It's been a while....

 It's been a while since I posted!  We've been busy and Kirk sure is keeping us on our toes!  The picture above is of Kirk and JD at the MU Green and White game on April 23.  Kirk loved running around and throwing his football in the stadium parking lot.  He was super excited at the game for the first 5 minutes!  I think he gets a little bummed out whenever the football isn't in the air or in his direct line of vision.  We all had a good time and we're looking forward to football season this fall.

 Kirk was so excited and said "Let's go Marshall!" and "Go Herd!"  He can now find Marshall things everywhere.  He said "Go Marshall!" when we stopped at the light by Cabell Huntington Hospital today.  He could see the MU Medical Center sign! 

 Of course, he had to get a golf set sometime soon, right?  This is a picture of him exploring his Easter basket on Easter morning.  He loves golf, and has now assigned the blue club to Jeremy, the yellow one to himself, and the green one to me (he knows all these colors, along with red, yellow, white, pink, purple, orange,brown and black...and the sign language sign for each color as well!).  He can actually hit the ball pretty good!

He's practicing his throwing skills.  He throws way too well for a 21 month old!

 Kirk hunted for Easter eggs at Granny Dean's house.  It didn't take long for him to figure out what to do. 

He found this one all by himself! 

Mother's Day was very special to me this year.  I feel like I've known my little boy forever, but I've only been his mama for 21 months.  I love him more everyday and cannot imagine spending a day away from him.  He makes me smile bigger, laugh harder, and marvel everyday at how amazing he is.  I love being his mama so much!  I know he's very smart, but I still cannot figure out how he managed to have flowers delieverd to me at school!  Haha!  I have a very special family and I am so grateful for my baby boy and his daddy!

Kirk covered a flower pot in stickers ("skickers") and planted a flower for me for Mother's Day at school (with a little help from his teachers). 

I love the handprint art that he brings home from school, and it is so sad that his hands look a little bit bigger each time!

We walked with "Caden's Crusaders" in the Great Strides for Cystic Fibrosis walk on Saturday, May 14.  Kirk now loves playing in Ritter Park.  This picture is of Kirk and Jeremy making their way up to the new play island.  Kirk was way more interested in the swings and the slides! 

 This is a picture of Caden line dancing with his mama and grandparents (well, kind of).  Caden is a beautiful little boy who is loved and supported by so many people.  Caden's Crusaders helped the Huntington walk raise more than $13,000 for Cystic Fibrosis research!

Way to go Caden's Crusaders!  We hope to help "Blow away CF!"

Easter is on it's way!

Here are our Easter pictures!  They turned out great.  The blanket in the background of the picture below was made for Kirk (years before he was born!) by my Grandma Sullivan.  I wanted to use it in some of his pictures since it had bunnies on it.  In the picture above, he is holding onto his stuffed Peter Rabbit (who will be in his Easter basket again this year).  Thanks so much, Kristi B. for doing such an amazing job once again!

Easter picture preview!

We had pictures taken by Kristi Brouse on Sunday, April 3.  Kirk was happy, smiling, and ready to pose throughout the whole session.  These are a few of the pictures that she posted as a "sneak peek" of our session.  We should get all of the finished pictures sometime this week.  I can't wait to see them all!

Kirk was showing off his jumping skills during this shot.  He loves bubbles, and Jeremy was blowing them in his face.  He loves the very first bubble, and the 100th bubble just as much.  He is trying really hard to blow them by himself these days.  He is so funny!

What a difference a year makes!  This is Kirk's picture with the Easter Bunny from last year.  We've already tried this year, and there is no way he is sitting next to that "rabbit!"  It's amazing how much he and Bella have both grown.  It may be a few years before we get another picture like this!

20 months old....WHAT???

It is so hard to believe my baby boy is 20 months old!  Where has the time gone?  Geez.  He is so smart.  He regularly speaks in full sentences, knows the colors red, blue, and yellow (as well as the sign language), knows the shape circle (we're working on the others...) and can take off and put on his own shoes.  He can also take off his pants and shirt.  He can finish 8-10 piece puzzles.  He loves day care and apparently today he played with earth worms and loved them!   Eeeew!  He isn't afraid of anything, and loves everything.  The picture above is an action shot of him climbing, and his friend Riley's bottom half.  They are playing at the Chick-fil-a play area.  Neither of them would be still long enough for me to get a decent picture.  Kirk loves playing there, and we are so thankful that we have Angel, Riley and Brady to play with!

Kirk was VERY concerned about Brady.  He kept saying, "Baby's cryin' " and "Baby eats he's bottle!"  It was hilarious.  Brady is so laid back, he only cried a little when he was hungry and tolerated Kirk in his face just fine.  Look how serious Kirk looks in this picture!  He kept asking me, "Baby go night night?"  I kept telling him he would at nap time.  Haha!

This picture makes me laugh so much, because Kirk started a few weeks ago putting everything on his head and saying "A hat?"  and laughing hysterically!  He ate his cheese pizza for dinner, and then put his paper plate on his head and said, "Look Mama, a hat!" 

We went to Sesame Street Live on Tuesday, April 5.  Kirk was a little unsure of himself when the lights first went out, but as soon as the music started, he was enthralled.  He wasn't too concerned with which characters were on the stage, he wanted to know where everyone was that wasn't there.  He would ask, "Where's Elmo?"  "Where's Big Bird?"  I asked him where he thought they were, and he would reply, "work" or "school" (and use sign language).  He is so funny!  He would say "There he is!" when the characters would come onto the stage!

