Water Park

We went to Willis Tucker water park yesterday for playgroup. Our group was kind of split up due the enormous amount of people there, but it was fun. We did run into the Valentines, thank goodnesss. It is always more fun when you are around good friends. I had never been so I was a little under prepared. No chairs or toys, but I did remember the snacks. Toph really liked being out in the sun and wondering around but didn't care for the water much, unless I was holding him and we were barely getting wet. The water was kind of cold and he isn't used to the water hitting him in the face. I think he will have more fun next time.


This was Toph's first attempt at walking out in the water. He was doing great until a big kid hit him in the face with the big water gun. He didn't care for that much.
This is Toph's second try. Every few minutes all the water is shut off for a couple minutes and then turned back on. Well .... Toph thought it was safe and started walking out when suddenly the water was turned back on. He started screaming. I just had to get a picture before rescuing him. Actually I wasn't in a bathing suite so a friend ran in and got him. Thank You Tanya.

Cute Hair .... I love it.

This is Toph and his friend Lucy. Lucy wasn't to into the water either. They just sat on the lawn and ate snacks while they went through Lucy's mom's purse.
FUN IN THE SUN BABY STYLE ... HAHA

THE END......

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July. I hope all of you did also. We went to Marysville to Grandpa Nelson's house for a BBQ and to watch fireworks. There is a park right behind Chris's dad's house that we played at until the fireworks began. There were about 8 families around us lighting off TONS!!! of fireworks. It was great.

Toph had a great time. There was a family right across the street sitting on lawn chairs enjoying the fireworks from there drive way. When big ones would go off they would all scream. Toph would wave his arms in the air and scream with them. I think he would have had more fun with them then us.

Toph will climb on anyone/anything that is on the floor. He is also fascinated by faces and mouths. Chris thinks he is going to be a dentist when he grows up. He is always sticking his fingers in our mouths. I think that would be great. Dental work can be expensive, would love to have a son that would do the work for free. HAHA!!

Toph loves to be on his Dad's shoulders. He often will look down into Chris's face as though he is checking to make sure his Dad is still there. So cute - it makes us laugh every time.

I love my hubby ..... So cute!

Toph had so much energy last night. He used to be so good at letting us take his photo. Now He doesn't stay still long enough, he doesn't even flinch when we call his name, and getting him to look at the camera and smile at the same is very rare. But, when we get a shot he is pretty stink'n cute. HAHA!!!

He loves walking up slides. He doesn't get very far before sliding back down. I probably shouldn't this this is funny, might be a hard habit to brake in the future. Still working on going down them the right way.

Animal Park

Today we went to Forrest park to have lunch, play on the playground, and visit the Animal Park. Now that Toph has grown out of his phase of eating wood chips on the playground we have more fun when we go to the park.

Toph got to pet a goat, calf, bunny, and got to see pigs and ducks. While we were watching the pigs one pig started licking the other pigs snout. I told Toph that the pigs were kissing and he turned to me and gave me a kiss. I couldn't help but laugh. It was so adorable. There were other animals there but he got distracted easily by all the kids running around him. There were many YMCA summer camp kids there. I am sure we will be back soon, maybe with Dad.

Father Son Camp-out

Chris took Toph on his first Father Son Camp-out Friday. Chris's first over night outing with Toph. :) My first night without the Toph. :( I was a little sad to see them go but really looking forward to hanging out at home. Watching, eating, and doing whatever I wanted; peace and quite. AHHHHH.

From what I heard they had alot of fun. Chris called me on the way to Cascade Park so I could hear Topher laughing and talking. Chris was getting him to raise his hand and yell -- Woohoo we are going camping. Toph mostly just yelled.

I called Chris later that night to check in. They had already set-up camp and were eating dinner. Toph was sitting in his camp chair eating a hot dog and Chris was dropping his on the ground. Camp food .... YUM. We only talked for a few minutes. Chris told me that it was a father son outing, no girls allowed, so he had to let me go.

