The house

Well, it's official, the house is on the market :( However, I do have to say to anyone that has ever sold a house or staged a house in order to sell, hats off to you --- it's a PAIN! Getting the house ready and more importantly keeping it ready with a nine month old running around is turning out to be a true art form. In fact, last weekend Kate and I spent all Saturday moving things to storage and in an order to get more organized, ended up with a bigger mess on our hands. Last Sunday we planned to finish everything and have it read for pictures on Monday morning. That was until a Realtor called and wanted to show the house in less than an hour. AHHH! So one hour and a complete turn around of the house and we surprisingly, were ready.
And thus begins the fun.
In an attempt to keep the house clean, we put Ayden's socks on his hands to prevent fingerprints on the glass table. We got a good laugh at it, and Ayden helped clean the glass. I suppose he is not too young for chores!
We also made a note that he would have to learn what mittens are once they move East.
And just to prove to everyone, we do have clouds here, sometimes. We have actually had quite a few storms the last two weeks. However, when I say storms I mean I can see it raining somewhere, either in Mexico or Phoenix, but we have only seen rain drops once. The humidity is killing us though. With storms comes clouds, and with clouds comes humidity. 105-110 degrees is bad enough, with humidity mixed in I just want to quit.

9 month photos

We took Ayden to get his 9 month pictures today, and he smiled a posed like someone who has obviously grown up with a camera in his face. Here is a preview, especially for Jeremy since we can't mail photos to Iraq any more. The good news about that is the pictures may or may not make it to him by the time he leaves to come HOME! Enjoy.

This one was taken specifically for Jeremy and Uncle Brian

Ayden, totally impressed with the new ladder.

Our tax dollars

The new border fence... isn't it beautiful? This picture I took from the road near my school.

An Update on the Backyard

Here is the latest is the landscaping adventures. Who knew grass could grow in 110 degree weather?

Walking is in our very near future, here is one of two angles

Angle 2 - its coming....

Jeremy, here is the progress of how the back yard landscaping is coming, it is looking great.

And the cheering squad

Check out the king of standing in one spot.... moving forward is another story.

A new post finally

I haven't gotten many pictures of Ayden this week. By the time Kate and him get home at the end of the day, it hasn't been taking very long for him to turn into a pumpkin. Poor little guy plays so hard all day he has been falling apart by 6:30 p.m. We'll chalk it up to growing and teething for a short time. This video Kate got of him starting to clap (something we have been working on forever.) I'll try and get a few more photos this weekend. He is still not walking quite yet, but he is doing everything except taking that first step. I think he is waiting for his daddy to see him ;)

His new favorite food - yogurt. And, an added bonus, it makes a complete mess if mom lets him explore the container.
Determined to get this sock off.
Completely worn out.... butt in the air.

Ayden was in his pack-n-play last night and we were playing for a while before bed time. If I growled at him, he eventually caught on to growl back, it was very entertaining.

so sweet

I finally cleaned out the pool for Ayden since it was terribly dirty from when we were in Michigan. As soon as I went outside to start working on it he whined at the window and banged to be let out. It was very funny.
The water was probably 95 degrees straight from the hose, Ayden was in heaven.

Shoe practice

Well, today it is too hot to wear clothes. Fortunately for a nine month old that is socially acceptable. But just because he doesn't have to wear clothes, he still needs to practice with his shoes. He doesn't exactly *love* them, but that may simply be because they slow down the crawling.

Crawling is much faster, mom!