Birds of Prey know they're cool

I spotted this guy in our backyard and was able to take a few pictures before it flew away. Anyone know what kind of bird it is?

Cartoons

When I want to do something on the computer Nils sits on my lap and watches webtoons like Homestar Runner and Making Fiends. Even though he has watched episode 5 of making fiends more than once, when we watched it last night (for the umpteenth time) this scene (see picture) terrified him for the first time. He calmed down pretty quick (especially when the monster started demanding cookies, a word he recognizes), but I still worry that he's going to have nightmares about it. Poor kid.

Holiday Pictures

First we have Halloween:


Then we have Thanksgiving at Great Grandma's farm:


Lastly we have Christmas:

Scared

Another cat came into our backyard last night while Tycho was out prowling. He collided with the door in an attempt to run away, after we let him in he sat there with his tail like this for a good 15 minutes (his tail is normally half that size, and was even bigger when he first came inside).
Thanksgiving was great, and Nils did well on the car ride. When I get my film developed I'll post some of the pictures of him on the tractor.

Climber

This is the second time he's done this. The first time I found him stuck headfirst in the top drawer of that dresser in the background. This time he wandered off to his bedroom, and we went to check on him when we heard some weird gruntings and other odd noises. He was happy as a clam playing up there. I guess he just likes climbing things and giving me heart attacks.

Big foot

He's done this a couple times, but this time I got a picture of it. He had some help putting them on, but the whole thing was his idea.

Hunter

Runny Nose

We've all had a cold, and now we're mostly better. Nils still has a runny nose, and thinks my skirt is his tissues. Here he is inspecting his handiwork.

Nils + Voting != Funtime

I know it's Friday, and the whole voting thing happened on Tuesday, but I've been busy and it's an entertaining story to say the least. I remembered Monday evening that we had neglected to re-register for voting when we moved into our new house. So I quickly did an online re-registration and found that we were eligible for provisional ballots- which is better than nothing. The next day while researching canidates and whatnot I noticed that my driver's license would not be accepted as a valid form of ID because, though I had updated my address with the MVD, I had not obtained a new license since I got married. So since the address on the license didn't match the address that would be on the voter register I would have to provide alternate forms of ID, which I had. Then I had the bright idea that-- since we would be having provisional ballots, and would both have to use alternate forms of ID-- my husband and I should go vote together after he got off of work. (Ahh, naïvté!)

So at 5:30 we happily set off for our polling location, as described by the Secretary of State's website. When we got there we learned that we were at the wrong place, though only a mile or so off. When we arrived at our real polling place (6pm) the line was out the door and 20 feet or so down the street. So we got in line. I held our place while my husband chased Nils around on the grass nearby. Volunteers passed out granola bars, I took one to feed Nils. When we got inside the building (6:30pm) Nils was getting restless. When we got inside the incredibly hot crowded room (7pm), Nils was full on miserable. He squirmed relentlessly while being held and would take off at top speed if we put him down. We managed to get our ballots and sit down to vote only for Nils to decide that he had had enough!

Somehow he got ahold of the granola bar we'd been feeding him and shoved the whole thing in his mouth while we weren't looking. He chewed it up then spat (most of) it out on the floor, where it looked like vomit. Then he started crying at the top of his lungs. After I managed to clean up the granola bar he had the rest of it in his hand and smeared it on my pants. While all this was going on we were passing him back and forth between us trying to fill in our ballots as quickly as possible while the other wrestled with Nils, both of us not even daring to look at the people around us lest they give us dirty looks.

I finally finished my ballot and grabbed him and fled leaving my husband to finish his ballot in reletive peace. Once we were outside on the grass Nils was happy as could be. Next time we're getting a babysitter.

Haircut!

I gave him a haircut this morning. I wasn't planning on it, but he found the clippers in the bathroom and was curious, so I took advantage of the curiosity and sheared his head. There were no tears and he was very cooperative. He even liked getting sprayed with the hairspray- I hated getting sprayed with hairspray when I was little. What a weird little boy.

Saint Nils

So it's not Halloween yet, but I finished his costume this afternoon and put it on him this evening. It turned out really well. :)

Delicious!

You can barely see it in the picture, but there was dirt all over his face. He was sampling rocks in the back yard while I wasn't looking.

Mormor's house, now with Apples!

We went to Mormor's house this weekend. There were lots of apples there.

Cousin Megan and I helped her sort them

They were delicious!

Crocodile Tears

Curiosity bathed the cat

I went and grabbed the camera intending to take a picture of the cat sitting on the edge of the tub watching the bathing process with fascination. When I returned I saw this:
Which quickly turned into this:

The cat managed to escape with only very very wet paws.

Cat in a basket

Nils loves pushing things around. He has a wagon that he pushes back and forth across the yard, and he has a trashcan and a couple of laundry baskets that he pushes up and down the hallway. This morning Tycho jumped in the basket and just sat there enjoying the ride as Nils pushed him around.

Fancy footwork

Nils has started clogging already.

