Dad's Birthday

My sister came into town this weekend to visit and it was nice to get to spend time with her. I miss her so much! I wish we lived closer and could hang out more often. She stopped by our house on Friday night on her way to my parents house. Layton was happy to see Aunt Amanda and her dog Dexter.

Sunday was my dad's birthday so I had everyone over for lunch after church. Amanda did these pretty flower arrangements for the table just to make it extra special.

The table looked nice all set for the birthday lunch.
Here is Layton with his Papa making his scrunchy face again.
Once again with Aunt Amanda
Daniel and Cooper
Playing with Aunt Amanda after lunch:


My mom cutting the birthday cake:
It was beautiful outside all day on Sunday but Clifton had church meetings all day so Layton and I enjoyed the day by ourselves. We went outside and played with the dogs and blew bubbles after a nice long nap. Once Clifton got home we just hung out as a family and we played some ping pong while Layton played with his toys. It was a great weekend!!!

Scrunchy Face

Layton has started posing for the camera this weekend but scrunches his whole face up when he sees the camera now. We of course laugh so he thinks it is great and keeps doing it. It is been hard trying to get a good picture of him lately especially since he is on the move. He goes 90 mph all day long and is into everything. I was telling Clifton the other night on the days I'm at home with him all day he wears me out because he can not be left unattended at all these days. This week at Nana's house he managed to eat a mouth full of dirt out of the pot plants and also broke some of my parents nice dishes that were sitting on a hutch. He is so curious and loves to crawl around the house and explore everything. He loves cords he pulls on them and eats them. We have had to do a little baby proofing at our house lately.



He is starting to pull up on everything but with this he falls a lot. He scraped his nose this weekend on the musical table. He can't quite pull himself up yet but he gets on his knees now by himself with no problem. This morning he was up on his knees in his crib when I went to get him so he could see me when I walked in the door. He can stand holding onto something now by himself if we help him up. Here are a few pictures of him standing up playing with his music table in his room.

He looks like such a big boy standing up:

Ten Years Ago . . . .

. . . this is what we looked like on Valentines Day! Boy do we look young or what? I was 18 and Clifton was 20. I started thinking about all the Valentines we have shared together and realized that today was our 10th one since we started dating. Time sure does fly by when you have such a great person to share life with. I know God made Clifton for me and I feel blessed everyday to have such a loving husband and now awesome daddy to Layton. I'm so thankful everyday for our relationship with each other.


Our Valentine's Day this year was pretty low key. We went to church and then had lunch with all my family at Wiffletree's. It was nice but poor Layton was so tired during lunch he was not a happy camper. Sundays are always hard because he always falls asleep on the way to church because this is when he normally has his morning nap and then wakes up once we get there fifteen minutes later. He will not nap during the service anymore because there is just too much going on. I usually give him a bottle during church to keep him occupied and quiet. We came home after lunch and instead of going to San Antonio like we had planned we stayed home and all took a nap. Layton slept 2 hours this afternoon so that was nice. This evening we just played with Layton and caught up with stuff around the house. Layton had a great day and got some Valentine goodies from Nana and Great Grandma Hill. Tonight we watched How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days because it was on t.v. and I made Clifton some of these . . . .

and he brought me these yesterday. . . .
Tonight Layton entertained us in his walker he was being crazy. . . .
He had the teether in his mouth like a dog bone and he knew we were laughing at him and he was running around full speed in the walker.

I tried to have a mini photo shoot before church since this was Layton's first Valentine's Day and Layton wasn't really up for it he was tired. He wouldn't smile for me so this is the best I got.


Layton is getting good with his sippy cup. Here he is tonight drinking out of it with his dinner.

So that was our Valentine's Day I hope everyone had a great day and got to spend it with their sweetie. Now back to work tomorrow too bad we don't have off for Presidents Day :(

The Ball Pit

Lauren and Daniel bought Layton a ball pit for Christmas but I was kind of waiting until Layton started crawling to set it up. We decided to get it out yesterday and set it up. Layton loved it and he thought mommy throwing the balls into the hoop was hilarious! I think I will be making a trip to Toysrus soon to buy some more balls for it so they will cover the bottom of it. I can tell this will be something he is going to love playing with for a long time. Here are a few pictures I took yesterday of Layton playing.


