Hummer H2

More of Bailey's new, strange noise, then he makes a sound corresponding to him pushing the horn button. He's been saying "Beep, beep" lately, but didn't do it this time.

Music at the Park

Bailey's been to this park three times in the past four days. Travis and Bailey went on Thursday and Friday and Bailey and I went, along with Jennifer and Austin, today. Bailey is very daring and enjoys the big kid area more than the little kid playground. He climbs up a 4" and 1 foot grid (similar to a cargo net, but sturdier) with no problem, slides down, then goes right back up again. I'll have to take more pictures and videos the next time we go.

Here's Bailey and Austin making music.

Boy and Tractor - Figurine

He always wants to play with this, even though it's not a toy. He didn't get to play with it long because he wanted to push it along like it had wheels. You can hear bits of Bailey's new noise, which sounds more like he is clearing this throat.

Goodbye to Uncle Harold and Aunt Geralyn

We had a good time with Harold and Geralyn, who are the first Missouri visitors we've had at our house. More are welcome... just keep in mind we have a small house!

Thanks for dinner, the Tin Mill beer and the tractor and trailer for Bailey. You are so thoughtful! We really enjoyed your stay!

P.S. Bailey has been carrying the tractor with him everywhere during the past week. He loves it!

Sliding Down the Rocks

Bailey was playing with Austin's cousin Dade. I think he's a little more crazy now (more of a dirty little boy). He was a big mess at the end of the day.

Harold and Geralyn were in the area and stopped by for a day. Travis and Tony put in a ramp for all of the big trucks that will be coming to the both of our yards.

Government workers?

Later we drove around and stopped by the old tunnel under the railroad tracks, built in 1879.

Then we stopped by the playground. I took three pictures and you couldn't see Bailey's eyes in ANY of them.

I took most of the day off to hang out with Bailey. We went to Barnes and Noble for storytime, then met some moms and kids at McDonald's for lunch.

There were THREE steps this high, so Bailey needed help getting up.

The first time he got to the stop, he stayed up there for a while. Then he discovered the slide.....

Then he needed help getting up to the top over and over and over and over....

Tractors, Dump Trucks and Rocks

Peter Schiff in 2006 & 2007 & Preteen Speech

I just saw the two videos below thought I'd share them.

I don't know much about Peter Schiff, but I would like to find out what he is saying now. He is laughed at in the video while warning about the coming housing crisis and credit crunch. The other analysts actually recommend buying Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Washington Mutual.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw

Another great video I saw today. I'd like just a pinch of this 12 year old's public speaking skills.
http://www.nmatv.com/video/1318/Preteen-pro-life-speech-goes-viral

Nice Afternoon

I came home from work a little earlier than usual since it was so nice outside. All of us, including the cat, were outside until the sun went down.

You can visually tell when Bailey is listening to something. He hears a dove in the distance, so pointing is what he usually does when he first hears something.

Still listening.....

Stinky is finally turning into a cat. This is the first time in his five years that I've ever seen him climb up a tree and get up in the branches. He started catching birds and mice about a year ago.

Bailey parking the tractor.

Funny Faces

Another cake

Well, so much for 1.5 to 2 years before the next cake. My neighbor asked me to make her Navy retirement cake, so I couldn't say no. I had edible art made at Sam's Club, so that saved me a lot of time, but it still took a long time and my kitchen was a big mess (the two reasons I don't need to do another cake anytime soon).

I had to do some major photo editing on the anchors, as they were tiny jpeg images, not suitable for enlarging. The big logo was great quality, so no editing there. I expected the edible art to print out the same size as the images I took in, but they were quite a bit smaller.... mental note if I ever need to have any more made. Also, icing colors turn darker after a while and I'm terrible at gauging what the final color will be. I added too much food coloring, so the gold and blue had strange textures.

Heres' some cake stats:

8 cake mixes

24 eggs

10 lbs of powdered sugar

1.25 cans of shortening

Size = 15" x 22" x about 4.5" tall

Weight = estimated to be 25 lbs (by Travis, who had to carry it)

Going for a Couple Rides

Riding the moose.

Riding the dump truck... and in the process of falling over.

Little Machinist

I came home from work to find Bailey and Travis making a part for the mill CNC project. Travis stepped out of the picture for these shots. Look at Bailey's ears in this picture! He looks like a little Yoda!

Bailey using calipers.

We should have taken more progress pictures. This is a motor and motor housing, all ready to be sealed up. Travis bought the motor, but he came up with how everything is wired, the housing design, strain reliefs and everything else. It's mind boggling to me.

Lightning

A storm was heading our way. I told Bailey that the bright flashes of light are called lightning. Here is was he was doing all night as the storms passed.

He loves Lightning McQueen!

Soup Face

Here's Bailey after drinking portobello mushroom soup from a mug. Too cute!

Getting Water

Bailey started getting his own water over a week ago. I wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing (mess). No messes yet, except that Austin tries it too. Oh well. It's just water. We like water messes.

Animals in my Car

Bailey was playing with Stinky and discovering the nooks and crannies in my car, not paying any attention to the Mommy with the camera. I said "Smile!" and this is what I got.

