Simon turns 1

Well, we've finally hit the 1 year mark. At his last check-up, here were his stats:

25.5 lbs (90th Percentile)
32 inches (95th Percentile)

We invited a small group of people, and family to come by and do a housewarming / Birthday party for Simon. The Ning grandparents gave Simon this nifty red wagon. It comes complete with a canopy, seatbelts, and backrests. Simon's here with his greatest new friend, James from the PA1 Ward. Seeing as I changed jobs (maybe I'll post about that later...) I had a couple of days off in between and Susie wanted to build Simon a sand-box. We downloaded plans from Lowes.com and off I went. Jared came by and offered a hand. Apparently, none of my other friends are all that great with a hammer. I felt sorry for the left-handed Jared as he used the rotary saw designed for right-handed people. Oh how the lefties suffer.

Susie made a really simple cake...or should I say assembled a really nice cake. She used the ever-so-hard to find Nabisco Chocolate wafers and layered whipped cream between and on top. She then covered it with M&M minis. Obviously, Simon has never seen a cake that he could eat, so when he saw the M&M's, he went TO TOWN on those little guys.

When he was out of M&M's, he finally got down to business with the cake.

As his proud parents, we could never have anticipated the joy this single baby has brought into our lives. We feel blessed that our Heavenly Father chose us to be Simon's parents. He is always so happy and easy to enjoy.

The Binky Mule

If Binkies were ever illegal, Simon could make a great mule. Susie called me while I was at work saying that Simon had stuffed the entire binky into his mouth. I told her, "of course, that's what he always does." She said, "No, he stuffed the entire binky, including the retainer and ring."

Now there are pictures to prove it.

Paige McFarlane's Baptism

This is the McFarlane Clan Right before we left for the church.
We took the opportunity to take a family picture as well. Yes, Simon is wearing his Easter outfit.


Yes, this was a San Francisco reunion. It was so good to have everyone gathered around like this. All the kids were running around and we were all able to pariticpate in the confirmation of Paige as a member of the church.

We want to make a special note and say how proud we are of Paige's decision to be baptized, and allowing us to come up and participate in this special occasion. For those that are unfamiliar with the LDS faith, here is a link regarding this ordinance.

Visiting the McFarlane's

This last weekend, we took up a trip to see the McFarlane's. We took off on Thursday at 2pm and assumed that it would take 9 hrs to get to Eugene. We forgot that we were starting an hour south of San Francisco. We ended up arriving at around midnight. There was a note to have us just enter in the front door. We looked around and Rob came out of the restroom carrying his laptop surfing Ebay. (Sorry Rob, had to mention it)It was good to see the girls and Crew. We had a lot of fun making making funny faces and solidifying eternal friendships.

Simon and Crew were like best buddies. Rob and Kelvin did a lot of errands with the boys which was probably easier than taking the 3 girls and their cousin McKensey.

Yes, that's right...Rob is cooking.
Look for the purple bag, they're DARK. They taste so much better. We finished off several bags while we were there.

The only thing that would have made this weekend better, is if the Wilkinson's came down. Unfortunately they were deathly ill and we were all so sad. Apparently Abby and Emma cried for an hour saying, "But you promised that we could see them!!!" We all nearly cried for an hour also when we got the voicemail. We'll have to make other arrangements to see each other again.

Simon the Farmer

I know, we haven't had any other pictures of our new place, just pretty much Simon playing in the dirt. He is slowly becoming a red-neck

Easter Hams

Simon's first Easter, and Grandma Ning wanted to make sure he was dressed for it. Several weeks ago she asked for a couple of measurements, and whipped up this great looking linen suit. His Uncle Cary wanted to check out his new Spring duds so we brought him over for some pictures. The lighting was bad, but I couldn't resist showing how happy he was to get his pictures taken.
Easter morning, the Easter bunny left Simon a box with 5 plastic eggs, each with a single dark chocolate M&M. We taught him how to shake and open them to find the chocolate surprise. He had a couple other toys, but his latest trick is now making an echo sound in anything he can put his mouth into.

Palo Alto, 94303

So, we did the move. Thanks to all the boxes and the painful process of downsizing, we have discouraged several people from wanting to move. Yes, we also successfully moved the project car out of the garage before the Benton's moved in. :)

Based on our address, the church group we would be attending is the Palo Alto 2nd Ward. Susie and I joke around and call Oregon Expressway the dividing line between the Billionaires, and the Millionaires. We've enjoyed it so far, and the church members have been so warm and inviting. we still dearly miss our friends in San Francisco.

Simon is enjoying the backyard (Yes, we have a backyard) and he is learning how to play in the dirt. His latest trick is the crab-walk. He is so close to walking. He can stand-up on his own, and prefers to hold to your finger with his right hand while you escort him wherever he wants to go.

As you can see, Simon has also learned to eat dirt.

We hope to enjoy this area as much as we did San Francisco. Things have changed since the last time I lived here; Susie found the Dairy Queen accidentally and now all is right with the world. Hopefully all will be in place in the next couple of weeks.

For those looking for a new address, let me know, and we'll send it out to you.