Daddy turns 30!

Today was Mark's 30th birthday. If he feels at all uncomfortable with his aging, he isn't letting on. I think he likes it. We had a fun day. Dillon and I spent a week secretly strategizing about the cake. I wanted to make sure it was made of soda and cookies. Dillon wanted to make sure there were sprinkles and candles and fire. You can see in the picture what we came up with. Dillon picked out the hot pink frosting. If you give him a choice, he usually goes for pink. Not sure what that's about. Dillon also insisted that there be birthday hats. So, we made some. He colored, I taped and cut. We actually took more pictures than this, but I edited them on my new laptop without backing them up and lost all but two. Luckily, there is a picture of the cake, and of all three of us in our birthday hats. Unfortunately, I didn't get to shower between gym and cake time, so I look pretty gross.

Video dump

A few notes on this one.  Dillon repeats you if he doesn't understand the question.  Library candy = peppermints. At the end, I cut it off, but he says, "No!  Mommy is a lady."





Notes: cousins live in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.  Today, Dillon practiced the word "emirates" A LOT.  Uncle C lives in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  In January, our in flight magazine had a feature about Dubai.  Our seat mates were very impressed that my two year old knew that Dubai was, "..by Abu Dhabi!"



Note: Dillon loves candy.

Follow the Prophet

Me:  Dillon, there's President Monson.  Say President Monson.

Dillon:  President Monson.

Me:  Good. President Monson is the prophet!  Follow the prophet [referencing the song he sings in nursery at church].

Dillon:  Yes.  Follow the Prophet!

President Monson:  ...One morning, Danny and I decided we wanted to have a campfire that evening...We just needed to clear an area in a nearby field where we could all gather the June grass which covered the field which had become dry and prickly, making the field unsuitable for our purposes...We pulled and tugged with all our might but could only get small handfuls of the stubborn weeds.  We knew this task would take all day and already our energy and enthusiasm were waning.  And then what I thought was a perfect solution came into my eight year old mind.  I said to Danny, "All we need do is to set these weeds on fire.  We'll just burn a circle in the weeds." He readily agreed.

Dillon:  Follow the prophet.

Happy Easter

We hope you all had a lovely Easter.  Ours was wonderful.  A special thanks to Aunt L who not only visited, but brought all the candy. 

We have 9:30 church, so Dillon had to be very patient and wait until after to see what the Easter Bunny brought him.  He got lucky and didn't have to take a nap.  Happy Easter, baby.  Have a constipating amount of candy AND a little sleep deprivation.  It's all good.  He enjoyed every second.

 Dillon has indeed eaten a lot of candy.  But he's impressed me with his ability to stop himself before he gets sick.  Mostly, he just likes to go through and organize it. 

Aunt L threatened to steal the chocolate bunny. 

He couldn't tell if she was joking.

In keeping with Barrett family tradition, Dillon gets books for Easter.  Easter Bunny 2.0 brought him "Dooby Dooby Moo," and Nonna and Poppa (Easter Bunny 1.0) sent him, "This Is Not My Hat."

Easter egg hunting was much more fun this year than last year.  It's amazing how much they grow in just a year.  It wasn't too easy though.  He had to work around the sad remnants of the 12 foot snowman we built the week before. 

Welcome, Spring.

I read Dillon a library book before his nap this afternoon. It is called "Happy Easter!" It starts like this...

 Dillon knows Easter is next week.  But, I think the book has him confused.  After all, this is the view out his bedroom window.

And another thing. For all of you that think Dillon is a big kid because Mark is a big guy, and for all of you that think Dillon is a "mini-Mark," I give you...

Indeed, I was even fatter. He is definitely my son.

Photo dump

My phone died. All of my pictures were on it. Luckily, they were all backed up to google+. Unluckily, you have to open each picture and download it individually. It took forever, and is only getting done because I drank too much caffeine and now cannot sleep. 

November 29, snacking 

December 1, crime...

...punishment

December 3

 

December 6, Bass Pro Shops.  Free pic with santa, rides, crafts, etc.  Awesome.

December 12, "little lovie" was missing.  I bought myself a scarf.  Dillon said, "New lovie!"

December 14, Dillon christened these (L-R) "Daddy man, Dillon man, Mommy man,"

December 15, cookies and "lovie cape"

December 18, Christmas present. This was a great investment. In the morning, if I turn on Mary Poppins and get out his airport, I can go back to bed for an hour. 

January 8, Sam's club play house

January 21, driving to Keokuk

January 23, antique shopping in Ft. Madison with Nonna and Miss M

February 13, sleeping 

Video dump

Dillon playing Ring Around the Rosie with Aunty L Valentine and Cousin K at Grandma and Grandpa's house before Christmas.



Dillon being a sheep for the Christmas Eve nativity production at Grandma and Grandpa's house.



Dillon and Aunty L Barrett playing a duet. He really shines at the end. This was just before New Years at Nonna and Poppa's house.



Dillon and Aunty L Barrett playing another duet. He really shines at the beginning.



Dillon doing an after dinner, after spilling tea with oyster crackers, cold water, and sugar on his church clothes performance for Great Grandaddy Barrett's fellow residents at Rogue Valley Manor. This was in mid January. He was a big hit at the Manor.

Apologies

We were out of town for a month. Blogging on the go is hard. Then you get out of the habit. But, we are back. Dillon's big news is that he is potty trained. It was actually really easy. He just needed to have a couple accidents to realize that having pee in his pants is a situation he'd rather avoid. These pictures were taken today, in honor of Dillon being two and a half and a "big boy now." Photo and video dumps from the last couple months are forthcoming, but for now...