Crawling out of the ball pit like a big boy




Here is one of Layton after his bath he loves to chew on his little rubber ducks.
Layton loves to play with Daddy and loves to be upside down.

Valentine's Wreath

I was feeling a little crafty last week and was looking for something to make our house a little more festive for Valentines Day. I came across this really neat blog http://theidearoom.blogspot.com/ and decided I wanted to make a Valentines wreath. I bought the stuff at Hobby Lobby to make it and decided it would be more fun if I had someone to do it with so I asked Lauren and Cooper to come over to the house Friday. We did finger painting in the morning with the boys and then after lunch while Layton was napping and Cooper played we started the wreaths. It was more time consuming than I thought but it was relaxing and Lauren and I got a chance to just talk and catch up while we worked on them. We weren't able to finish them that afternoon but I think we both ended up staying up late that night finishing the wreaths. Here is the link to the instructions on how to make one if you are interested. It was super easy and inexpensive.

http://theidearoom.blogspot.com/2010/01/felt-heart-wreath.html

You start with a foam heart shaped wreath and lots of red felt. We cut 3" circles of red felt out to cover the wreath. You just fold the circles in half twice and use straight pins to attach them. It gives the effect of roses on the wreath.


Here is Lauren starting her wreath.
This is the finished product. I'm happy with the way they turned out. Now we are officially ready to celebrate Valentine's Day at our house.

We've got a crawler!

Layton crawled tonight for us for the first time. He has been trying so hard lately and finally put it all together. I'm hoping this will make him go back to his great sleeping habits too. He has been waking up at night crying and trying to crawl in his bed the past week and I'm tired. Here is a short video of him in action after his bath.

Finger Painting

I decided I wanted to get Layton's hand print and foot print on paper before he got any bigger so I bought some finger paint the other day. I bought the crayola washable non toxic finger paint just in case he decided to eat some. Once we got started I realized that my plan wasn't really going to work. He wouldn't keep his hand out for me and as soon as I put it on the paper he started smearing it. We had fun finger painting today even though we didn't get the hand and foot print I was hoping for. Lauren and Cooper came over to join us but Cooper wasn't a fan of the finger painting. He doesn't enjoy getting his hands dirty so the minute I put his hand in the paint he looked at it and then started screaming. Lauren and I were laughing so hard we were crying. Poor Cooper was not a happy camper for awhile. Layton didn't seem to mind it but of course wanted to stick his hands in his mouth with the paint and all. I'm glad Lauren was there so she could take some pictures with her nice camera while I had my hands in the paint with the boys. I can't wait to see her pictures she took. The clean up wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Here are some pictures of Layton creating his first masterpiece.



The finished artwork:

Getting into everything already

Layton is moving around so much these days. I left him on the floor in his room with his toys for a minute while I put some towels away in his bathroom and I came back and he had rolled over to his dresser and managed to pull the bottom drawer out and was beginning to take all of his clothes out. He loves to pull anything with knobs now ever since he has discovered the kitchen cabinets in his walker. He now tries to open every drawer or cabinet we have in the house. I think it is time to do a little baby proofing. He has also tried to stick his finger in the light socket a few times in his walker as well. He is so curious. This past week he has also become really stubborn at taking naps and will do anything to keep himself awake. He likes to arch his back and play patty cake or kick his legs to prevent him from falling asleep. He is either going full force or totally crashed out there is no in between. I think we are going to have our hands full once he starts walking.

Here is Layton working on his push ups:
Future Heart Throb:

Last weekend we had dinner at Leslie and John Paul's house and the boys got to play together and see their Grammy D. Here are a few pics notice how Mason is quite the poser these days. He needs to teach Layton how to smile and look at the camera.



I tried to get a picture of Layton in his boots before church and he wasn't cooperating with me so this is the best I got. He was trying to figure out the fastest way to get them off. He looks so grown up when he wears shoes these days.