Antonio Rodgers... Running Back?

We had a bunch of activity this week. Starting this weekend, when Grandma and Grandpa Barge came by to see Antonio and keep an eye on him while Deb and I went to a surprise party for Auntie Becky's 40th birthday. It was a lot of fun and she was indeed surprised.

The next day, Torin came over. Antonio got to hang out with his oldest cousin. He loves watching older kids do their thing.

Then Torin and I went to the Seahawks' game. The home team was victorious, and I had some good quality uncle time.

So the rest of the week? Well, Antonio has really started to feed himself. He shovels that spoon in his mouth faster than we can load it up.

Also, by request, here's some video of Antonio walking. That boy sure can move.

Antonio Likes Cake

It's so simple, really. Cake is good.

Antonio wasn't so sure at first, because at the first birthday celebration, he ate a bunch of cake, and then he threw up a bunch of cake.

He didn't want to do that again.

So first he stuck a finger in. Then he stuck his finger in a little deeper. Then he tasted the frosting.

Then he went to town.
I don't think getting Antonio to eat his cake next year will be too difficult.

He had a good rest of the day. We went for a little walk, bought some books for him, bought a birthday present for Havana, then played the rest of the afternoon away.

I still can't believe it. One year.

365 days. Each and every one of them an absolute blessing.

I loved today. I can't wait for tomorrow.

It's Antonio's Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One year old.

One year old.

My child is one year old.

Was it only a year ago that this happened?

It seems like only yesterday.

It seems like forever ago.

I can't remember what my life was like before Antonio came into it.

It wasn't nearly as good, that's for sure.

Antonio has already had a busy morning.

Here are some pictures of other stuff Antonio has done today. He grabbed the camera. He read his new favorite book. He stood around.

But mostly, he's just been a year old.

And that's pretty cool.

Weddings, Huskies, and Another Birthday Party

Okay, I've been slacking. And Antonio's been busy.

Last weekend, we drove 2 and a half hours to Leavenworth to attend Antonio's first wedding and witness his first trip to a town with a Bavarian theme. We don't have any pictures of him in the Bavarian village, but he was one of the hits of the wedding. You know, because he's so cute and all.

This weekend, Antonio went to his second Huskies game. He wasn't such a big fan of it this time because now that he walks, he doesn't want to sit still. He wants to move, move, move.

So he didn't like the not moving, but he did like the cheering. Also, he didn't like the losing.

Then, we had birthday party #2. This time with the Rodgers side of the family. And not just that, but it was a joint birthday party with his cousin Preston.

Antonio got lots of nice things, and he really enjoyed seeing his family. And he especially likes visiting Torin and Preston because he gets to play with all new toys.

Oh, here's a monkey hugging a pigeon.

Cuba Gooding Jr.'s Career is Not Going Well

You know that movie Daddy Day Camp that came out earlier this summer? Of course not, it got terrible reviews and nobody saw it... but the point is with Deb working so much and Laurie starting grad school, it's been up to me to take care of Antonio during the days.

And you know what, I'm pretty good at it.

But the thing of it is, Antonio is such a good kid, it's hard not to be good taking care of him. But here's a quick rundown of things we did last week...

Went for a walk, played in the yard, picked up Corvair carburators from the shop, took Corvair carburators to different shop to be worked on, went to Costco, went for antother walk, went back to the shop to pick up the rebuilt Corvair carburators, went to Issaquah to visit Mamma who was watching cousin Preston, another walk, picked up some scripts from my office, tried to go to a park but it was a school playground and school was in sesion so we went to a scenic lookout instead and just played on the grass.
That's a good week.

Laurie will be back a couple days a week during school, so I will have some time to try to get some writing done, but I've enjoyed my one-on-one time with Antonio. And I think he's liked it, too.

Pictures will be up soon.

Antonio's Birthday Month Starts

Seeing how it's September and all, we figured it was time to start celebrating Antonio's birthday. I understand that he's really 11 1/2 months old, but that wasn't stopping us from having his first birthday party.

Because it was a long weekend, we headed up to Oak Harbor (El Cazador? Si.), and then we headed to the lake to spend some quality time with family and throw Antonio a party. But before we could have a party, we had to have a Saturday, a relaxing Saturday down at the lake.

Antonio was completely transfixed with grass. Don't worry, son, you'll be mowing the lawn soon enough.

He also went out to the dock with mom.

Then Grandma had to get into the act.

Copper drank some really nasty water.

Alvin is quite a fisherman.

Havana got a little dirty and then needed a bath before Grandma and Grandpa let her into bed with them.

Sunset. What a view.

Sunday, Antonio put on his UW sweats to celebrate the first victory of the year. He and Daddy were pretty excited with the start of the season.

Then Grandma took him out to a different dock.

Mamma and Bonk came for the party. Bonk had fun.

And then, yep, it was time for cake.


Antonio likes cake.


Antonio ated too much cake, so he had to go into the trailer to watch Finding Nemo and cuddle with Mamma.


Believe it or not, after all that cake, we were able to get him to sleep. Then on Sunday morning, we spent some quiet time with Grandma and Grandpa. Antonio watched some Wonder Pets with Grandma.

He fed Grandpa some cereal.

Havana was put in the other room because she was being a bad girl.

Then we strolled around the campground before we hit the road to head home.

It was a great weekend. Thanks to everybody who made Antonio's first first birthday party a lot of fun.