Today was a beautiful day - in the upper 70s in February! After I put shorts on Bailey this morning, he stared at his bare legs like he hadn't seen them before.

Calling for Stinky

I must snap to call Stinky more than I thought. Bailey attempts to snap to call Stinky and he does the same to call Travis and I also.

Musini

Grandma Dawn gave this toy to Bailey several months ago. We got it back down to play with tonight and he finally gets it! It plays music to the beat of vibrations, so he was experimenting with banging on the floor with his hand and stomping his feet. Bailey decided that running in circles works best. He runs around counter-clockwise until he gets dizzy, then turns around and runs clockwise. It's very funny to watch.

March of Dimes

We will be participating in a March of Dimes walk on April 18th in memory of Maddox Tanae Melton-Cruz, who was stillborn on January 8, 2009. I know money is tight in this economy, but if you can contribute anything, it will help. See the link for more information. I'll post a link under "Interesting Links" as well.

Please don't give me any credit for this idea. I'll be walking on Laura Harvison's team. She is Claudia's friend and coworker and the one with this marvelous idea. Thank you Laura!

http://www.marchforbabies.org/jmhughes78

Playing

Sweet boy. He took a tumble off the front porch this morning and landed on his nose!

Potty Time - More Serious Now

At 18 months, we got Bailey a potty seat and he used it a couple times at first, then stopped. This week has been a good potty week. Bailey has been going potty 1 or 2 times a day. Hopefully he will continue this trend. He is very good at doing something once or twice and then not doing it again for a long time (saying Wolf, Hi, Bye, etc. . . . perform monkey!!!).

The Wall... Continued

We redesigned how the wall curves after Travis dug the dirt out, so he had a whole lot of dirt to fill in and compact. Thanks to a day of renting the "Wacker" vibratory rammer, that area was filled in. He is using a manual dirt tamper in the other areas.

Travis got me to operate it a little too, just so I could say I used the "Wacker." I wasn't too good at it in the time that I used it, but I could probably get the hang of it. I've used a jack hammer and a floor buffer in the past, so it's a similar concept - don't muscle it and let the machine do the work for you.

The big area that required the "Wacker."

Travis on his little tractor that has moved a whole lot of dirt and rock.

Shaun the Sheep

Travis found a game on the Internet called Shaun the Sheep. Bailey loves the screen before the game starts. The sheep looks in the direction of the mouse cursor. Bailey thinks it is so funny!

Yogurt Covered Bailey

Bailey and I were attempting to make yogurt covered pretzels. They didn't turn out well (possibly bad powdered sugar), but Bailey had fun anyways.

Yum!
Bailey was a big mess when we were done (and my table and mixer had to be cleaned several times before the stickiness was gone).

Listening to Music

Bailey's Fire Truck Cake & Birthday Party

I wanted to make a fire truck cake for Bailey. I spent several hours researching fire trucks on the internet. I never imagined that there were so many different brands and styles of fire trucks. I decided to make one similar to the fire trucks in our town.

Based on this picture and others, I drew up four elevations and a top view in a CAD program.

I figured out all of the individual parts I need to make and got to work. I spent about 16 hours total making gumpaste parts, baking and carving the cakes, icing, etc. but I spent the most of three days working on it with all of the design and research. My hands hurt so bad because of washing them so many times and they have never been so dry before. Lotion made them sting very bad too.

I'm glad I made this cake. Bailey loved it and he would point to it and say "Fire Truck." I would have done more to it if I had time (adding a stripe, adding detail to make the black glass look shiny, outlining some parts, etc.) , but I stopped about an hour before the party started. I had some help from Lori (painting the silver pieces) and Natalee (wrote "Happy Birthday Bailey"). Thank you so much for your help! I do not plan on doing another cake for a LONG time! One every one and a half to two years is plenty.

Before Natalee's lettering (after I gave up and said "No More!")

After lettering.

Back and right side. Notice the fire hydrant.

Bailey the fire chief - pic by Lindsey. I love this picture!

Bailey opening presents

Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures of Bailey's party. We had 23 people over, including us, so I was concerned more about feeding everyone and less about taking pictures.

See Lindsey and Brice's Blog and the Klotz Family Blog for their pictures.

Bailey's Big Boy Tractor

Bailey on his new John Deere tractor.

Something is missing!

Bailey takes the long way to go get the trailer and bring it down to where his tractor is.
Bailey loves his new tractor, but he really needs to practice steering.

Here is Bailey typing:
vniojl,jl, kokiophhyujoiyuuuuuumioggfrtyuhsydsyuuyh yubbbbbbbbbbaaaaaiiiiiilllllllllleeeeeeeeeeewyyyyyyyy6ytyttythlsusde6dyddddddddg6

Fire Chief with Pacifier?

I'm not sure what he is doing with his pacifier in his mouth here. He is supposed to be giving it up and only sleeps with it during his afternoon nap. Hopefully it will be gone soon. Maybe he will continue touching his nose when he is tired and NOT start sucking his thumb.