I told Chris I would know how much fun they had by how early they came home on Saturday. HAHAHA!!! They stayed until afternoon so I think they had a great time. Toph got to play in the river, play with dirt, eat rocks, eat hot dogs and graham crackers, wear the same clothes for 2 days, sleep in his own sleeping bag (in the same clothes he wore that day), and come home with dirt all over his face smelling like camp fire and bacon. Sounds like he got the full experience. :)

LOVING SUMMER!!!

First time to the pool this summer. YAY!!! Let summer begin.

Toph was born at the End of April last year which gave him a few months to see the sun and experience our pool. He was about 5 weeks when we first took him to go swimming. It took him a little while to get used to the water but by the end of the summer he loved going into the water.

Crazy to think it has been a whole year. This time Toph was really excited. Especially since he knows what it means when we tell him we are going Bye Bye (not sure he knew where we were going, just that we were leaving the house). He was at the door before I had all of our gear packed. He practically ran to the clubhouse. We just hung out in the kiddo pool, splashed around a little. He was too preoccupied with all the cool stuff around the pool (planters, benches, pool equipment). He kept climbing out of the pool.

Vacation to Montana

Toph and I went to Montana a couple weeks ago to visit Grandma and Grandpa Croft, Uncle Chris and Aunt Tabbatha, and Toph's cousins Samantha, Damian, Kaitlyn, and Christopher. We went to the carousel and ate lunch in the park, went to the movies (got pop and popcorn which was such a treat), went to the park, went to a cub scout day camp (Toph mostly tried to eat rocks. We tried to teach him to throw the rocks down on the ground instead of putting them in his mouth. It worked about 50% of the time.), helped Grandpa plant a tree, played with Toph's cousins, played in the McDonald's play place for the first time, and Toph ate his first Popsicle. He loved it.

Thank you mom and dad for letting us come and visit. We had tons of fun. It was great to get away and relax. Here are a few pics of our trip.


I told Toph to give the Horse lov'ns. I thought he was giving it a kiss until I looked really close at this picture and saw that he was sticking his tongue out. He was licking inside the horses nostril.

Toph with his cousins Damian and Samantha. Toph loves Damian. He climbed all over him while we were there and kept trying to give him hugs and kisses. He also liked stealing his pillow at night.


When we say, we helped Grandpa plant a tree, we really mean we watched Grandpa do all the work, took pictures that look like we helped, ate crackers on the lawn while Grandpa worked, and Toph ate the dirt. I guess that's one way to rid of the access dirt. Toph also got to hold a worm for the first time, but not for long. I didn't want this to be his first time also eating a worm. :(


Toph enjoyed riding around on the riding lawn mower. He actually fell asleep in his Grandpas arms while mowing the back yard. Good thing riding in the carseat also does the trick. Not sure where we would store or even use a riding lawn mower. We would have to move closer Grandma and Grandpa. :)
I am glad he was sitting on Grandpa's lap and not mine. HAHAHA!! I would have let him eat it outside without a shirt on but it wasn't warm enough. He actually stayed pretty clean.

NEW TIE

I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR A CUTE TIE OR PATTERN TO MAKE A TIE SINCE TOPH WAS BORN. I HAVE FOUND A COUPLE GOOD PATTERNS BUT I DIDN'T REALLY WANT TO PURCHASE THEM. I FOUND A TUTORIAL TONIGHT THAT MADE A CHILD'S TIE FROM AN ADULT TIE. I THOUGHT IT WAS SO CUTE. I LOVE TIES. I THINK THIS WILL BE THE FIRST OF MANY.

SHORT STORIES

1. WHERE IS THE TOPH?
Sometimes the things Toph does make me laugh so hard I wish others were there experiencing the moment with me. Earlier today I was sitting on the couch reading and Toph was just playing with his toys. A few minutes went by (that's how long his attention span is sometimes) and he decided to come and see what I was doing. Once he realized I didn't have any food he quickly moved on. He started crawling down the hall towards his bedroom or maybe the bathroom. He likes to pull tub toys out of the bath tub and crawl around with them. Crazy kid!
Then he was quite, never a good sign, so i decided to get up and go find him. As soon as I got up and turned around to look for him I heard a door slowly start to close. As I looked up the first bedroom door slammed shut. I could see his shadow on the other side of the door. I went to open the door, barely, since he was sitting right behind it. He was probably hoping I didn't hear the door and he would be able to play. We currently consider our first bedroom storage. He tries to get into that room all the time knowing it is full of fun things.
I slowly pushed the door (and Toph) open to find The Toph smiling back at me. He slowly crawled out. I consider this a mom moment - might not be funny to everyone but completely cherished by me.

