a visit from Grandpa & Grammy...

At the end of September, Jeff and I went to a conference in Wake Forest so my parents came down to stay with Deacon for a few days.  They had a blast, as usual.  And with their smart phone technology, they captured some of their time together...

 [they read LOTS of books over the weekend.]

 [and took LOTS of trips around the tracks over the weekend.]

[ I *AM* BATMAN.]

Thanks, Momma & Daddy, for taking such good care of our boy!  We know you had a good time, and Deacon loved having you here!

playing at the park...

A couple weekends ago it was so nice outside, we decided to take Deacon to the park.  We grabbed lunch at McDonald's and went down to Soundside Park in Surf City for a picnic and playing on the playground.

 

Deacon loves being outside and every time we take him to this park, I'm amazed at how much more he can (and will) do than the last time we were here.  This is the same park we had his 2nd birthday party at, and he tackled more this time than he did only 5 months before.

 

He seriously is growing up before my very camera lens eyes.

 

I got so many great shots of him this day at the park that I had a hard time narrowing down what I was going to post here so just prepare yourself for a massive (adorable) photo explosion...

My kid? He's busy.

I hope ya'll have memorized my kid's face by now because THIS is mostly all I get now:

This kid is Mr. On-The-Go.  Busy, busy, busy.  Running everywhere he goes.

Did I mention he's fearless, too?

Yeah.

Oh, THERE'S that sweet face.  :)

new toys & new tricks...

Jeff and I had the opportunity to go to NYC in mid April.  Jeff needed to head up there for work, so I decided to tag along with him.  Jeff's mom came down to stay with Deacon for our little getaway.  He's at the age now where he's too young and too old at the same time -- too young to listen, and too old to sit still.  :)

So we decided maybe we'd better leave him home this time.  We sure missed him, though!

We knew he was in good hands with his Grandma Sherry.  I think she had a ball with him all to herself.  :)  One of the things she told us before she got here is that she wanted to get him some kind of toy that he could play with outside.  Now that we have the backyard fenced in, he does need some things he can play with out there.

She settled on a little push lawnmower that (supposedly) blows bubbles as you push.  You know the one -- we had them when WE were kids...

A guy needs the right equipment for his yard, right?

Hard at work...seriously.

Pretty sure he got the whole yard.  :)

Thanks, Grandma Sherry!

In other news, Deacon has a new trick:

We have a monkey on our hands, for sure!  He will climb on anything -- couches, chairs, coffee table, upside down laundry basket, his push-behind racecar, his toy tool bench (found him on that today!) and yes, his picnic table outside.

We're gonna need good insurance on this one.  :)