King Dylan on K Day

King Dylan loving K Day!

We are still chugging along on the letter train! Today was K Day.

Dylan asked for a puzzle first. The only puzzle-ish thing I had for today was a kite size sorter from Confessions. So we did big to small and then small to big.

Then, it was onto coloring. I asked him again today what hand he wanted to color with and he put the marker in his left hand each time I gave him a new color.

I printed off a new activity from Confession for today. She uses colored magnets for this one, but I had little colored balls (another dollar bin purchase), so we just used those instead. Dylan matched the colors and filled all the circles. He seemed to like this one and asked to do it again later in the day. I guess I'll have to print more of these.

My mom came over for a little bit before naptime, so he showed off with his letter search page. He only needed help with a few. (More lefty action taking place here)

*Confessions activity

Before naptime, we read a K library book. Knowing my audience, I went with another Eric Carle book today (Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too?). As expected, he loved it.

After a refresher consisting of sleep and food, we got to work on some crafts. Our first project was to make a crown so that Dylan could be King Dylan for the rest of the day. Little did I know that this was going to be the major success of the day.

I cut and taped a basic design and he got to work with decorating it. He wanted to use his Do-A-Dots and markers. As you could see from the picture at the top, he was absolutely thrilled with his crown. As a matter of fact, he wore it for the rest of the day.

I think Dylan is starting a trend of guys wanting
a crown while working in their mancaves.

I saw a craft online where you print a plain template of a key and then glue pieces of aluminum foil to it. Once all the glue dries you cut out the key shape and you have your key. It seemed simple enough, so I thought we'd try it.

Dylan did a great job of making sure the entire key shape was covered. I had to let it sit for the entire afternoon before I could cut it out. But once I did, Dylan was really excited.

It's a key!

He ran over to the closet and said, "I open a door now!" 

Right now we are about to get our nighttime routine going, but Dylan wanted to do the ball activity again and he is still wearing his crown. I think K Day was a huge hit. I just hope I can get the crown off of him for bedtime!

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Happy Birthday Josh!

We started our day off with a Skype call with Josh to wish him a Happy Birthday. I couldn't find any birthday hats in the house, but I did find some New Years Hats. So we were wearing Happy New Year hats and yelling, "Happy Birthday!" when Josh answered our call. Better than nothing, right? Thank goodness Josh appreciates our goofiness.

Dylan wanted to serenade Daddy for his bday, so he did a drum solo and sang the Happy Birthday song (while wearing his New Years hat, of course).

"Happy Birthday to Daddy"

I wish we could have been with Josh to celebrate, but we'll have to make up for it when he gets back. At least we got to see his face. Happy Birthday, Babe!

Our Busy Last Day in the QC

The day before we left Moline was Bob’s Birthday. (Funny note about this post. Even though it was Bob’s Birthday, all of the photos I have from this day are with my Dad’s side of the family. Interesting)

Bob took the day off of work, so we hung out with him all morning. We even treated him to his favorite Birthday meal. “Dead chicken from Jim’s Rib Haven.” Josh and I had to get ribs, but Bob got his favorite Chicken Dinner with hot sauce. He was a happy guy.

Even though it was Bob’s birthday, today was the only day that my Dad was going to be in town while we were (He drove from Colorado and got in early that morning) So after lunch, we left the house to meet up with him and Connie for the rest of the afternoon. We met them at the Mall so Josh and I could finish our Holiday shopping, and Dylan could wear out Nana Connie at the kids’ play area in the Food Court. Dylan was so excited to see his Nana. She had watched him the day before while Josh and I had a movie/dinner date.

Grandpa, Dad & I at Grandma's grave

When we left the Mall, Dylan was passed out in the backseat (too much Nana fun!). We drove to the cemetery to place a Christmas wreath at my Grandma’s grave. Remembering Grandma, she absolutely loved Christmas Eve with our family. She is missed so much at Christmas and all through the year. When she died, someone wrote in a condolence note to me, “Grandmas are so special.” It’s such a simple statement, but it’s so true.

After a couple hours at Grandpa Charlie’s house (where Dylan unwrapped a CAT tractor toy and tool box from Grandpa & Joanie), we headed to Harris for dinner with my family. Yup, we had Jim and Harris in the same day. QC food overload (but well worth it)!! Nana Connie and Poppy Steve showed Dylan how the pizza guys toss dough and throw flour at the window where the kids watch. Dylan loved it!

Dylan with his Poppy Steve

After dinner, we went back to my Aunt Karen’s house to open some more Christmas gifts. Once again, we were totally spoiled. Our families are incredibly generous. Dylan got toys and lots of books and some really cute outfits. He also got some fun wrestling time with Poppy.




It was a wonderful day with so much of my family. I think Dylan had too much fun!

Big Boy Seat!

I know I’ve already said this, but the clichés about parenthood are true. And Dylan is proving them all. My little man is already ONE and I can’t believe it! And he's getting so big, and growing so fast, and all those other cliché-type things that parents say...

The week of his birthday is when we installed his new ‘big boy’ carseat. I’m really happy with it…and so it he! So, I just had to take a photo of him (surprised? I didn’t think so). My favorite part of this photo is that you can see Josh & my faces in Dylan’s mirror. At least we were just smiling and not making ridiculous faces to get him to smile.

This photo was taken on his birthday (July 14) - You can't probably tell, but he is wearing his Birthday Boy t-shirt from Grandma Linda.

And the Award Goes To…

Elleah checking out Dylan's huge stash of new toys!

Well, Dylan’s birthday has come and gone. And, boy, did he get spoiled! A HUGE thank you to everyone who gave my little guy a card or gift. We were definitely feeling the love. And Dylan has been loving playing with his huge pile of toys.

