Cheap Enertainment

I can't stop taking pictures of our sweet boy! 

He wouldn't stop talking so I kept getting a lot of pictures like this.  lol 

D unloaded the water from the car and just put it down outside the pantry.  Guess who thought it was a new toy for him?

He was very impressed with all the noise he could make by slapping it and then he decided to shake the top flat back and forth and make them squeak and rock back and forth.  This kept him entertained for a good 20 minutes or so.

He was mesmerized by them!  It's funny to me the things that catches his attention.  Almost always something that cost little to no money.  I knew I loved that kid!  :)

Space Cowboy Sneak Peek

Yesterday evening Denver was a baby model for a local photographer.  She wanted to take some pictures with a new prop that she got.  This is the first photo I've seen but I have to say D and I are in love!  We couldn't be more pleased with it!

Denver is so easy to photograph and he is so photogenic!  We sure got lucky with this little boy.  We wanted to share this one!  I will post more when we get them.

High Chair Ribbon Banner

Today, I started and completed my first project for Denver's birthday party.  It came together so quickly, I was able to do it during nap time with materials I (mostly) already had.  I did have to get a couple of rolls of ribbon but I found them for $1 from the Dollar Tree, so this whole project cost me only a few dollars.

I originally saw this on Pinterest and added it to the list of projects I wanted to complete for Denver's party.  Since then, I've seen a few friends do it for their little ones birthday parties and I just that I had to do it - I think it's so easy and adorable.

They make something similar in the store out of really thin plastic, shaped like pennants (sp?), but I decided I liked the way this looked better.

Because I haven't done a "tutorial" in so long, I thought I would share how I made it and exactly how easy it is to make.

First I took a roll of white grosgrain ribbon and started one one side of Denver's high chair tray and unrolled it until I got to the other side, to see how long it needed to be. 

I then held up a roll of colored ribbon and let it hang down from the tray so I could see how long the banner would be and approximately where to cut the ribbon.

Then I just started unrolling ribbon and cutting like a mad woman.  I didn't want all of my ribbon the same length so some are shorter and some are longer than the "main" length.

Then I got out my hot glue gun and started gluing.  There is no rhyme or reason to it or any pattern, I just grabbed ribbon and started gluing.  As you can see, I cut the ribbon at different angles and at different lengths and I didn't worry about gluing the ribbons evenly.  I knew I wanted them to overlap so I just went to town!

An upclose pic - all of the ribbon is just glued on.  Don't spend a lot of time placing them just perfectly because no one will see this part.

I just overlapped and overlapped and then overlapped some more.  I used a lot of ribbon - a lot more than I've seen anyone else use.  I say this because you shouldn't worry if you want it to have a lot of ribbon or just a few ribbons - every way I've seen this done has been adorable.  You seriously can't go wrong!  Then I just measured a blue ribbon the length of the white base ribbon to glue over the individual ribbon pieces.

I had glued some of the ribbons too far up on the white ribbon, so I just trimmed the overlap and then heat sealed them with a lighter so they wouldn't fray.

This is what the finished project looks like.  So quick and easy and adorable!

Tada!  It's all done!  I used tape to hang it up, but for the day of the party I'll be using glue dots under the white ribbon to hang it where nothing is showing. 

Now, my first instinct was to iron all of that ribbon to lay down straight but the more I look at it, the more that the ribbons are different lengths and that some of them curl and twist and that they are cut at different angles.  I just went across the bottom of each ribbon with a lighter to heat seal them so that none of them fray between now and the party.

So easy and so cute!  Project 1 down, only 967 more to go!  :)

Corn on the Cob

Right now, Denver's favorite veggie is corn on the cob.  He'll eat the little kernels but he'd much rather have the whole cob.  I'm sure it's because all of those mean teeth he has coming in.  We just give him the little half size cobs and he goes to town.

He gets so excited when we give them to him.  It's always messy, but it's so fun to watch him!

Then he looks at us like we're weird because we watch him and just laugh and laugh! 

The Breakfast Club

Mommy is not feeling so well today so we're moving a little slow this morning.  When Denver got up, I just changed his diaper and didn't bother to get him dressed - we'll do that later.

He had cereal for breakfast this morning.  He is over baby food of any kind - he wants to eat whatever the grown ups (mainly mom) are eating.  So far, he is a great eater.  He doesn't eat a whole lot (everyone thinks he eats all day long since he's a big baby but he doesn't), but he eats a variety of things.  So far, he's liked pretty much everything we've given him. 

Anyhow, he wakes up so happy and in such a good mood I decided to take a pictture.  It sure helps me feel better! 

Mess Maker

Guess who has figured out that he can stand and hold onto his toy bucket and reach in, grab a toy and then throw it out and into the floor?

You guessed it! 

Then, he tries to act all innocent.  Like he doesn't know how the mess happened!  :)

But that's ok because then he helps mommy do some chores - like load the dishwasher  Isn't he a sweet boy? 

Sippy Cup, Oh Sippy Cup

The Easter Bunny brought Denver a couple of sippy cups.  One he wouldn't touch at all and the other he was obsessed with - for a whole day.  After that, he wouldn't touch it.  I've brought it out every couple of days to try to get him to use it again and he refuses.  Recently, he's gotten into drinking water (finally) from a big person cup.  If you help him - he loves to drink it like that. 

The other day, I was fixing him some water and thought "let me try one of these other cups in the cabinet" and picked up one of those take n toss cups.  And ta-da... we finally found a cup that he'll drink out of.  I'm not sure if it's because it has a soft spout or if it's because it's not spill-proof so water comes out and we realized he needs to suck on the spout or what but he likes it.

