Mom of the Year Award....

Would certainly not go to me this year! On May 26th I was holding Patrick on my lap while sitting on the couch and when I went to stand up he sort of threw himself forward and I basically dropped him on the floor. He broke his left arm just above the wrist and I felt so terrible! He was such a trouper though! I wouldn't have even known it was broken had it not been for the fact that he couldn't crawl, so Donny & I took him to Butte to have it x-rayed and put in a cast. He had that cast on for 10 days and just got it taken off today. Now he has a smaller (waterproof - yippee!) cast that he'll wear for 2 weeks. We'll post pics of the new cast soon, but enjoy these little moments in the first cast....it didn't slow him down a bit!He crawls on his elbow and his good hand but we borrowed a walker from a friend to spare his elbow a little bit. I love all of his expressions in the following pictures - he's such a happy guy....and his tongue is out all the time!

"Summer" Fun!

Yes, "Summer" is in quotes because we're not quite through winter yet! Just when we thought we were in the clear - we're expecting snow again. We had a couple of great sunny weekends though and we took advantage of every minute we could. Patrick has a new swing we have hanging from our deck and Grandma Steeley found him a fun slide that on really hot days can be a waterslide. We go for lots of walks in the mountains and if I wasn't such a wimp I'd probably try mountain biking with Patrick, but seeing as how we live on top of a mountain - it just doesn't sound that fun to me! Sliding with Grandma Steeley

Loving the swing!

Lasagna is yummy!

Patrick 14 months

I need to take a photography class because these professional places are a fortune! We thought these turned out pretty cute though!

Random pictures!

Sleeping in the car

Brunch on Easter Sunday with Grandma & Grandpa Patterson

Patrick thinks egg fritatta makes a nice skin conditioning treatment!

Patrick loves to pull his books out of his book shelf. He'll sit and "read" to himself for at least 20 minutes!

Patrick and Maxsen had fun going through all the cabinets.

"Reading" in the car.

Baby Banz!

Patrick & Finn were feeling pretty good wearing their Baby Banz! If you need a gift idea for a baby shower - head to your local baby specialty shop to pick up a pair of these sunglasses. They stay on (miracle) and they're adorable!

Boone & Daisy

Owning two dogs in a town with dirt roads (translation: mud) can be hard on my sanity level. I feel like we're constantly sweeiping and vacuuming to keep up with the dirt that they track in. Sometimes I feel like I am raising 3 toddlers instead of just 1! But, we love our dogs and a couple of weeks ago they were attacked by two dogs in town, and it was very hard on us to go through both emotionally and financially ($615 vet bill!). They're both fine now, but Boone's injuries were pretty extensive and Daisy had a cut eye. Anyway, it really awakened my appreciation for our dogs and the love and joy that they bring to us. Patrick loves his Boone as you can see from the pictures and Daisy & Boone both will really love Patrick as soon as he is big enough to throw the ball for them and take them on walks! Here are a few pictures of Boone's war wounds along with Boone & Patrick on the dog beds (yes, the beds have to be washed all the time now that Patrick has discovered them!).

Inside his leg

Stitches on his shoulder

Bites all over his rump

Resting on Boone