Josh and I have joined the club of Frustrated Parents Association of ‘How the Heck do you get this toy out of it’s packaging?’ What is the deal with that??

Because he got so many toys, I thought I would give awards out! But don’t get too excited, there’s no trophy or anything…

The Duplicated Award: Helicopter (The Gooch’s)
Even though Dylan got a ton of presents, there was only one duplicate! The helicopter that sings. And when you drop the colored balls into the top, it tells you what colors they are. Dylan really likes this one and it keeps him busy for long spurts of time (so I like it too!).

Best Themed Award: The Pirate Ship (From Matt & Brittany)
This ship is a Mega Blocks toy that you can take completely apart. And it makes noises when you push the little monkey on the ship deck. Matt & Britt also provided a second smaller ship because, “The pirates needed another ship to commandeer.” Brilliant!

Check out all those noise makers that came inside!

The Loudest Award: Drum Set (The Skala’s)
More often than not, you’ll hear single or kid-less couples say that they bought the noisiest toy that they could find. Our loudest toy this year was one of the only ones that didn’t require batteries…ironic? It was a drum with several instruments inside. It even came with drumsticks! He loves using the drumsticks (on everything) and really likes the little egg shakers. So much noise!!! The Skala’s don’t have kids, but they have a dog. I see a really noisy gift for Dixie from the Sitko Family sometime in the near future!

Best Immediate Appeal Award: Thomas the Train! (The Jordan’s) At Dylan’s birthday party, this was the last gift opened, and that was probably a good thing because he immediately got on his new train and continued to play with it for the next 25 minutes. At first he sat on it for a while and played with the buttons. But then he realized that he could push it all over the house. He forgot that there were about 25 people in his way and just took off. Who needs Mommy & Daddy when you’ve got Thomas? BTW, I find myself running up and down our hallway pushing Thomas around while Dylan sits holding on for dear life and squealing!

20 minutes later, he was still pushing it around the house!

Best Daddy Approved Award: Blue Car, Drumsticks, Green Balls
Let’s face it. My husband is just a big kid at heart. He gets just as excited as Dylan about having new things to play with. So there is an award for the Most Played With By Daddy toys. And it’s a three way tie!

~The Blue Car. This was one of the gifts from Jim & Diane Vana and I don’t think anyone realized how great this car was going to be. It’s one of those push and go cars. But what we discovered over time was that if you really revved it up, it would bounce off walls and turn around, pop a wheelie, spin around in circles, and more! Many hours are spent in this house with Josh letting the car fly and Dylan chasing it down and bringing it back. All boy, all the time!

~The Drumsticks. Yes, Josh is an accomplice with the ‘Loudest’ toy. His idle hands find themselves using those drumsticks on everything…his leg, the couch, the floor, other toys! One thing’s for sure - we’ve got the beat!

~The Green Balls. Danielle bought Dylan a variety of balls. A huge bouncy one, a medium sized one that looks like a giant tennis ball, and a smaller one with noise makers inside. These balls create elaborate games of catch between my two guys.

Best Gift Not At Our House: The Wagon!
I know I already posted photos of Dylan in his wagon. But he loved it so much! It was a huge hit! I know he can't wait to get back to Grandma Linda & Grandpa Bob's house so he can ride his wagon again!

Overall, all of the gifts Dylan got this year were amazing. I could have given dozens of awards, but I have to get back to playtime now.

Dylan's Pirate First Birthday Party!

I can’t believe that my little man has been One for 2 ½ weeks already! How did the last year fly by so fast? We, of course, had to have a big birthday party here for the little man. So we decided on a ‘Jake and the Neverland Pirates’ theme.

The great news is that ‘Jake’ is a super-cute show on the Disney Channel that all three of us enjoy. It has Captain Hook & Mr. Smee and some really great pirate music. The bad news is that the show just premiered a few months ago, so there is absolutely no merchandise anywhere. Not in stores, online, the Disney Store, or Disney World. So I really had to great creative and do some DIY stuff.


I made the invitations myself and also crafted a few other things. Then I went to a party store while Dylan & I were in Illinois and picked up some cute Pirate Party Supplies. We also DVRed lots of ‘Jake’ episodes and played them in the background during the party.

I worked really hard on the décor. I know that Dylan didn’t really care, but it was a big deal for me and I wanted it to look great so I went all out. I even handcrafted sails for my Pirate Ship watermelon fruit salad. I used colored sand pails for chip bowls, and I had a bowl of Gold Doubloons (er, I mean, chocolate coins). We also had a pirate Birthday banner and  several hanging decorations throughout the house. It was a lot of work, but I think it was well worth it!

Dylan was wearing a shirt with a treasure map across the front and he carried an inflated sword around all day. I think he was loving the pirate theme! He also sported a pirate ship tattoo on his right arm. What a stud!

And it wouldn’t be a birthday without CAKE! Like I mentioned before, there was no ‘Jake’ cake available, but we ordered a really cute generic pirate cake from Publix. And because it was a First Birthday cake, they provided a Smash Cake for Dylan for free. I thought they were adorable!

And Dylan loved making a mess out of his Smash Cake. The blue and gold frosting mixed together to make a fabulous brownish/black mess! But he was the center of attention and got the sticky sweetness everywhere…success!

Nice Pirate Tattoos!

I really want to thank everyone for coming over to help celebrate my little man’s big day. We had a really great turn out and everyone spoiled Dylan rotten. I was so happy that so many people cared enough to come and be there with our little family. We even had out-of-towners make the trip - Thank you to Matt, Brittany & Danielle! It was so amazing to have you here for our special little guy!


I love that little boy so much and I hope that (even though he won’t remember it) his first birthday was as wonderful for him as it was for me.