Fender Bender

So Jay got rear-ended on the way home from work a week ago. I took this just before they came to tow it to the auto shop. Soon we'll hear if it's totalled or not. We're pretty bummed- we really liked this car. :( Oh well.

X-treme closeup

Cat tongue- hand wash- let hang to dry.

Lap Cat

Our house is finished and we moved in yesterday. Nils broke down into tears watching all his stuff being carried out (especially the couch- which is really our stuff, but he doesn't know that yet). He felt much better later when it all reappeared at the house.
Anyhow, we picked up our kitten, Tycho, from Nils' grandparent's house today. Nils and Tycho meowed at eachother all the way home. After Tycho looked around the house he came and slept in my lap for a half hour. In fact, he's still on my lap as I type this- which is funny because Nils' grandparents were certain that he just wasn't going to be a lap cat.

Nils' Packing Styles

Packing!

So we move next week. We're really excited. So is Nils. However, since I'm under doctors orders not to do any lifting, we've decided to let Nils do the packing.



He wanted to make sure we didn't forget his diaper cream.

Vocabulary

These are all the things Nils can say or sign:

Dog: pant-pant and woof-woof
Cat: meow
Fish: -smacks lips-
Hot: -move hand up and down, palm forward-
Hair: -rubs head-
Update:
Bear: Scratches tummy (supposed to be claws chest, but hey)

He's just so darn talented.

Tape hand

Problem solving at it's finest. Final solution: stick it on mom.

When Kittens Attack

The orange blur in this is our kitten Tycho. He's living with Nils' Grandma and her cat buzz until we move out of our apartment. He's a wild and crazy guy.

Books Rule

He's been completely ignoring his books for the past couple of months, unless he was grudingly obliging my attempts to quiet him in church. This afternoon, all the sudden, he's completely fascinated with them. Go figure.

Dinner Date

Dinner date with cousin Megan.

Sudsy

Nils decided to sample the bar of soap this morning. This is what he thought of it. :)

Sack of Potatoes=Fun Time

He sat in the pantry quietly playing with the potatoes for nearly 15 minutes.

Slide show

I was hoping to make a little animation from the following pictures, but it just didn't work out. Either way, I think these photos are funnier if you remember that they were taken in rapid succession.

Happy Birthday to Nils

Who? Me?

So it's a month late, but we finally had Nils' party tonight. We hope everyone got home safe. :)

Here's Nils' cupcakes. I call them "A study in Blue."

Cool and refreshing

We don't eat otter pops because they're delicious. They're delicious because we must eat them for their cooling properties.

Toothbrush

I got Nils his own toothbrush the other day. After seeing him try to brush his teeth with my toothbrush I decided it was time he get his own to practice on. He loves it. He's been sitting on my lap for the past 10 minutes brushing his teeth. It makes for a slobbery desktop, but hey we're learning good habits right?

Now with Drywall!

It looks more and more like a house every time we go to see it. :)

Ant bullies: Adventures in mail-getting part II

So when we went to get the mail today we set Nils down in the grass for a minute to enjoy the non one hundred and ten degree weather. When Nils started crying we wondered for a moment what his problem was. Then his dad saw a herd of ants crawling on, and biting him. We counted 22 bites in all. His dad and I sustained injuries while rescuing him too. Getting the mail is starting to be hazardous.

Soggy Bottom Boys

Quick little story: I took Nils with me on my walk to the mail box. I set him down on the grass to walk around by himself while I went to unlock and empty our box. I hear a *splish splish* and look over just in time to see Nils walking into the middle of a big muddy puddle from the storm last night. I refrain from rushing over and pulling him out thinking "It's okay as long as he doesn't sit down." Just then he sits down. *sigh*

Sign of the Baby

So, Nils officially baby signs. The sign demonstrated here is 'dog,' performed by panting like a dog. When we say 'dog' Nils pants. When we show him a dog, he pants. When we show him a cat, he pants. We're working on that one. Anyhow, enjoy Nils showing us how he says dog:

Oh Yeah

I know I'm cool. I'm one hep cat.

Be the Tree

After I put the first clothespin on him Nils was hoping that he could discourage me from such behavior by studiously ingnoring me and the clothespin.
He was wrong.

Mountain Goat

Someone has learned how to climb the furniture. Soon no place will be safe from little grabby hands.

Guidelines for Cute

Got this from Cute Overload. It's a style sheet from the Warner Brothers Animation studio.

Cousins, the Sequel

Fun times with cousins!

Kittens!

My mom's friend has some kittens, so here are some pictures of them

Happy Birthday Nils

Who would have guessed that this little guy would be walking, and playing with dogs, and feeding himself, and laughing and smiling in just a year.

I certainly didn't. Then again, I thought he was always going to be cone head like that too, so maybe I shouldn't be too suprised. :)

Walker, Texas Ranger

He finally realized that he could do it all by himself.

Starving Artist

This budding artist is so hungry he had to eat his crayons. If you look carefully you can see the crumbs on his chin.