Festival of Trees!

On November 12, Dakota & I went to the wonderful Festival of Trees with Mary Jo! Oh what neat & creative Christmas trees we saw. Here are a few pics of some of D & my favorites!

Just for the record, Dakota loved sitting in the chair & it was the only tree with a chair; otherwise, I am sure he would have preferred a blue or green tree & chair, LOL!

This was Dakota's favorite tree, hands down. He kept saying, "Duck, quack quack"! We had to stop by this tree mulitple times before leaving!

Halloween

This year, our Dakota was "Woody" from Toy Story and boy was he adorable!!!

We visited a few friends and trick or treated on just our street, as it was freezing cold, but wow, did Dakota have fun! By the end he couldn't wait for those doors to open so he could reach into those bowls and grab a prize!!! Woo-hoo, good fun was had for sure!

Pumpkin Patch (10-5-10)

Last Tuesday Dakota & I had some big time fun with Aunt Emily, at the Pumpkin Patch!!! Dakota is 32&1/2 inches tall this Fall! Check it out!

Happy Fall Everyone!!!

Baking

Yesterday (9/26/10), Dakota was thinking about doing a little baking! And what fun he had going through the different spices and playing with the Baking Powder! LOL, good times!! I LOVE the last picture the best!

15 Months Old - 9/10/10

Here is Dakota on the day he turned 15 amazing months old! He LOVES playing the piano! Sometimes he also uses his feet and sometimes he sits on the keys, which is super funny!!!

Dakota playing with Lauren and Daniel, his neighbor friends. He has so much fun with them, especially Daniel!

Daddy helping Dakota on Daniel's bike! Dakota was SO happy and proud to be riding that big boy bike!

Dakota is currently really into Giving 5, giving hugs & kisses, drawing with chalk, is just learning to blow kisses (so precious!), and just got his 3rd tooth in yesterday (9/9/10)!

Recent Random Fun!

On July 20, Daddy & Dakota were pirates! And Dakota even makes the Rrrr sounds along with Dad! Super cute!!!! We laughed and laughed!

Does my boy like Chocolate!?!?

I guess this photo proves he loves it!! YUMMERS! 7/22/10

Here is Dakota and me on 7/22! Horsey back rides are one of Dakota's newest favorite activities!! He jumps, bounces, laughs and screams as we go running through the house! I love how happy he is!

Aunt Emmy and I took Dakota to the Spray Park for the 1st time on 7/23/10! At first he wasn't sure about all the spraying water. He watched for a bit and then decided to try it out, then he was hooked! He LOVES Spray Park! We all had lots of fun!

YVES

On July 24, Yves visited from Chicago and got to meet Dakota! He was super sleepy due to the vaccinations he received earlier that week, but they still had fun getting to know each other. We all enjoyed catching up with our dear friend! Thank you for the wonderful visit Yves!

Splish Splash, a Kitchen Sink Bath!!!

These photos are from Dakota's 1st - 3 kitchen sink baths on 7/19, 7/21 & 7/23, 2010! And he was a splishing & a splashing! FUN FUN FUN!!! He LOVES kitchen sink baths! Drinking from the facuet is the BEST!!!

A fun time was had by all...

On 7/18/10, Dakota got to meet a few of his dada's cousins and their kids at his Great Grandma & Grandpa Banks' house!
We adults had a great time catching up, though catching up takes much longer to do when each of us has to take turns running after our children to keep them out of trouble, lol!!!
I use to marvel at what I call the "MOM RADAR", when a mom is able to stop a conversation, get her child back to safety and/or in eye sight and return to the conversation picking up right where it left off, like she never missed a second of it! I realized at that visit, that I now can do that too, lol! I guess it is a skill you develop only after becoming a mom of a moving child!
The kids were a bit shy at 1st, but quickly made friends and had a blast playing all over the house and getting into everything possible!

It was crazy fun for sure!!! Check out the great pictures!
On the left is cousin Marianne & her son Grady, who is very adorable & 10 months old!
On the right is cousin Bonnie with her sweet daughter Brinley & Grady. Brinley is 16 months old and expecting a baby brother in October! Woot, woot another boy!!!!! Thinking about it, the Banks side is a bit boy heavy....From the 5 Banks Grandkids, there are/will in October be 9 Great-Grandkids and only 2 are girls! How cool is that!!!
Thinking more on this, my side - the Schneider side has more boys too, but just slightly....of the 16 Schneider Grandkids, only 5 of us have/will soon have children so far....there are 9 Great-Grandkids, 5 boys and 4 girls. COOL!

On the left is Andrew, Dakota and Great Gpa Banks! Nice looking guys!
On the right Great Gma Banks is playing with Dakota, Brinley & Grant (Marianne's 1st born, who is now 3 and very fun!), good times!! Notice that only Dakota is climbing the boxes, Andrew is SO proud!

Left - The Boys being boys, SO fun & SO adorable!!!!
Right - Grady, Dakota & Marianne, playing with Great Gma looking on!

Left - Marianne's family - Hubby Kurt & Boys!
Right - Grant, Brinley & Dakota

Baby Grady!

As you can see, a fantastically fun time was had by all despite the hot, humid, muggy day that it was. We were all worn out when play time came to an end, even Great Gma and Gpa! Thanks for all the fun Banks Cousins!!!!