Cousin Bella was there, too.

Riley was there, too.  Notice Riley's Oscar the Grouch shirt.  She picked it out herself!

Cousin Holden was there, too!

Kirk enjoyed the show while relaxing on Daddy's lap. 

Apparently Bella wasn't too thrilled with this song.  She put her fingers in her ears!



Kirk absolutely LOVES playing outside.  In this picture, he is playing in his water table that he got from Meme and Poppy for Christmas.  He loves it!  It squirts water, plays music, and has boats to go around and around.  Kirk later added some of Daddy's golf balls (he has one in his hand).  He carries them around and says "Golf ball!  Golf ball!"  He uses them for everything and actually does a pretty good job hitting them with Jeremy's clubs.  He loves to help me water plants, and can actually carry the watering can when it is pretty full.  He likes to look for bugs and he would love for Astro to actually chase after the balls he throws.  He throws balls and says "Astro, Astro, get it!!"  and Astro just sits there.   He will chase after treats, but that's about it. 

I can't wait to spend this summer with my little boy.  We've got so much learning to do together!

Busy Boy

Kirk has been a busy boy lately.  In this picture, he is eating strawberries and cool whip for the first time.  Needless to say, he liked it.  He just smeared it in with the spaghetti sauce all over his face from dinner!

We went to the Character Breakfast at the Civic Center on Saturday, March 12.  Gramma Debi (who is apparently on every phone we have in the house now, because he answers them by saying "HI DEBI!!) went with us.  Kirk liked the characters from a distance and just a little bit up close.  This was his reaction to Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Big Bird.  He kept staring at Elmo, and laughing!

He liked Mickey "Mouse" and Minnie.  He said their names and gave them a high five.

He wasn't too sure about it, but he tolerated standing close to Elmo with Daddy.

Clinging for his life, he allowed one picture to be taken with Cookie Monster!

Kirk loved his new Elmo shirt and shoes.

Kirk loves anything with a steering wheel!  He is driving a tractor at the Home and Garden Show in this picture!

Kirk said "rabbit" very well when we held and pet a little bunny. 

Someday, I'll tell him about my pet rabbit Honey Bunny that used to live in his room!

Kirk pet the goat "easy."  We've been working really hard on using a gentle touch!

He couldn't catch a pig to pet it "easy."  I climbed in later and pet one for him.  They sure are noisy little animals!

He giggled and pet the little chicks with one finger.  He tried to hold one, it didn't go so well.  I hadn't heard a little chick sqwak before.  I rescued him quick!

Jeremy likes to take Kirk to the park.  They went to the park today after his nap while I did some shopping at the mall.  Kirk likes to swing and says "WHEE!" the whole time! 

just hanging out

Then climbing in...Jeremy said he took this picture right before he fell head first into the hole!

He's all smiles when he's hanging out with his Daddy!  He sure does love to be outside!

The Walkers had a very busy Saturday.  I was glad to see that Kirk somewhat enjoyed seeing some of his (and my) favorite characters.  His Mama is a big Disney and Sesame Street fan, and I'm helping him along the way.  I also want him to respect and love animals, and I will take every chance we can get to be around them.  He absolutely loves playing outside, and as long as Daddy is around to do the stuff that makes me sick (swinging and spinning) and I have a little bug spray, we are good to go.  He is singing and dancing more than ever now and knows all the moves (and some words) to the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "If You're Happy and You Know It."  We've got LOTS more songs to learn!   I'm getting so anxious for the summer months to get here so I can spend more time enjoying the simple things with my Kirky! 

Kirk is eighteen months old!

It is hard to believe my baby boy is 18 months old!  Where has the time gone?  He is such a big boy these days.  Gone are the days of spooning food into his mouth, he does that all by himself now.  He is getting really good at using a spoon and a fork.  We have moved out of the highchair to a booster seat at the table, which he seems to enjoy.  We also just tried out our new umbrella stroller, and he seemed to be okay with that, too.  We hear "I get it!" and "I did/do it!" a lot at our house.  I am so proud of his independence, but sometimes I wish he'd accept just a little help from his Mama and Daddy!  He is a strong, brave little boy though, and he is determined to to it all by himself.  The picture above was taken on February 13.  Kirk and Bella spent some time together with Jeremy while Erin and I went shopping.  Jeremy said they played well together, and Kirk was excited to show Bella how to "SLIDE!!"

Kirk is giving Bella a hug.  She looks thrilled, huh?

Although we made a pact to not buy any more toys until Kirk's birthday, Jeremy came home from a trip to Wal-Mart with a gigantic basketball hoop.  Kirk does LOVE basketball and likes to shoot hoops at day care.  It is a little too big for him, so Jeremy pulled it over to the slide so he can climb up and shoot.  Amazingly, it didn't take Kirk long to figure out how to climb up the slide holding the balls under his chin!  He shoots them and then slides down and gathers them back up, climbs back up, and shoots again.  It hasn't gotten old and he still claps for himself every time.  We have even taught him to pump his fist and cheer "Whoot!  Whoot!"  He is hilarious!  I love to hear him say "baskee-ball!"

So I used to get a sly little grin when I said "cheese" for the camera, and this is what I get now--crazy, scrunched up faces and uncontrollable giggling.  It's okay, though.  I think I laugh harder than he does!