The end is near.

The end of our time in Pennsylvania, that is. We move in six days! We have been up to a few things that I never wrote about over the last two weeks. Here are some activities, including what Alex has been up to:

We went to the DaVinci Science Center one last time. It is weird to say that it is our last time going somewhere (maybe not ever, who knows). Alex just climbs right onto the displays to play with them. Little menace.

Sam's parents got us a tent for Christmas and we hadn't even set it up yet! We decided to try it out so we would make sure it had all of the pieces and so that we wouldn't be embarrassed when we went "tenting" that weekend. Alex made his own little tent, although I do not think his would keep rain out.

We thought the universe was against us going camping. On Friday morning, I noticed Alex has white spots on his lips. I suspected he had thrush so I tried to find a doctor we could go to here in Allentown. We never got a pediatrician here since we were only here between his 9-month and 12-month appointments anyway. We made it so close to the end without needing a doctor! No one would take him and they kept telling us to go to the emergency room. We finally went to an EmergiCenter after getting permission from our insurance company. Waste of money. Anyway, Alex loves the prescription and when he sees the bottle he walks over and opens his mouth.

Despite all of the challenges, we made it camping! This was our first time camping as a family! We did a weak version of camping though. We are convinced that people in Pennsylvania don't know how to camp, and since we are trying out new Pennsylvania things, we participated fully. You have to have a reservation to go camping and it was kind of expensive ($28)! We made the most of it anyway, and came home without a single bug bite! That's my kind of camping! It is amazing how even the smell of bugspray can bring back so many memories from camping when I was younger. Mostly memories of Yellowstone: the gross yet fascinating smell of geysers, and the ridiculously large amount of bugs. Sam was happy because after we got out of the car, he started chasing frogs. He was skipping around he was so giddy. A really nice guy came over and helped Sam collect firewood and build the fire. It was unnecessary (Eagle Scout, hello!), but very kind. When Sam was kicking the firewood to break it into smaller pieces, Alex would crack up. He loved it!

Alex found his way into the ashes of an old fire and then smeared them everywhere, including my face. Next time we go camping, we are taking his high chair! We wanted to take it this time but my car was too full.

Alex really enjoyed playing in the tent... until we tried to put him to sleep. He would freak out every time we would leave him alone in the tent; he just wanted to be held and so we held him. For over an hour. The morning also came very early. We made breakfast, packed up, played catch, walked around the lake, then came home and went swimming, and took naps. It was great. Except that Sam was feeling sick. He had been sick before we went camping but we think the campfire aggravated it. He is still sick!

Alex always climbs into the laundry basket. I think it is his favorite place to be. Maybe we didn't need to buy a crib!

Alex fell into a piece of wood and scratched his arm. I like to do anything I can to annoy Sam so I put a Barbie Band-Aid on his scratch. I gave Sam these Barbie Band-Aids as a joke while we were dating. He uses them so frequently (sarcasm) that we still have almost every single one left! I will use them as often as possible on Alex.

Alex has completely sworn off baby food. We have so much in the cabinets and he won't even keep a bite of it in his mouth anymore. I have practically emptied our food supply into his little tummy. He eats everything, as long as it looks like it would be something we would eat.

Sam's team won the semi-final game and they will be in the championship game this Wednesday. He is very excited and hopes they can win again!

We get bored and smash our child. Alex looks slightly uncomfortable in this dog pile. He didn't even have any weight on him! What a baby.

I finally did my sorry excuse for scrapbooking. I have been meaning to do that all summer. I am really terrible at scrapbooking. In case you couldn't tell by the organization of these pictures, creativity is not a forte of mine.

I got out of the shower on Saturday and I couldn't find Sam or Alex anywhere! I walked out on the balcony and there they were just lounging in the grass! Alex started walking to me and then realized he wouldn't be able to reach so he turned around. But he really wanted to come to me, I guess. He just couldn't make up his mind!

Sam told me that Alex stole a little girl's bottle during Elder's Quorum and he was holding it and drinking out of it like he knew what he was doing. Alex would drink out of a bottle when we needed him to, but that was not very often, and we would always hold it for him; he never learned how to hold it himself. We were trying to teach him how to use a sippy cup and it was completely lost on him. He wouldn't tip the cup at all; instead he would just bite it. I am giving full credit to that little girl for teaching Alex how to tip the cup. When we came home from church, he drank from the sippy cup like a champion.

I have a toddler. I got the email with information on my child and usually the subject is, "Your Baby This Week." But after his first birthday it said, "Your Toddler This Week." I am so old. Not old old, but one year older than I was one year ago. My baby is holding his own sippy cup. That's it, who's contributing to his college fund? I need to write a will and pick out my coffin.

Alex tore up a magazine (with permission) and then walked across the pages. He could not get them off of his feet. It was hilarious.

Alex enjoyed his very first lollipop. You should have seen the hissy fit he threw when we took it away. He was so angry.