100% Boy

It's been suprisingly warm this week, and we are loving the 60 and 70 degree temperatures.  I took Leo into the backyard yesterday, and he was having the time of his life!  This was the first time he's really been outside to roam around since he started walking, so he was thrilled to be exploring everything in the backyard. He picked up every stick he came upon, waved it in the air, and then carried it along until he found another stick that he liked better. He crumbled up leaves, dug in the dirt, felt the rough bark of all the trees, and picked blades of grass. He was in little boy heaven.

 

Today I was outside working on a project during Leo's nap. (I'm sanding off the old finish of a coffee table I bought for $20)  When he woke up a while later I brought him outside with me and he was fascinated by the sander, and the whole sanding process. I put my ear protectors on his head, and he looked so cute with his chubby cheeks squished together. And I guess he liked wearing them because he toddled off to explore the backyard while they were still on.

 

Leo is all boy. He loves dirt, sticks, and power tools.

Then and Now

Leo had two pairs of these cute dinosaur pajamas.

One in 'newborn' and one for '12 months'.What a change, from then to now.

Now that Leo is 13 months old I guess we can't really call him a baby anymore. I'll have to change the header of our blog to just "Jack, Mandi and Leo"...

Toddler Time

Leo has embraced toddlerhood whole heartily.  He has a mind of his own now, and he moves swiftly from room to room, leaving a path of destruction in his wake. Drawers are emptied and shelves are cleared  with hurricane force...

The good news is that he can entertain himself for hours.  To him, everything is a toy, whether it is a plastic colander or a box of kleenex. My efforts to pick-up after him may be futile, but it is so fun to watch his little face as he plays and explores and makes big messes. He gets so animated, and has such a good time that it's hard for me to keep from laughing at his crazy antics. What a cutie.

Here's a photo of Leo tearing up the hotel room in Colorado, where we stayed for a few days while Jack was there on business. As you can see, the floor was littered with debris from Leo's exploits.  He also enjoyed climbing in and out of the bathroom cabinet. Like I said, he can entertain himself with just about anything...

These boots were made for walkin'

Leo has been perfecting his walking skills all month. He would usually take 4 or 5 steps and then decide that crawling was faster. But yesterday seemed to be his breakthrough. He kept walking and walking and walking- a little further each time. (I think he was actually showing off my for my friend Margret and her 7 year old son)

He's been talking and babbling a lot too- you can hear a bit of that in the second video. It's so cute.
Just look at him go!

Recap of Leo's 1st Year

Leo's 1st Year

He's been on 15 flights.

He's lived in 3 states.

He's been to 9 states. (UT, CA, AL, GA, VA, MD, DC, PA, NJ)

He's been to almost every Smithsonian and monument in Washington DC.

He's been to the White House.

He's been kayaking on 2 rivers and 1 lake.

He's been to the Pacific ocean.

It looks like Leo is getting a running start to a life full of fun and adventure.

We love our little adventurer!

Happy Birthday Leo!

We had a birthday party for Leo today. And since Leo was born on Elvis Presley's birthday we decided to go with an Elvis theme. We ate some of Elvis' favorite foods: grilled peanut butter and banana sandwiches, fried chicken, mac n' cheese, biscuits, glazed donuts and orange soda. And we had cupcakes for the birthday boy, of course!

We had just a few friends over, and Melissa flew out from Utah. It was great having her here to celebrate Leo's birthday.

Leo really went crazy with his cupcake. He started by sucking off the frosting, which gave him a fluffy white beard! Then he just picked up the cupcake and ate it in about 4 bites! He seemed to really enjoy all that sugary goodness. (We included a short video below, if you want to see the carnage)

We can't believe that our little baby Leo is such a big boy now. He is growing up so fast! We are so grateful that Leo came into our lives a year ago. He has brought us so much joy and happiness. We just can't imagine life without him.

12 months of Leo

Leo turns 1 this week-and here is his year in review.

It's amazing how much he changed from month to month. We sure love that crazy hair and darling smile.

Happy Birthday sweetheart!

Happy New Year

It's hard to believe that another year has passed, and what a year it has been. Leo was born almost a year ago, and he has grown so much! He is the joy of our lives. Jack finished up his year of school in Alabama, and we moved to the DC/Northern Virginia area. We spent several months on home improvement projects on our new house, and have been making new friends and exploring all there is to see in Washington DC. We are sure that 2011 will be another great year, and we look forward to all the adventures ahead...

We flew to California last week and spent Christmas with Mandi's family. We had a huge French dinner on Christmas Eve, with about 35 members of the family. And of course, the evening finished off with a fun white elephant game and several viewings of "A Christmas Story." (our very favorite movie--it's hilarious!) All the little girl cousins loved toting Leo around like their little mascot. We think he really liked having so many playmates.

My sister Jen and her family were there all week, also. Leo had a great time playing with his cousin Bridger, who is just 2 months older than Leo. But no matter how many toys were around, they always wanted to play with the same toy, at the same time.

Leo is getting better and better at walking. He walks behind his little airplane like a real pro. His balance has really improved, and so has his confidence. I'm sure that he will be walking on his own any day now... yikes.

We made a visit to Mandi's grandma Lucy, her dad's mom.
And here is the picture, of 4 generations!

Our last night in California we stayed in LA, so we could make it to our early flight the next day. We drove over to the beach, and made it just in time to see the sunset, and for Leo to play in the sand for a bit. He loved crawling around and getting really sandy. That kid sure loves the beach!

