Milo fully enjoyed himself and ate as much fruit as his little belly could hold. He wasn't too interested in eating anything else, which made for some very messy diapers...

That night we headed over to my mom's house for dinner.

 And opening Christmas presents.

 My mom got Milo a wolf sleeping bag, which was by far his most favorite present. He loves to cuddle with anything soft and so kept throwing himself all over the sleeping bag.

 Christmas Day we wanted to have part of the morning to be with just us three so we opened stockings from Santa up in our bedroom. Milo got a new straw cup that he carries around with him everywhere. He got a bird smackaroo toy (we unfortunately had to return to Santa because it was defective)....

 and an orange that he gladly helped himself too. Not pictured was a wooden shape sorter, a sweatshirt, and some books. Santa spoiled this little boy for sure!

 Unbeknownst to Milo, there were more presents from Santa downstairs. We kept him upstairs all morning so that my mom, sister, and brother could come over and see Milo come downstairs for his big present. We were all waiting for him so he was a little shy to come get his toys :)

But, alas, he couldn't keep away from his new kitchen! We were so excited that Santa brought this for him. At the house that I nanny at, the kids have a kitchen that Milo plays with every single time we are there. He loves all the spoons and bowls and utensils. He constantly is carrying some sort of spoon with him wherever he goes. He was so excited about all of it!

 He also got a fire engine from his Auntie Cayleen that he was over the moon about as well!

 See what I mean about carrying utensils around with him?

After Milo saw all of his presents, we had the most delicious breakfast I have ever had. We made this overnight french toast that is to die for. Then we got to play some games while Milo took a little nap.

After my family left, we packed up and headed to Grandma Linda's house. I do not have a single picture from this night, which makes me sad, because it was a blast being with all of the Higginsons. We mostly chatted and prepared for dinner when we got there. Then sat down and ate and watched the little girls throw rolls in water while Milo was thoroughly entertained in his high chair. Then we got to do our Secret Sibling gift exchange, which is my favorite. Every year we draw a name of someone who we will give a gift to. This year we got Dustin and Lyle and Claudia got me and Tyler. Shortly after all the gifts were given and opened we headed home to get Milo to bed. It was a long, exhausting day but it has been the best Christmas yet!