Pictures and Fun

I am very behind in posting pictures, as usual and I decided I better catch up before we take off for Yosemite this weekend! I know there will be lots to talk about on Monday:)

A few weekends ago we ventured into the city to use our Aquarium pass one last time before it expired. We stopped at Tilden Park along the way. We visited the barn, the lovely botanical gardens and finally took a ride on the train. So much fun. Then we went into town and saw the fish and butterflies. It was a lovely day all together.

Little man has turned into quite the climber...one of his favorite spots to climb onto is the piano bench. His music is very modern but has a great tempo.

We have been making it back down to the river to play with the dogs. It is beautiful this year but super cold because of all the late runoff from the mountains.

Orson is in love with shoes, his, Matt's and mine

I have been doing a little crafting with my new machine. This is the fist outfit I completed, I have a few more in the works, as long as you don't look super close, it turned out great!

Lance Armstrong passed through town, can you spot him (we didn't)? The bikes went by so fast, that you would have missed them had you blinked!

Luckily, Orson is not so fast :)

Pat and Pat have made it by a few times in the last couple of months. And Orson was super excited about getting to play in two vintage cars because of it! Now when he sees them he immediately starts signing Car....they have created a monster.

We finally got our last set of professional pictures in. The photographer even provided a birthday cake and balloon for Orson to get a few first birthday pictures done right....now the accident won't be the only thing associated with his birthday :)

Just for reference, here is a picture of him currently, he has changed so much in just a few short months!

And I couldn't resist one flower picture...my Hydrangeas are in bloom!

Things to remember

Orson has changed so much in the last month...its just hard to keep up! His hair is growing in, he is working on his incisors, he can open the back door, he is using words and signing up a storm...the list just goes on and on. So for me here are some stats, a list of words and some ramblings, I will try to post some pictures soon!

Stats - Orson measures in at 34.5 inches and 24.5 pounds, his feet are 7.5 and he is in size 4 diapers (when he isn't wearing his cloth ones, that is).

Words - in the order that he learned them (or close) Mama (used for every person he sees) CAR!!! light (for both fan and lights pronounces ight, except when I try to show him how to make the L sound, then he wiggles his tongue all around and then says ight), rock (pronounced rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrock), milk (ilk), please (peas), shoes, hat and hot (both missing the H but normally proceeded by some sort of blowing sound)....and so many more.

Signs - please, thank you, milk, "o's", baby, "Baby Signing Time" (yes he can ask for it by name), shoe, cracker, bye bye, hat, and he has made up his own for dance or music and for corn on the cob (his favorite food).


We have set the porch up for outside eating, grilling and relaxing and spend most evenings outside (thus Orson's love affair with corn). Orson's friends still come over regularly and we all have a blast both inside and out. The weather has cooperated and we can normally leave the AC off which makes indoor/outdoor play much easier. Matt is doing much better and we have been resuming our walks by the river and in the neighborhood much to everyone's pleasure (especially the dogs). And we have started to go on road trips and "adventures" more. Next weekend we are off to Yosemite with another couple, Matt and I are super excited. This weekend we went to a wedding in Brentwood, CA without Orson. Our good friends Jamie and Olivia (and husband Rich) were nice enough to take Orson for most of the day/evening and Matt and I had fun getting away (even if we were really nervous to be going so far away without him). We are hoping to actually leave him overnight when we are in the UK visiting Dad.

It amazes me how much Orson and his friends have changed in the last month and both Orson and I can't wait until Lucy, Gina and Chris get back from Greece to see what a month has done for little Lu :)

Remembering

Today is my mom's Birthday and I woke up singing the Happy Birthday song in the shower. Probably a good sign of positive progress. It got me thinking about good memories of mom and wondering about everyone else's memories of her. I began to think that, after three years, I am ready to start remembering in a public way, for my own sake and for those of her future grandchildren. I want my children to grow up knowing about the love, joy and faith that their grandmother had. So, If you are willing, and to a point in your grief process that you are able, please leave a memory in the comments on my blog or send me an email kimberly.ewalt@gmail.com. I will go through and post them as they come in.

My memory and one of the things I miss most:

Laying my head in mom's lap, watching a movie and her running her fingers through my hair. I loved those little moments of safety and love and I miss them so much.