2. SHIMMY SHIMMY
Today I found another characteristic that Toph has in common with his dad. So ... when Chris was single he use to give huge hugs to some of his girl friends. I think mostly just to Leslie Cook. She used to give Chris huge bear hugs. While she was hugging him Chris would shimmy her (otherwise shake her back and forth as they hugged). I often put Toph's arms around my neck and give him a hug. Well, today I put his arms around my neck and gave him a shimmy hug, aka Topher hug. He would throw his head back and laugh so loud. I couldn't help but give him several Topher hugs. It was great. Can't wait to show Chris.

3. WHAT NOW?
This morning I finished reading "The Actor and the Housewife" by Shannon Hale. It was a pretty good book. One that tugs on every emotion even after you read it. It made me want to be a better person, Continually rekindle the love/relationship Chris and I have, Give thanks for all I have, Cherish my family, Live my life in a way that the Lord can directly guide and bless me, and to Avoid the appearance of evil. I have to admit, it was kind of a long book. Some intense moments and some monotonous moments, which I actually put the book down to read another one. The beginning and end were the best, so when I picked it back up I couldn't put it down. I have spent every available moment these last few days reading. Now I am not sure why I was in such a hurry. I don't have another book and feel slightly lost. I tend to get extremely wrapped up in the books I am reading and finish them in days. When it is a good book I tend to get wrapped up in the characters and plot and feel slight remorse when I finish. Each time a finish a book I often want one just like it, although it is always fun to start a new adventure.

Easter Playgroup

We had our Easter playgroup this morning. It was so much fun!!! Erin, you did a great job with everything. We made bunny ears, listened to an easter story, hunted for eggs (well, actually got out of the way quick as the kids were let loose to grab the eggs they had been staring at since they got to playgroup), and then decorated cupcakes and chatted. It was great, just what I needed. Minus the 2 cupcakes I ate. :)

It's always great to get together with everyone and just forget the stresses of life for awhile. It is really nice that Toph has a few friends his age that play with him. He kind of has a short attention span and crawls away after a few minutes, especially if he sees other kids running around. He always wants to be where the action is. He tries to chase after the big kids. Thankfully they slow down and play with him. Thanks Tristen, Kate, and Tyler. Your awesome.

Toph didn't really participate in the egg hunt, he will have his chance Sunday. YAY!!! But he did get bunny ears. He is a very cute bunny. HAHA

1 step closer

Month 11 -

1st time walking with his bike. He walked from the living room to our bedroom this morning.
1st time playing peek-a-boo by himself. He holds the blanket over his face as I said, Where is Topher? Then he would pull it away, I would say There he is, and he would just laugh.
1st savings account. He was so cute when we were at the bank. He sat in a big chair next to me as he played with the personal bankers pen and flirted with every female banker that passed by. What a ham.
1st time discovering that he can splash in the tub by waving his hands really fast. He got a little surprised the first few times his hands actually hit the water. He also learned how much fun it is to try and stand in the tub.

He loves to talk and make noises. He absolutley loves being outside and being around other children. He says Momma, Dadda, Hi, Hey. He talks back to us when we talk to him and repeats most of what we do. Chris loves how Toph laughs when we laugh. He is so much fun; learning and growing every day.

9 months and counting

Kind of late with this post. Toph will be 10 months on February 28th. WOW!!! They grow up fast. Toph loves to interact/play with other kids and loves to talk. He is not shy at all. We went to reading time today and he was crawling all over the place, being so adventurous. He loves to sit right next to other kids and tries to play with everything. We are working on not taking others toys. He is just so curious to see and chew on any toy someone else is playing with. He is an extremely easy going little guy who loves hugs, kisses, and laying on his daddy. When he gets super tired he will put his cheek to Chris's and loves when Chris talks in his ear. Very adorable. He brings much joy and excitement to our lives daily. We love him and are very blessed that he is part of our family.

And he is mobile ....