Happy Anniversary and Happy Birthday

First of all, Happy Anniversary to my hubby. We started dating sixteen years ago and are celebrating eight years of marriage. The time has gone really fast! We did some low key celebrating at home last night. I made D's favorite meal, pork chop and biscuit casserole with mashed potatoes and carrots. I also got a little caramel cake from Wal Mart to share. We hope to go out on a date in the near future. Happy Anniversary, Babe. Love you!

We are also celebrating L's first Birthday. I cannot believe he's already one!!!! This year has flown by! L is such a sweet pea. He's laid back and sooo lovable. He is willing to tag along with us just about anywhere we go provided he's been fed and has had a good nap. :) He really only gets cranky when he needs something or if Big Brother takes something out of his hands. L is playing peek-a-boo, waving, blowing kisses and practicing sign language. He is Daddy's boy. L hears the back door open and close every night when Daddy gets home from work. L barrels (crawls) through the kitchen to greet him. He then throws on his breaks (throws his left leg out to the side and his right leg under his bottom to stop him) and reaches his arms up in the air for D to pick him up. He says "Hi" in the sweetest little voice. He also says Dadda, Mama, Ba-ba, Ball, the first two letters of N's name and bye bye. He puts on a big cheesy smile and kinda of says "Cheese" when a camera is focused on him. He's trying to walk. He is very confident in himself when he's hanging onto someone's hands or onto a walk-behind toy, but immediately returns to crawling when you let go of his hands. His hair is still curly and his eyes are still as blue as blue berries. So cute! He's is such a joy. Happy Birthday, Baby. Mommy, Daddy and N love you to pieces. :)

Little Critters

We've had a couple unusual little critters around our house this summer. We've had several praying mantises or "walking sticks" and we saw a katydid the other day but I didn't get a picture of it. Below are pictures of the praying mantis we saw most recently. I need to read more about these little creatures. I wonder if we are seeing the same praying mantis over and over or if we see a new one each time. I suppose I won't really know for sure, but I could read up on it to learn more.

N sure likes looking at him/her. Look at how big his (since our house is predominately male, we tend call almost everything of unknown gender a boy) eyes are. This mantis will let you get really close to it and it will look you square in the eyes. He rocks back and forth the closer you get. According to Wikepedia, "The repetitive swaying movements may be most important in allowing the insects to discriminate objects from the background by their relative movement, a visual mechanism typical of simpler animals. Rocking movements by these generally sedentary insects may replace flying or running as a source of relative motion of objects in the visual field." Apparently these little critters can be quite the fighters when it comes to getting food. If you read more about it on wikepedia you might have the same thought I did. They should be called preying mantis instead of praying mantis.

Morning Glory

D purchased a packet of Morning Glory seeds this spring. N and I planted them together. I enjoyed planting them with N, but I had no idea how interested we'd both be in following it as it grew this summer. I can see the plant from my kitchen window. I glimpse at it each time I stand at the sink and am amazed at how much it grows. I thought I was taking tons of pictures of it, but I didn't take as many as I thought I did. I wish I had the ability to set up time lapse photography to capture the flower growing. This plant almost had a personality. It would stretch out a limb to reach for something to grab onto. It'd wave in the wind for a bit and eventually decide to grip onto the nearest thing it could find. It eventually started blooming beautiful purple flowers. N enjoyed counting how many blooms were on the plant each day and he'd pick a few to bring inside. Here are some pictures below.

Happy Birthday, Dad

Happy Birthday, Dad. I told N it's your Birthday today and N said, "Yay!!! When do we get to go to his party? Is he having cake? I love cake!!" I had to tell him you're not having a party today but you're celebrating in your own way. So, do somethin fun for yourself and eat some cake. :)