Welcome Bennett and Oliver!

Daniel gained two new cousins yesterday!  Aunt Danielle and Uncle Leo welcomed Bennett Palaoro (4 lbs, 15 oz at 5:30 p.m.) and Oliver Rawls (4 lbs. 2 oz at 5:31 p.m.) Schmidt!  We couldn't be happier for them. We are excited to travel to Sioux Falls to meet them in person this weekend and give the proud mommy and daddy big hugs!

Bennett

Oliver

Sweet family

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!  Amy and Daniel did a lot to make today very special for me - great quality time and fun gifts - it was a perfect day.   I consider myself very lucky to be a father to Daniel, so thank you Amy for all your help in making that happen! ;-)

After dinner we took a few pictures:

Father's Day hugs

23-Month Update

Here we are... one month away from Daniel's second birthday!  As he rapidly approaches the 2-year mark, he continues to mature into a little boy.  As far as speech is concerned, he's still behind the curve.  However, today he said "uh oh" unprovoked by me.  He dropped a blueberry in to his bib and said "uh oh."  There was great excitement from mommy.  :)  He also now, pretty regularly, says "all done" when he's finished eating (or sometimes even before he starts eating if he doesn't want to sit in his highchair).  He added dog to his list of words too.  He still uses sign language for many including water and milk which is helpful.

Socially Daniel does very well with other children.  I think he's starting to get the concept of sharing and taking turns with other kids (especially on the slides at playgrounds).

His current favorite things are the vacuum cleaner and pushing it anywhere he can around the house (he can open the closet door all by himself now, so he gets the vacuum anytime he wants), sweeping, playing with tools, watching small bits of TV (about 15 minutes of Handy Manny 3-4 times a week), reading books (right now, he basically only reads the Handy Manny books we checked out from the library, so we basically have all of those memorized now), playing with his Big Wheel (though he hasn't quite mastered pushing the pedals yet), bath time, and helping Mommy and Daddy water the plants outside.

We look forward to his 2-year pediatrician visit right after his birthday.  We'll have height and weight updates and developmental updates as well.  Hard to believe our little monster is almost two!

Here are some fun videos from the last day or two and some pictures:

He likes to give the columns hugs, for some reason.

Ranch Meetup

Today Daniel and I joined our stay-at-home-mom's group and went to Faulkner's Ranch, just a few miles from our house.  It was great!  Daniel had a great time with the other kids and running around on the Ranch. He rode on a pony (and loved it!), went on a hayrack ride, played at a playground, had the opportunity to milk a cow (but didn't want to), and pet and fed different farm animals.  Then we had a picnic with the other moms and kids.  It was great fun!  It sounds like the Ranch does most of their tours in the Fall during pumpkin season, so we look forward to taking a trip back!

He's on a horse!

A rare photo of the two of us at a playdate

Some of the moms and kids

Always loves a good slide

Grandparents Visit

This weekend, we were lucky enough to have my grandpa, dad, and mom join us.  We took a trip to Lowes (Daniel's favorite store - they have washers and dryers there, you know...), the aquarium, had a BBQ dinner, and had lots of fun playing outside and enjoying the beautiful weather.  We are glad Great-Grandpa was able to make his first trip to our house!  Thanks for joining us and for such a fun time.  We look forward to more fun next time!

He loves being in the bubble

He's much more interested in the fish now

"Hey Grandpas - there's a turtle in there!"

There was a Curios George Exhibit near the aquarium where Daniel  played mini golf for the first time.

"Follow me, Great-Grandpa!"

Hilliard Visit

One of the best things about moving back to the Midwest is being closer with our friends, the Hilliard family!  They made a trip down to visit us.  There was never a dull moment, and we all had lots of fun and great conversations together.  Daniel really enjoyed having some playmates for the weekend, as did Bobby and I.  :)  Here are some pictures of the fun:

Playground fun and a photobomb courtesy of Bobby

Elizabeth and Daniel

Riding the train at the KC Zoo

Daniel rode one of the animals instead of sitting in the carriage for the first time - now he loves it!

The only photo of all seven of us - at T-Rex Cafe

Mark celebrated his birthday with us - yay for cake!

A little Sunday morning pajamas and play time

Elizabeth pushing Daniel on the Thomas toy - Daniel loved that!

Taking turns - Daniel pushing Catherine on the Thomas toy