Although it’s been a week, I wanted to share our Thanksgiving happenings. We had a wonderful time up at my mom’s house in Apple Valley (althogh the visit was just too short). We ate and visited and tried to do a little shopping, but those Black Friday crowds were pretty horrible. It was wonderful to relax and spend some time with family we love so much and don’t see often enough. And as the holidays continue, I wanted to tell our family and friends how thankful we are for your love and friendship. We send our love, happiness and good wishes to each of you.
Here are a couple of boys filling up on the yummy Thanksgiving meal my grandma prepared.
Seth turned 10 months old this week. How time flies. With his sweet smile and big blue eyes, he’s turning out to be as much of a flirt as his brother. He walks more and more every day (across the room with ease now), goes up and down the stairs so fast it gives poor mommy a heart attack sometimes, and he has his own vocabulary (he loves to say “no” and I know some of those other sounds mean something to him). Seth likes to follow me around saying “mama” so that I’ll pick him up. And he has no real interest in baby food – he wants to feed himself so it’s been a challange trying to introduce new foods that he can eat at his age and are still soft and small enough that he won’t choke. He already idolizes his big brother and follows Evan around everywhere. They roll around and wrestle and chase each other and usually have a great time (until someone gets hurt) so I have a pretty good idea of what the future holds for all of us over the next few years (let’s just say I won’t be giving up my referee job anytime soon). He’s such a happy and fun kid, and he brings our family more joy than we could have imagined.
A smiling, happy kid.
Doing my walking dance.
We had cake for dessert tonight and Evan left his plate on the table. His curious little brother, who wants to do everything Evan does, saw the plate at the edge of the table. He tried to reach it, but Evan moved it away so Seth wouldn’t “steal” his cake. Seth has a pretty far reach (bigger than you would think), so Evan’s concern wasn’t unjustified.
Well, after putting Evan to bed I was cleaning up the kitchen while Jonny was watching a little TV and Seth was exploring the family/dining room. Jonny starts laughing and says, “Do you see what your son is doing?”. I look up and think I see a plate in Seth’s hand, but he is hidden behind the table. Jonny picked him up and brought him over. Seth has the biggest grin on his little chocolate covered face. He didn’t get very much (Evan cleaned the plate pretty well), but by the looks of it, I don’t think those cute first birthday pictures of cake all over the baby’s face will be a problem. So much for my no sugar until your birthday rule.
I think Seth has gymnastic aspirations. At the tender age of 10 months, he has decided that he no longer wants to be confined to mom and dad’s bed anymore. He has been getting lots of practice going up and down the stairs, so I think he took that knowledge and decided to try it out on the bed.
While we were getting Evan’s bath ready, Seth crawled to the edge of the bed, put one leg over the side (just like he was going down the stairs), got on his tummy, pulled the other leg over and slid down the side of the bed. Now, of course all 2+ feet of this kid is no match for our very high 36 or so inch bed. So as soon as his feet hit the floor he goes tumbling backwards. I caught him before he hit his head. He seemed a bit startled, but no worse for the wear. So I put him back on the bed with Jonny. Then I went to put Evan in the bath. A few minutes later I heard a “thump.” Then, it happened again. Jonny said he was sliding off the bed again. He wasn’t crying or scared. Apparently he likes his new game. He’s one tough and determined little guy.
Evan’s newest phrase is “Not Yet”. It seems to be his answer to every question lately. The conversations go something like this–It’s time for bed. He replies, “Not yet.” Do you want to go to the grocery store? “Not yet.” Let’s put your shoes on. “Not yet.” He says it in this really cute tone with a big grin on his face, so it’s hard not to chuckle a little. It’s fun to see him master new language skills as he gets older.
The boys had a great time for Halloween. This was the first time Evan went trick-or-treating and he loved it. It took him awhile to warm up to the idea, and we practiced saying trick-or-treat for a week beforehand. But once he figured it out, he loved the idea of getting candy. We had a church activity the weekend before Halloween, so the boys were able to wear their costumes twice and practice the trick-or-treating routine.
Here is our little fireman getting ready to head out for the night. Once he got out there, he didn’t want to go home. He kept asking to go to more houses.
Here is our little fireman and his trusted dalmation.
We visited the pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins to carve. We explained to Evan about making jack-o-lanterns and he got very excited. He picked out his own pumpkin and asked to make a happy pumpkin. He wanted Jonny and I to make scarry pumpkins though.
At the pumpkin pacth, they also had a petting zoo. Evan loved the goats so much. He chased them around trying to give them hugs and kisses. He even lifed a couple of them up off the ground. He would squeeze the goat’s face, give it a kiss, and tell it that he loved it. It’s understandable why the goats kept trying to run away from him.
Evan is giving the goat a kiss. He got a good scrub down when he got home.