Today, he had some cheese ravioli for lunch and I just sat his cup down to see what he would do.

He had a couple technical difficulties.

Then he figured it out by himself!  Way to go Denver!!!

Music Table

This little boy loves this little musical table.  He is way impressed with himself that he can stand up and play on it.  It lights up and plays music so he is a big fan.  He'll stand there for a good while and flip the page on that little book back and forth and watch the lights. 

Can you get over how big he is getting?

The Boy in the Bucket

I keep a big bucket of Denver's toys in the living room since that is where we play most of the time.  I'm not sure why, but this morning I got the bright idea of dumping the entire bucket of toys in the floor.  Denver was then very interested in the empty bucket so I picked him up and put him in it.  He thought it was wonderful!

Easily impressed!

I had to hold onto it because he started rocking that bucket back and forth trying to tip it over while he giggled.  He thought it was hot stuff.

Then he tried to get ahold of everything on the tv table.  This little boy is in to everything!

Sleeping Beauties

This week has been very exhausting in our house.  Denver has not been sleeping well and last night, he was up 6 times.  So, needless to say, everyone is trying to catch up on rest any time they can.  I put Denver in bed with his daddy this morning and he just rolled over and went right back to sleep so I let the boys get some rest while I got up and got some stuff done around the house.  I couldn't help but take a picture of them!

I don't think there is anything sweeter!  I just love those two!

Toy Thief

Coco has been really good about leaving Denver's stuff alone.  She doesn't bother his stuff or try to take anything away from him.  He, on the other hand, hasn't been as considerate of her things.  He is obssessed with her toys!  I keep her toys in a little wicker basket that she can reach to grab things out of and he thinks it's hilarious to crawl to it and take ALL of her toys out and carry them all over the house.

He looks innocent, doesn't he?

You can clearly see that he isn't!  It's a good thing he's so darn cute!  :)

Big Boy!

I cannot get over how big Denver is getting.  Every day he looks more like a big boy and less like a little guy.  He is pulling himself up on anything and everything and he walks around the coffee table and up and down the length of the couches.  It's only a matter of time before he is walking. 

And guess who got his top front teeth?  D and I think he looks like Towmater when he smiles!  It's so adorable.  He rarely smiles big enough for you to see them though, so I had to post this picture as proof!

First Father's Day

I'm not sure how, but Father's Day seemed to sneak up on me.  I thought I had way more time to get things ready than I did.  Anyhow, I wanted to do what I could to make it special for D.

D's favorite breakfast is bacon so I made sure to make him some for breakfast, with biscuits and tea.  I made a little sign and glued it to his plate for fun.  In hindsight, I should have made the sign MUCH shorter! 

I made a banner.  I had it as one piece but I couldn't find the step stool and I was trying to hurry before D got up - I was having some issues so I cut it in half.

The first half.

The second half.

Denver and D!

After breakfast, we visited for awhile then I made some lunch before D's parents had to leave and D had to go to work.  I made him a meatloaf, mashed potatoes, turnip greens and a peanut butter chocolate chip pound cake with peanut butter drizzle.

Then Denver and I got him a new grill cover and a couple of grill plates for his grill.

He said he loved it all and had a great day (even though he had to work).

Denver's 1st Haircut

Today we took Denver to Rooster's to get his first hair cut.  D and I have been arguing for months about when we were going to get it cut.  He wanted to wait until he was a year old and it's been driving me insane for months - it had gotten way too long and was just looking "unkept".

We finally agreed that he was ready for his first hair cut.  We asked his Papa if he wanted to go with him to get it done.  Papa was excited to take him.  :)

Denver was so interested in what was going on.

He did SO well.  His mom & dad are so proud!  He acted like such a big boy.

He wasn't thrilled with having his face held, but he was a trooper!

This picture makes me laugh out loud!  Look at those eyes - he wanted to know what was going on so badly!

Three generations of Fountains!

Even the clippers didn't bother him!  He's such a good boy!

Look how stinkin' cute!  He looks so grown up now, which makes me sad but the new hair cut is so adorable!

Watermelon & Bath Fizzies

I love, love, love watermelon.  It's by far, my favorite fruit.  I would love to get a big one every time I go to the store but I don't need that much and D never eats it so I don't want to waste it.  This morning when I was at the store I just bought a container of the cut up watermelon (without seeds) to enjoy and to give to Denver to see if he would like it.

At first, he seemed a little unsure of it.  I think it was because it was cold.  He doesn't eat or drink anything that's cold.  But once I put the first piece in his mouth, you could tell he really liked it and then he went to town!  He picked up the rest of the pieces and ate them by himself.

I stripped him down to his diaper just in case.  We have a issues with him keeping his bib on so I knew I better just leave him naked.  He loves it and he loved the watermelon.  As you can see, it got a little messy. 

 He was having a blast!  He just kept smiling and giggling!  Silly boy!

Then at bath time we added a blue bath fizzy to the water and of course - he didn't even notice.  It did look kind of cool though.  I'm excited to use them again (maybe when he's a little older).

 You can see the ripples in the water from his splashing.  That boy loves to splash!

Ignore me looking insane in the background, but doesn't he look adorable?

Denver & Daddy

Denver and his daddy hanging out.  I think at this point D was ready for a nap and was hoping Denver was too! 

Mechanic in Training

I had Marleigh in the rocker this morning and Denver playing on the floor beside her.  I went into the kitchen to fix his bottle and this is what I saw when I came back. 

D seems to think he's playing "mechanic".  I just can't get over how fast he got in that position.  Crazy kid!