A tree swing. A pacifier. Could life be any better? Well, maybe if he could get that hand on the camera ... 

Ambush Doggie Makeovers

With Wilder so close to crawling, we thought we'd finally take our dirty, smelly, hairy dogs to the groomers so that the kid's not coughing up hairballs by the age of 1. They just got back an hour ago, and who the heck knew we had such handsome dogs underneath all that fur? Especially Ulf. He has a beautiful brindle coat that you couldn't even see through his, err, hobo-like appearance. And Sam looks about five years younger all the sudden. They of course aren't quite sure about the new look, buy they'll get used to it. And hopefully the time we spend vaccuming will be GREATLY diminished. Now, can you shave a cat ....?

Another shot of Ulf showing how handsome he is with his new haircut 

Peanut sleeps peacefully on the big bed. 

Family Portrait Time

Wilder turned 7 months old today, and for once we thought we'd actually get all three of us in a photo. So here we are, Familia de la Scott, on our front porch.

Nothing else exciting, so no babbling. ; )

Love to all, J,K&W

Wilder on Daycare: "It Rocks!"

There's our boy, all strapped in and ready to go to his first day of daycare. He did GREAT. He smiled, never gave two thoughts to his parents walking out the door, took right to Maria and Keisha, the infant room ladies and, according to his first report card, took two naps like a champ. As Maria reported: "He's a great baby; only cries when he's hungry!" Which is mostly true. Wilder did great and I knew he would. When I picked him up, he was sitting in a swing, smiling and pumping his arms like "this place is so cool!"

I, on the other hand, did exactly as I thought I would: TERRIBLE. I cried on the way out to the car and during the three blocks to the center. Recovered just long enough to get him inside and then promptly started to cry again. Keisha was a sweetheart and hugged me. They assured me they'd keep him alive. So I felt better. Then I got out to the car and cried all the way to work. You can see in the photo that, though Wilder is clearly quite untraumatized, I am ready to explode into tears at any moment.

But, now that his first day is over and he not only got through it unscathed but seems to dig it, I feel much better. Yay daycare!

How We Spent Our Sunday

Jerry and I are heading into our fifth summer here. I think that's right ... I'd think about it further to be certain, but the thought of all that heat, humidity and, the worst, the vampire bugs (the evil and dreaded mosquitoes) would just depress me. Anyway, one of the worst things about summer here is that, as much as we love to garden, we just have never been able to make anything grow in our yard. Part of it is the heat and the soil, but the biggest part is the lack of sun. The shade trees are great, but they really put the kibosh on anything yummy coming up out of the ground.

So this year we're fighting back. We get sun on one side of our house: the driveway. And, since we don't actually use the driveway, or most of it anyway, we decied to build what you see at left. Eight foot by one and a half foot garden boxes. We'll see if they work. We've got about five different tomato varietals planted in one, and in the other a bunch of different peppers. If these start to grow well, we might do another or two with other kinds of veggies. Anyway, it was a fun and exhausting and good-way-to-keep-your-mind-off-Wilder-starting-daycare-tomorrow way to spend a Sunday. And we've all got the sore muscles and bug bites to show for it.

Wilder's Wild Weekend

As you can see from the tank tops and wet heads, things are warming up here in Dallas. The high today was in the upper 90s. So what else you gonna do but meet friends (that's little Lea Neal on Wilder's right) for margaritas out on a patio somewhere? We kept the kids cool with plenty of spritzers (i.e. spraying the contents of their water bottles on their heads), and even had some creative fun with hair styles ... Lea now joins legions of 20-year-old dudes embracing the faux-hawk hairstyle (only she wears it better). Wilder also worked on a new skill today. Drinking from a cup. Papa's cup, that is. And finally, what day would be complete without sticking all your fingers in your mouth and mugging for the camera? (more pics below)

Jerry and I started to get our back yard ready for next weekend's Memorial Day Shindig. We're having a keg, barbecue, margs and sangria a week from tomorrow (Get on a plane! C'mon down!!). Got the garden tilled -- not that you need your garden tilled for a party, but at least now it looks better than the dog litterbox area it had become. We also got some stuff hung on the fence, some edging done and tomorrow we'll be planting, hanging lights, getting tiki torches put out and doing some additional yard work. Why do all this when all our friends care about is where the keg is? Why indeed ...

Wilder starts daycare on Monday. We won't say any more about that for fear of actually thinking about how freaked out I am about the whole thing. He'll be fine. I'm the one who'll be a mess I'm sure. OK, moving on ...

Our beautiful wee one is currently sacked out in bed, having zonked out as soon as his head hit the mattress because he partied both today and yesterday (yesterday at Watauga Fest, an annual event held by friends in, you guessed it, Watauga, Texas). He also apparently got word from the Cranky Babies Union No. 306 that there's a strike as far as any kind of quality naps are concerned. So, he sleeps. And speaking of, I need to head that way myself.

Hope everyone is well and having a great summer. Peace and love, Kris

Smearing cereal all over his mug makes Wilder a happy boy 

What is going ON here?? Is this water torture??? 

OK, I'm starting to see how this could be considered kind of fun ... 

Intense waterbaby  

Here ducky ducky ducky... 

Splashing is big great fun! 

Wilder zonks out after a long Mother's Day walk around the neighborhood. 

Mother's Day breakfast in bed. Woot!! 

Wilder and Mama on a morning walk. He loves his baby backpack and can't wait to really break it in next month in Colorado (neither can his mom and pop!). 

"Mama, give me the camera! Giveitgiveitgiveitgiveit!" 

A rare occurrence these days: Wilder falls asleep on Mama's lap. 

Wilder holds a balloon at twins Madelyn and Hannah Bankhead's 1st birthday party.  

Wilder and Pop watch the Colorado Avs get spanked 3-0 by the Anaheim Ducks. Wilder was inconsolable after the loss.  

Lovin' Spoonful

Wilder had his first "real" food yesterday -- if you can call rice cereal that. It came off a spoon anyway. : ) After some initial hesitation, he embraced it wildly. Next month we start veggies and such. More pics below.

What is THAT? No, seriously, where's my bottle? 

All right ... who's gonna wipe that off my lip? 

NOTE: Death grip on mom's hand ... I think this stuff is growing on me! 

More! More I say!! 

Oh Peanut, you look SO smart when you do that! ; )