Apple Picking

Tanner and I go to playgroup every other week with people from our ward. Last week, the activity was apple picking at an apple orchard. What a fun idea for kids! Tanner loved running up and down the rows of apple trees. We picked 5 delicious Honeycrisp apples, and we also got to see some pretty cool chickens. In the chicken picture, Tanner is actually waving hello to the chickens. It was a great activity.

Some New Pictures

Here's just a random set of pictures that I took recently. Tanner has really been into play dough, which I finally learned how to make home-made. Josh plays play-dough with him sometimes. Also, this bottom picture is my Fall centerpiece that I made for our coffee table. (I have to apologize for the poor picture quality. I need to check my camera to see if it's on the wrong setting. Either that's the problem, or the lighting in our apartment is just really bad.)

Tanner's 2nd Birthday

 On Tanner's birthday, I made him a chocolate cake from scratch- including the frosting. He helped me make the frosting. Well, he mostly helped with the cleanup- he cleaned the wire whisk with his mouth pretty good.

 That evening, we had our neighbors over for cake and ice cream. Then Tanner got to open some presents. Isabella, Tanner's little friend in the pictures, gave him lots of cool toys, like a giant coloring book, legos, and a Sesame Street memory game. He also got some new cars & clothes from Grandma and Grandpa Niederhauser, a lot of new clothes from Grandma  and Grandpa Oaks, and a Little People grocery store from Mommy and Daddy.

The next morning, Tanner wore a new outfit and played with his new toys. Thank heavens for new toys! They keep him busy.

Silly Tanner

 This is how Tanner puts on his sweet shades. He likes to flatten his ears with them, apparently.

 Here's a random picture of him playing hard and having fun!

It was rainy one day when we went to a playground, which was totally awesome for Tanner. He thought that splashing in the puddles was so cool. But I never thought he would actually bend over and purposely stick his forehead in the mud. Didn't see that one coming.

Splash Pad Fun

Recently, I was able to find a park with a splash pad for Tanner to play at. It was a pretty cool park. It had 2 playgrounds and a splash pad in the middle.

Tanner's Birthday Fun

 For Tanner's birthday, we took him to a kid's play place called Kidz Village. It has a bunch of themed rooms with kid-sized items and furniture, and lots of cool toys. There's also an indoor playground. This first set of pictures is in the kitchen, where kids can pretend to cook. Tanner loved it! It was his favorite room. His favorite thing to cook was toast. Oh, and I love the cute little apron he wore! (I forgot to bring my camera, so these pictures were taken with my phone. That's why they're not the best quality.)

This is the fun indoor playground. It was pretty big and had several levels. Tanner got himself up to the top level and then got scared because he couldn't find his way back down. Josh had to go up there and help him. Tanner made him follow him around the rest of the time. 

 This was the tool workshop, where kids can build things. Tanner got all ready to build the train, but then he discovered that the train was missing. There were only train tracks. It was pretty lame. I got lucky, catching him with this pose. I got this picture at the exact moment that he was asking, "Choo choo?" It's really too bad that the train was missing, because trains are his latest favorite thing.

 Here's the little grocery store. For once, Tanner was allowed to take things off the shelf and put it in the cart. He went wild and crazy putting items into his little shopping cart.

 We let Tanner play basketball at the arcade. He won just enough tickets to buy 2 tootsie rolls. He was totally thrilled.

 This is Tanner and his daddy in the movie theater room.

And finally, this is the hair salon. Tanner learned how to use a blow dryer. Over all, this birthday activity was a major success. He was in total bliss for 2 hours and he got to try out all sorts of new things.