Happy Baptismal Birthday!

Today is the first anniversary of Kyler's baptism. It almost slipped our minds but we chose a great Godfather for Kyler who gave him a gift this weekend and reminded us. 

We celebrated at dinner tonight by having Kyler's favorite - chicken alfredo. After dinner, we lit his baptismal candle and said a prayer for Kyler. Then we had white cupcakes. Kyler ate really well (as usual) and was pretty happy about his treat.

Next we went and picked out a bible for Kyler. I wanted to give him a bible that he could keep forever. We even had his name embossed on it. He has some childrens bibles already and we will continue to give him age-appropriate bibles as he grows older. We will also be making a charitable donation in his honor to Seneca's upcoming Out of the Darkness walk which is a suicide prevention event. It seemed fitting because my cousin is putting it together and I found out about it today - on Kyler's baptismal birthday.

Here is the prayer that Brett and I read aloud:

Remember this, Kyler. 

You have been washed in the saving waters of baptism and annointed with holy oil. 

Place on your head and in your heart the sign of the cross of salvation. 

(We traced the sign of the cross on his head and heart.) 

Loving God, You created all the people of the world, and You know each of us by name. 

We thank you for Kyler, who celebrates the anniversary of his baptism. 

Bless him with Your love and friendship that he may grow in wisdom, knowledge, and grace. 

May he love his family always and be ever faithful to his friends. 

Grant this through Christ our Lord. 

Amen.

We want to keep this tradition alive and let Kyler know that his spiritual life is just as important as celebrating his life here on Earth. Hopefully in the future I will plan a little better so that Kyler's Godparents can attend the celebration.


And here are some pictures from that special day one year ago...

Kyler Jacoby being baptized.

He was so happy right after... he loves water to this day!

He was so interested in the camera and smiled the whole ceremony and dinner.

The baptismal candle.

We are so blessed to have amazing Godparents - Shelly and Andy.

And equally blessed to have awesome, involved, and very supportive grandparents.

Summer Produce

We have been loving the produce this summer. Kyler loves plums but they are a little too sour. It is hilarious to watch him eat them.

He is also a huge fan of the yummy Missouri peaches we have been getting at the farmers market. They are gigantic but he can put quite a dent in one.

You can see on his plate what was left of the peach when he was done. Did you see all of his front teeth in these pictures? He also has four of his molars.

And here he is eating sweet corn right off the cob. We found the best corn at the farmers market and can't get enough of it!

Fun (and Hot) Summer Weekends

We've had a couple of fun family weekends. But Kansas is HOT this summer! Last weekend we went to Great Bend for a couple of family reunions on the Brack side. It was around 110 degrees one of the days we were there. Kyler had a lot of fun playing with the relatives close to his age. We stayed one night at a hotel and Brett and Kyler did a little swimming. We walked around the farm where Brett's parents live and Ky loved seeing the tractors. The next morning he woke up and walked over to the door saying "tra-tor." Of course Grandma took him right out. He's such a lucky boy.

Kyler also just got finished with his first swimming lesson course last week. It was a parent/child course to start getting toddlers and babies used to the water. Kyler did pretty good. He has no problem putting his face in the water and doesn't mind getting put completely under either. He does a good job on his front floats but doesn't really enjoy floating on his back much. (I am holding him up when floating.) He is a nut in the water and has no fear. He doesn't want to hold my hand in the shallow water and constantly goes under water. He also loves slides and tries to walk through the deep water to go again.

This weekend we went to Seneca to look at a house on Saturday morning. It was the county fair weekend so there was a lot going on. Saturday night was cruise night where lots of people with fancy cars - old cars and hotrods - cruise around town. We got back to town right around dark so we missed most of it but Ky was pretty interested in the motorcycles and noisy cars. He calls pretty much everything a tractor.

Sunday morning we went out to the fairgrounds to see the animals - cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, horses, geese, ducks, chickens, and some baby chicks. We checked out the car show for a little bit before it go too hot. (The humidity was 92 percent and the temp was in the high 90s so it felt yucky!) Again, Ky liked the motorcycles best. He also thought he was pretty cool sitting on the army tank (a permanent fixture at the park).

