Tool belts

Justin was in Colton's room (so that he could take apart the crib and spray paint it brown) with his tool belt.  Colton didn't want to be out-done by Dad, so he grabbed his tool belt as well.  Colton quickly discovered that a felt hammer is not as good of a tool as a real screw driver....

(And I will soon post the grand results of the spray painting and Colton (and baby's) new room...Get excited!)

Lucky Duck

The other day when Justin came home from work, Colton started shouting "lucky duck! lucky duck!"  We couldn't figure out what he meant--or where he would have learned that phrase (it's not one I use on a regular basis...).  Then, when Justin changed out of his work clothes--particularly taking off his socks and shoes--we realized that Colton was referring to Daddy's "yucky sock."  Colton has such a discerning nose...I suppose that's what a couple of months of heat and humidity will do.  Odor-eaters are on the shopping list.  (Sorry, Justin).

Flying

Colton really liked Ben and Camie's LoveSeat.  Especially when Justin threw him into it from across the room.

Cousins!

Colton had a great time playing with his cousins this weekend.  And we had fun making them pose together in their diapers...

Two

It's hard to believe that I have a two-year-old.  On the one hand, it seems strange to imagine a time without our little Colty-bug, but on the other hand it's crazy how fast time has flown by.  This birthday was fun to celebrate because, unlike last year, he understood two things: Birthdays = cake and presents are good.  A few days before his birthday, I started asking him, "What happens on your birthday?"  And he would immediately respond, "CAKE!!" (And sometimes he'd also throw in "Meen Yang" which clearly means ice cream...)  So I obliged my dear boy with a Bob the tomato cake.

Not too shabby for someone with no cake-decorating skillz.  You can at least see the resemblance. 

Colton waiting for us to start singing.

Colton deciding we should probably pray before digging into the cake.  He is very adamant about blessing all food before he eats it.  He also usually likes to include Bob and Larry in his prayers anyway, so praying over a Bob cake seems very appropriate.

Blowing out his candle.

And the moment he'd been waiting for...CAKE!!!

We love you, Colton!!

Fun in the heartland...

This year for the Fourth of July, we headed West to America's heartland to celebrate our nation with real Americans...most particularly Justin's parents.  Here's what we did:

We saw a lot of fireworks--which were kind of loud and scary...

...but totally awesome and worth clapping for--when they ended.  (There are seriously a lot of fireworks in Nebraska.  You have to see it to believe it!)

Justin pulled out his artistic side once again and created another license plate map of the U.S. for his mom.

Voila!  It looks pretty awesome!

We walked with the gorillas.  

And discovered that the Durham family is deeply involved in the Omaha zoo.

We had lots of fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa!

We posed with several animal sculptures.

And I showed off my 5 month baby bump. 

It was lots of fun.   And now every time Colton sees and airplane, he points to it and says, "Go."  When I ask him where we should go, he makes his signs for Grandma and Grandpa.  I think he misses them a lot...

Sour face

Even though Colton is currently choosing not to make the sounds of about a fourth of the letters of the alphabet, he isn't let that hold back his communication.  Case in point:

He's not really into the "s" sound, but this is the face he makes when something is sour (or more often to tell me he wants a piece of sour candy).

Apparently the "sour face" is contagious...or (more likely) they both wanted me to give them candy.