welcome to our thursday

a glimpse into the world of von being von.  
what would i do without my camera phone?? always so handy to have it in my pocket for candid photos :)

  

 

 

saturday funday

we're fortunate enough to live pretty close to a cute kid-focused state park.  it's called midway state park and has been around since 1898 (holy cow!).  saturday was a 'hmmm, what should we do' type of day, so we voted between the erie zoo & midway park ... midway won (simply because von had not been there - well, kinda...see here - and it was less drive time).  what a beautiful day it was.  oh, and a funtastic day too! 

von is about one summer away from reeeealllly enjoying all of the rides, but nonetheless, he was STOKED!  rides that consisted of fast spinning or heights were somewhat frightening to our little guy, so we stuck with the cars, boats, airplanes, carousel, and train.  the train was a favorite for sure!  

a leisure walk thru the arcade (josh's favorite), followed by sharing a pretzel as a family lake-side, and finally some ice cream for the ride home rounded out our day at midway.  fun, fun, fun!

 

new shower?

we're conserving water, so von's now showering under the planters while we water the flowers.
have i mentioned before that he's ALL BOY?  :)

 

90's flashback

check out von's sidewalk chalk shorts....  
pretty sure that i had many clothes with similar patterns way back when :)

 

marshmallows galore

cooler evenings = backyard fires!  
man, do we LOVE this time of year!!

olive garden

so we went to olive garden with the kittanning crew last friday.  upon arrival, von seemed sleepy and continued to push his lower lip out, just staring at the table.  i asked him if he wanted mommom to hold him so he could lay his head down (never in a million years did i think he'd go for it), to which he replied yes.  onto my lap and snuggled into my shoulder like he was a newborn in about 2 seconds flat.  no one really thought he'd fall asleep though, maybe just cuddle at most.  (again, wrong!)  von slept thru dinner (note - not much stands between me and olive garden salad, so minus a few crumbs from the breadsticks, i managed to not spill anything on him while i chowed down on my dinner, heehee) and didnt wake up until the walk to the car.  and when he woke up, he brought a fever with him.  not even a walk thru sears (aka tractor central) while at the mall could excite him ... THAT'S when i knew something was up.  when we got back to ma/pa's house, mellow von played a bit and then we got ready for bed.  when i took him in to put him to sleep, he insisted he sleep in bed with me.  and i caved.  i figured the little guy wasnt feeling well and i just wanted to hold him all night.  we both zonked out, but a mere hour into our sleep, von woke up SCREAMING and nothing could console him :(  after finally settling him down, i just watched him sleep, wondering what was going on.  he absolutely had a fever all night (he was like sleeping next to a heating pad!), but upon waking up, he seemed somewhat better.  von and i drove home saturday morning and he exhibited the same symptoms all weekend.  sunday some spots appeared.  monday morning, more spots.  i called the doctor and made an appointment, hoping to confirm josh & i's home-diagnosis.  and yup, we were right ... hand foot mouth disease :(  poor little guy has been a trooper though and hopefully all is better by the end of this week.

 

stats

adorable blackberry-stained von.
possibly this diet rich in fruit is what helps him stay so big and strong:

32.6 pounds / 36 inches

wow, just wow!  tonight i was remembering when he was 7.8lbs / 20.5 inches at birth (i honestly couldnt even put that size into perspective as i watched him play in the swimming pool).  i just love every ounce and centimeter of our von sawyer dynda!