After a morning nap and lunch we headed out to the tractor pull. It was Brett's and Ky's first tractor pull. Ky said tractor about 100 times and even though the noisy lawnmower tractors were a little scary, he wouldn't let me cover his ears. It was hot there so we we hit the pool for a couple hours before heading back to Papa and Grandma's house. He had a blast. Seneca has a new pool and it is great for toddlers. Sunday night was the parade which was lead by the American Legion riders. Great Grandpa Remi was one of the riders. It was a really long parade with lots of tractors, farm equipment, heavy machinery, and semi trucks. We came home with way too much candy. Before we left today, Ky had to get into Frazier's pool and play. They both had lots of fun.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another 110 degree day... probably the hottest day of the year in the Kansas City metro area. Then we get a cool front where it will get down to the lower 90s - that's going to feel like fall compared to what we're used to!

Playing at the Seneca Pool

On Great Grandpa Remi's Harley with Papa

Playing in Frazier's Pool

Fun with Frazier

So Much Fun!

My Little Guy

Touch a Truck

Kyler had another busy weekend. We went to the Fiesta in Topeka on Saturday night. Ky had some yummy Mexican food and then got to go on a couple of carnival rides. He was a little too small for the kiddie rides but we took him on the carousel a couple of times and the ferris wheel. It was so hot and he got tired so we headed out after Ky had a cherry limeade and Brett and I each had a frozen margarita. Yum!

He wanted to go on the little train so bad!

But the carousel would have to do.

He wasn't sure what to think about the ferris wheel.

Sunday we visited the Overland Park convention center for their Touch a Truck event. I would say it was a little underwhelming for an adult but probably seemed amazingly huge for a kid. They had a tractor, motorcycle, firetrucks, combine, semi, some building machinery (I have no idea what they were called), and a handful or so of other vehicles. We couldn't tell if Kyler was still tired, didn't feel good, or was just thinking so hard he wasn't showing much excitement. I'm pretty sure it was the last one.

I tried to get him to stand next to the firetruck for a picture but he thought we were leaving him.

Sitting inside the fire truck.

Driving a Pepsi truck and listening to Dad tell him how it sounds.

Motorcycles are his latest obsession. He thinks any loud vehicle is a motorcycle.

He has to check everything out pretty intensely.

There's the excitement I was expecting!

He was content to sit on the floor of this machine.

Look at that cute boy on the front of a firetruck!

Trying to see how it works.

We ended the weekend by having dinner at Aunt Jessica's parents' house. She is back again from Japan (no complaints from us)! Kyler had a great time there snooping around and enjoying a larger space than our apartment to walk around. He got to go for a ride on the lawn tractor, play with their three big dogs, and check out the horses. Hopefully next time we are there it is a little more comfortable outside so we can spend more time enjoying the outdoors!

The littlest fireman.

With Mama in front of the firetruck.

What a goofball!

The tractor was definitely his favorite. He perked up when he got in here!

Here's a picture I hope to not see a repeat of in 15-20 years!

I think this steering wheel on an old firetruck is bigger than Ky.

Looking hard at something while sitting in the semi.

Here's the outside.

We tried for one last fireman shot but it was hot out. Oh, and his shorts really weren't that short! :)

Oh Boy

From the day he was born everyone always said there was no mistaking Kyler for a girl. His features were never all that baby-like and he's always just looked like a little boy (and sometimes a little old man). I can tell you he acts "all boy" too. I have mentioned before that he takes a different approach to playing with some things. He bangs and crashes things I would never imagine doing that with.

