Summer's Underway!

I am quickly learning that having a one year old in the summer means dirty knees, dirty feet, dirty hands, DIRTY fingernails and toenails, at least two different outfits every day and plenty of baths... and I'm just talking about me, Quinton is twice as dirty! The boy loves everything to do with the outdoors and anything to do with getting his hands dirty! This last week temperatures have been flirting with the low 80s and we have been seizing the opportunity for lots of outside play, plenty of freeze pops, and watermelon (some new sticky favorites)!

I think this picture looks like he is posing for soccer pictures, one knee down, hands on the ball! The boy is a natural athlete :)
Playing bean bags with his friend Leighton.

Quinton has also made it clear that his favorite letter in the alphabet is B! He strongly favors any word beginning with the letter B and enjoys saying "Ball" "Book" "Baby" "Bye bye" It is so fun to see all that he is learning. We love to pick dandelions (especially the fluffy white ones) and from watching me he now knows to try and blow on it and see the little seeds fly, although his blowing is more like spitting and usually half of them end up stuck to his lip, but my point being that he is learning and growing so much!

Quinton has developed a strong love for two more things (besides his wonderful parents and the great outdoors). He loves dogs and babies. The boy goes CRAZY when he sees a dog. It doesn't matter if it's big or small, ugly or cute, he just loves dogs. It's a good thing that we have some nice neighbors and friends with dogs because there is no way that we are getting a dog. But it sure is fun to watch him get so excited (I'll have to get some pictures for you all). And the second thing... babies... We were watching his cousin Hudson the other day and Quinn was so distracted by him that he could not even eat his lunch he just wanted to get down and watch him. Hopefully this is a sign of how he will be with Wee Rude #2, although his love of babies might change when the baby is around all the time. We will just have to wait and see!

All I can say for this next picture is Welcome to Summer! I think Quinton is going to have some curls!

Favorites...

Quinton has a favorite new toy and a favorite new game. His new favorite toy can only be played with on hot, sunny days, it's totally free, and at the moment it seems to entertain him for a long time.... it's simply a bowl full of ice cubes. The duration of his play seems to depend on how hot the day is and how many ice cubes he eats while playing, ice has become quite the desired treat! Lucky for him, his mom is pretty good at refilling his ice bucket!

Check out his cool new summer shoes! I don't have to worry at all if they get dirty because I can just rinse them off... perfect little boy shoes!


Now our game can be played with many objects, but chairs seem to work best in our house. The game is push the chairs all around the house until we run into a wall or a piece of furniture, then off to another chair to do the same. Every once in a while he will tip one over totally on his own and then discover a new way to push it. It's a good thing that his Papa reinforced the chairs (they were a little shaky) because I don't know how they would be holding up otherwise. It always amazes me how many toys he has and yet he would choose ice cubes, a chair or one of my bracelets to play with over most of his toys. Kids sure are funny. We sure do enjoy all the new things that he is learning!

Mr. Trouble is a good name for him!
If you click on this picture you can see the budding of his top tooth!

I Love Spring!

Quinton is getting this wedding thing down! He successfully smiled his way through yet another wedding and even allowed his dad to mess with him a little trying to get him to giggle and be goofy!

He loves his dad so much!

Our little family!

Quinton has this walking thing down with his grocery cart and multiple times daily he will walk his cart over to the front door trying to tell me to take him outside. I think he would eat, sleep, play all day outside if we let him. He is getting so good at walking... here are so videos to prove it! (the second one is not very good and makes me a little sick... sorry about my poor video skills!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4xFj6xoME0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hldIZHBqzOE

Mother's day was very nice! Lots of church but them a bbq at Grandma and Grandpa Rude's house with all his cousins and aunts and uncles. It is getting to be quite a group! Quinton enjoyed the new car swing and Grandma and Grandpa's and he always enjoys watching all the other kids run around!

Swinging with his cousin Miles!

Quinn also has a new cousin. Dan's brother Steve and wife Amber had their first child about a month ago, Hudson Drake Rude. He's a pretty handsome guy! Quinton really likes Hudson's toes! It just doesn't get cuter than this picture! (click to enlarge)

Spring has Sprung!

Quinton sure is keeping us busy! He is a standing maniac now and is getting braver as he tries to go from the couch to his toys or a chair to the table. He is so so close to walking that I'm sure it will be here before we know it! Quinton got his third tooth last week and is already putting it to good use, chomping off pieces of apples! He is definitely our child and would prefer ending a meal with some goldfish or something salty as opposed to a cookie and he loves mexican food... He must have learned that from his dad! Wee Rude #2 is growing, my pants have gotten significantly tighter in the waist much faster this time around! I don't think that we have had as much time to think about this baby as we did with Quinn because we are busy tending to the needs of a one year old, but we sure are excited to welcome another member to our family!

Just playing outside!

Precious!

He's ALWAY happy with sticks!

Dancing with Dad at one of our many weddings this summer! He still LOVES music and dances his little heart out at all the weddings!

Looking handsome in his hat!

Both Dan and I commented on how much more he fills out the stroller this summer. He looks like such a big boy. I can't even believe it! He sure does still love riding around in it. He just takes in all the sights and sounds!

We have not posted a video in a while, but here is a little taste of Quinn's walking skills. He loves to walk with his grocery cart from the Bohlens. We bring it outside a lot and use it on the sidewalk in from of our house. It allows him to walk for a longer period of time because inside our house just doesn't allow that! He sure does enjoy it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSBMkLNtd0g