It's Getting Hot in Herrrrrrrrrrrreeeee

Well, it's that time of year in Arizona....so hot that even Eliya wants to go naked. In an ongoing effort to improve our house and save some money on the power bill, we installed the Nest this weekend. Let me start off by saying I am not a paid blogger (in the event that there was any confusion :) ) but I am ready to shout to the rooftops about how cool this thermostat is. The founder used to work for Apple and developed several generations of the ipod and ipad. It only took 20 minutes for Travis to install both sides of the house and another 5 to program, using the touch screen that is as smooth as any "i" product. Hopefully it is as efficient as it is fun! The Nest syncs to my computer, smart phone, the local weather and learns our heating and cooling habits so we can turn the air down on our way home...it's our way of being "cool" in this heat.

Happy Half Birthday

Jack celebrated his half birthday on Friday! It was the hottest day of the summer so far and we were getting new doors installed so it was quite difficult to keep this busy boy contained...and cool. I decided to take him shopping with me to his favorite spot, Costco, for a round of birthday sampling and some heavy duty A/C. It's amazing how children and adults alike love to Costco sample.

For his half birthday, I bought Jack Dumbo. I am scared that it will go in the Disney vault and never come out. Really? He doesn't even watch movies yet but now we have it, JUST IN CASE!

We also made cookies together to celebrate the O's Anniversary. I let him taste the cookie dough, yes, the raw homemade kind. But I did buy him that movie that will go into a vault someday so my bad parenting is cancelled out. Anyways, he LOVED cookie dough. No matter how many people say he looks just like his Dad, this cookie dough eating boy has some Mom & Oma in him.

At 18 months, Jack is at 25% for his weight, 75% for his height and they say just right for his height to weigh ratio. What it really means: 24.8lbs and 33.75".

18 Things at 18 Months

1. Loves giraffes
2. Loves ducks
3. Loves Costco sampling
4. Talks during the night
5. Can sign please, milk, thank you, more, nice, water
6. Is starting to talk like crazy, a few that we understand: Elmo, Hat, Hot, Daddy, Oma, Mama, Duck, Agua, More, Banana, Shoes, Please, Bye, Bye Truck, Bye Car, Hi, Yeah, Kids, Sis, Shake and my favorite, WOW
7. Marches to the bathtub every night
8. Loves reading books
9. Loves being outside and watering with his duck watering can
10. Loves kissing and hugging his sister
11. Reads Llama Llama Nighty Night every night before bed
12. Loves wrestling with Daddy
13. Loves wearing hats (this is recent, my friend Stef told him how cute he looked in his hat...enough said)
14. Loves chicken, chicken salad, fruit and bananas
15. Loves music and dancing
16. Loves his binks 
17. Has the best smile ever
18. Can hold up his finger and show you that he is one!

Happy 40th Anniversary!

Celebrating 40 Years with Mom & Dad this weekend. Together, they are one of a kind!! YEAH!

Last Day of School!

It is Jack's last day of school before starting a new adventure next week! To celebrate, I made us pancakes this morning with a dash of whipped cream and berries. YUM!

As you can see, we are making progress with our fork and plate combination.

Secret Banana Message

Countdown...

This is my last week at home before returning to work. I was kind of bummed about it but then had some exciting news that made my week. More on that in June! I am guessing that after this photo session, Eliya might be counting down the days too.

Watermelon!