Now even his words and obsessions are very boyish. Vehicles are his absolute favorite: tractors, firetrucks, motorcycles, ATVs, trucks, cars, boats, you name it. He can say tractor pretty clearly for his age, it usually sounds like "tra-ter." And his little voice is so cute when he says it softly and sort of high pitched. That is definitely his biggest word and now more and more things are becoming tra-ters. He tries to say other words once in a while but they would be pretty unrecognizable if he wasn't just repeating what you said. He also makes a fire truck siren noise that's pretty funny, sort of like "ahh-ooo-ahh-ooo-ahh-ooo." Everything else now sounds like "dat." He points (with his whole hand, not just one finger) and says "dat," wanting to know what that is.

Saturday night we went to Bass Pro Shops to return some things and brought Kyler around the store. It was pretty hot out and we didn't really have anything going on after dinner. He loved it. It took a lot of effort to get him to move past each ATV he spotted, and then again with each boat. He liked watching the fish and looking at all the taxidermy. We were there for quite a while and when we finally had to pick him up to leave, he cried.

The latest thing Ky has been doing is playing pretend. He is pretending to eat and drink things all the time. It started with the dog dishes. He would go up to them, put his face near them, and make noises like he was lapping up some food. Next he was doing the same thing with some small cans of tomato juice he found in the pantry. Then it was on to pretending to pick food out of a book and eat that. And now he will do the same thing with things in the pantry. He's a smart boy and catches on to a lot. And it is a lot of fun to play pretend with him. Maybe we should get a play kitchen so he can have one girly activity. Plus, who doesn't love a man that can cook?! :)

July 4th Weekend

We had an action-packed weekend and wore Kyler out. Saturday morning we decided at the last minute to head to Centralia to camp at the lake with my parents. We pulled in around 2:30 and Kyler had only taken around a 20 minute nap so we weren't sure how well he would do.

(Riding the 4-Wheeler with Papa and Grandma - It was Kyler's and Grandma's first time on a 4-wheeler)

We headed out to Great Grandpa and Grandma's farm first thing since a lot of the family was in town. Kyler had SO much fun there. He played with rocks on the driveway, water balloons with the kids, carried Great Grandma's broom around the porch, rode Great Grandpa's new Razor Dune Buggy, rode Papa's 4-wheeler, and even got a ride in the tractor. He absolutely loved it!

(Kyler and Papa with the Broom - When Papa took Kyler over here his eyes got really big and he said "tractor" pretty clearly.)

(Kyler Riding/Driving the Tractor)

Next we headed out to the lake for dinner. We took a short canoe ride with Papa and Grandma (the one activity he wasn't a big fan of). Then there were some fireworks going off around the campground. He thought they were great. Papa and Grandma took him to the playground to watch fireworks from there. Then we continued watching them around the campfire. Kyler sat in his little chair and would look over, see everyone else in their chairs, wave, and laugh. One time he heard a big boom but didn't turn to look in time to see the pretty fireworks. He was mad and threw a little fit.

(Ky loved the tire swing at the farm and it put him right to sleep.)

Sunday morning we were up bright and early. Before Papa headed to work, he rigged up a kite on a fishing pole and we flew it as storms were circling around us. After nap time, it was hot and sunny so we spent the afternoon playing outside at the campsite. When Papa got back from work, we got to go out on the boat. Kyler loved looking at all the other boats and jet skis and people swimming, playing, and jumping off boats in the little "party cove." He also liked watching the water splash up from the side of the boat when we were going fast. When we got in the water this time, he was much more independent and comfortable than last time and would even float by himself a little. He fell asleep at the end of our boat ride and was out cold.

(Kyler "fishing" with his kite at the lake)

We cleaned up and headed to Pat and Shelly's party in Topeka on our way home. Kyler got to do a sparkler and was up close and personal with some other little fireworks (a lot too close to one of our tanks). He was really tired and got a little scared of some of the bigger artillery shells that were really loud and nearby. He hung on tight to Papa and passed out in his arms. It was time to head home!

(More of Kyler's kite "fishing)

We still have a parade and more fireworks tonight before the end of our big weekend. Kyler was a sport and already this morning was saying "tractor" and laughed and waved at himself watching the tractor and 4-wheeler videos and pictures. We are having a fun summer with the little guy!