After that we walked around on the Santa Monica pier, and took Leo on the Ferris wheel. Even though it was already dark, the views from up there were pretty amazing. All the lights of LA on one side, and the foamy white waves of the ocean on the other side. Leo loved the flashing lights of the rides, and having all those people to look at. (People watching is one of his very favorite activities.)

The next day we flew home. Luckily, there were no weather issues so we made it home without any delays. Leo is such a good traveler. He did great on the plane, and even took a nice long nap, curled up on the seat with his favorite giraffe blanket. What a cutie!

Put your hands together...

Leo has been so fun lately, and so full of new tricks, that I just had to post some video and photos of it all.
He stuns us with his cuteness everyday.
We *heart* Leo.

He loves climbing over the furniture, and climbing into his toy box.


Jack has taught him to 'high-5', which really makes him laugh.

And he's learned to clap, which makes us laugh!

Is he cute or what?

Christmas in Washington DC

Christmas here in the DC area has been so much fun! We have really tried to take advantage of everything there is to do here.

Today we went on a tour of the White House- which is incredibly beautiful on its own... but with all the Christmas decorations in place, it was magnificent. Ms. Obama's theme this for this year was "Simple Gifts" and everything was just lovely.

The two gold trees here (in the windows) are made from folded newspaper which has been painted and glittered. I read that they were patterned after some trees that were made in the 1940s, when they had very little resources (due to WWII) to decorate the White House. They were amazing. (I'm totally going to make one!) These potted trees were created with some birch branches, and were wrapped with crystal beaded garlands. The picture doesn't do them justice- they were really beautiful in person.

As you first enter the East Wing you see these large wreaths in the windows. They were made from small dried gourds, pomegranates, and artichokes.

This year's gingerbread house was not made of gingerbread... but white chocolate instead. Pretty impressive, eh?

Every room has a fireplace, and every mantel was covered in lovely garlands. This one, in the red room, was made of magnolia leaves and glittery red spheres. Again, the photos don't do it justice...There were many large garlands around mantels and doorways- and in each room they were made from different type of greenery. This room had a gold theme- the trees and garlands were stuffed with leaves and bulbs and ribbons in many shades of gold. It looked especially pretty against the gold features of the room- enormous chandeliers, large gilded mirrors, and golden wall sconces. Amazing. The East Room had a Peacock theme- and was done in deep shades of blue and purple and gold. It was so inspiring. It made me want to repaint my whole house in those lovely deep shades... Well, that was our tour. As we came out of the tour we headed to Starbucks for some hot chocolate... and it started snowing. (Our first snow!) There's nothing like snow to make things feel Christmasy.

If you're ever in Washington, I highly recommend going on the White House Tour. (Just email your Congressperson to request tickets, at least a few months in advance)
Last week we attended the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony with a couple of friends. We bundled Leo up as much as we could, then took the metro into the city. There were thousands of people there, and they had two large video screens set up so you could actually see what was going on center stage. The Obamas were there of course, and the performers were Ingrid Michaelson, BB King, and Maroon 5. We wanted to stay for the whole thing, but ended up leaving early because poor Leo was so cold. We headed to a nearby restaurant where we could warm up and have some soup for dinner.
It was a fun night. Despite the freezing temperatures, it was fun to be out there, celebrating the Christmas season in our Nation's capital. We feel so fortunate to live here.

11 months old

Yep. He's 11 months old.

Leo is still practicing his walking skills, learning balance and how to get his legs to move how he wants them to. And instead of just babbling Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma, he now says "Mama" or "Dada" and actually means it! It melts our hearts.

Leo is still the happiest, smiliest baby we know, and is always curious about the people we meet and the places we go. He is a joy to all who know him. We love our sweet baby boy!

Santa Claus is coming to town

I took Leo to the mall today, and had his picture taken with Santa. All the other kids screamed when they got on Santa's lap, but Leo looked stoic. He just stared at me with those big Bambi eyes, occasionally looking at Santa with a curious stare. What a cutie!

HO.HO.HO.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Shrug and a Haircut... two bits!

Leo's latest trick is shrugging his shoulders. Unfortunately, we haven't captured it on video yet, but is really is the cutest thing. Sometimes he does it when he is mad or frustrated, but sometimes he just gives you a funny look and shrugs. It's hilarious.

And last week, when we were in Carpinteria, we took Leo to get his first haircut.
We took him to the little barber shop in town that Marty owns. ("Marty the one-man-party")

Here is the "before" photo. Leo sat patiently in my lap while Marty cut his hair. What a trooper. And Marty was great. Leo posed with him for the "after" shot.

Doesn't Leo look handsome? So grown up! He doesn't look like a baby anymore...

Thanksgiving at the Beach

We flew to California to spend Thanksgiving week with my family at the Carpinteria State Beach Campground. All of my extended family was there, as well as Jack's parents, who drove down from Utah. We had a great time!

This was Leo's first beach experience. He loved playing in the sand, eating sand, and splashing in the water. We had so much fun playing together, digging sand castles and moats, and just watching Leo explore. What a cutie!

Leo also enjoyed getting to know his 2nd cousins, and their kids. We all just love Carpinteria! It's a great little beach town. We had campfires every night, went on long walks along the beach, explored the tide pools, watched the sun set, and rode bikes all over town. These have been some of my favorite things to do since I was a kid, so it was wonderful to share these experiences with Leo. I hope he grows to love that place as much as I do.