Presents

Dear Family,
Your presents were once wrapped so nice and beautiful....but they may not appear that way once you actually receive them. Alex thought that the pile of presents needed a little reorganization...

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Alex and his girl, Hastings, were showing each other some love this weekend... Jaime told Hastings to give Alex a kiss and they were just too funny.....



Here's a flashback to their first date together...

17 Months Old

Our little man is 17 months old!

Here is what he is up to these days....

Talking:
Alex is talking up a storm and repeats a lot of what we say. I need to start writing down all of his words, but here is a little sampling of new ones he is saying: "bootball"(football), "choo choo" (trains), "turtle", "tree", "cracker", "cookies" (thanks to Grammy's special package :), "No No" (he may hear this once or twice a day), "Whazat" (What's That?).

Alex has started to point to himself and say his name, but I can't even think of how to type what he is saying - he is consistent with what he says - it is almost like Dalex??? (maybe from when we called him Dallas all those months in the womb?? : )

*He has had a rough month of sleeping - between getting in his molars and a nice runny nose/cold that is on Day 10 and other unknown reasons/wanting mommy?? :), Alex and Mommy have seen each other way too much between 1:00 am - 5:00 am lately!

*We were working on making the move to one nap a day, but with the rough sleeping at night we have had to go back to 2 naps a day on some of the days he doesn't sleep well at night.

*Alex is still a pretty good eater -he must feed himself and loves to use his utensils...new favorite food - having Quaker Oat Squares like mommy for breakfast.


*Alex doesn't care how cold it is - outside is still his favorite place to be. Unfortunately it has been freezing! Eric got creative over the weekend and made Alex a fun fort to play in....


*Favorite toys/things to do = push things around the house or outside. We brought his shopping cart and lawn mower inside and he is happy as can be pushing it around the house and loading and unloading it.

*Loves to "reorganize". Alex spends lots of time rearranging the shoes in my closet, the bathroom cupboards, the book shelves and drawers in the office, etc.


*Alex is still pretty easy going and happy for the most part. A few toddler moments are peaking up now and then - especially when he is tired. Unfortunately, he has started swatting at Eric and I to show his frustration if we say NO or take him away from something he wants to do....so, let the fun fun days of disciplining a toddler begin.

*Still a total Daddy's Boy. Lately when Eric gets home from work Alex pulls on Eric's legs and says "up" constantly and just wants Eric to hold him.

*Torments Buddy ALL DAY long - he always wants to be petting,laying by, and touching Buddy..... Buddy not such a fan of all of this "affection".

*Alex is a sweet boy and it is so much fun to watch him grow and learn and I am amazed daily at what he learns just by watching us and imitating us.

Let me tell you a little bit about Shutterfly

Okay so apparently getting the 50 free cards from Shutterfly involves a little more than simply mentioning them in a blog post, so here is my new post that meets all of the requirements.

I have been browsing Shutterfly's new Christmas cards all day and they have so many great designs. They offer a lot of options with lay out, color scheme and number of pictures. I am really excited about the card that we created this year. Check out their designs here: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

I have also used their site in the past to make great photo books. I am not a scrap booker, so Shutterfly allows me to make great keep sakes. They are high quality and have turned out really nice. Check out some options here: http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-gifts

Shutterfly offers great options for gifts and cards all year long and many family members received some personalized birthday cards this year complete with pictures of adorable Alex of course. Check out some of these choices here: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/birthday-cards-stationery

Be sure to look for our Christmas card coming soon and check out this great promotion to get some free Christmas cards for yourself at http://bit.ly/sfly2010

And what would a blog post be without some pictures of Alex - so here is a little flashback to last year's Christmas card....

FREEZING!

Apparently we are being prepared early for our upcoming trip to Michigan, because if you went outside at all this week you would think you were in Michigan!! It is FREEZING outside with lows at night in the low 20's and daytime temps with wind chills in the 30's.

Great timing for our downstairs heat to go out .....we are accustomed to seeing Eric in sleeveless shirts and shorts....not so much these past mornings.....


Alex does not seem to mind the cold - and he can't stand to be stuck inside, so we have been braving the weather for a little bit of play time outside this week.....

Dutch Deal

You know I can't turn down a good deal... I have come across this offer on several different blogs that I read...

Shutterfly is offering 50 FREE cards if you blog about them. You can go to http://bit.ly/sfly2010 to see the details and what all you have to do to get the deal.

I was planning on doing Christmas cards anyway, but who doesn't love some free stuff. Now I just have to find some Christmas card worthy pictures...I am debating trying to do a semi-posed/candid Christmas shot of Alex or just use some different candids from the past year. He has changed so much that I feel I should do an updated pic...but here is how the first attempt went ;)

Seriously, where did that comb over come from??

Through the Eyes of a Child..

It is truly a joy to watch Alex enjoying Christmastime this year. Everything is new and amazing to him. All the lights and decorations bring a look of awe and pure excitement. We decorated our tree while he was napping and here is the video of Alex's first time seeing it.....

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! The weather was great - sunny and 70's - it was quite breezy, but we still spent all morning playing outside.

We had our wonderful friends, Josh and Rebecca, over for Thanksgiving dinner. It has been our tradition to spend Thanksgiving with them ever since we moved to Huntsville. They are also from MI, so since neither of us drive up to spend the holiday with family, we celebrate together and it makes it easier being away from family.


This year was the first year we hosted the meal at our house and Eric and Josh deep fried the turkey. Eric marinated it earlier in the day and it was one of the best turkeys I have ever had - so moist with great flavor.


The girls slaved away on enough side dishes to feed hundreds....all that cooking will make you thirsty!



Eating all this amazing food does have it's consequences though...

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Dessert, of course, was the best course...and there were 4 dessert for 4 people = excellent ratio!

Including fresh whip cream made by Rebecca and her little helper...


Josh and Rebecca made Alex his own mini-pumpkin pie. So sweet and he loved it and besides sharing a bite or two with daddy he devoured it.


All in all a great day!

Play Dough!

I introduced Alex to play dough this morning (thus the bed head) and it was a big hit!

16 Months Old

Our big boy is now 16 Months old.

Alex is in constant motion and keeps us on our toes.

Here is what Alex is up to these days:

TALKING:
He is repeating what we say and talking more and more. A few new words I can think of are - "down", "ball", "hot", "cup", "tank you" (thank you is very cute - he says it when he hands me something b/c that is when I always say Thank You to him)

Body Parts - he can now point to ears, eyes, nose, teeth, mouth, hair, hands, feet, toes, belly button, and tummy.

Alex is a very sweet boy and still pretty easy going for the most part. He is starting to have moments of impatience, frustration and tears if he doesn't get his way - but thankfully these are not too common yet.

Favorite Activities are pretty much the same...
*OUTSIDE - OUTSIDE - OUTSIDE!!!
*LOVES tractors ("putt putts")
*Two favorite people... Daddy and Buddy....(mommy only ranks high if he is tired or fussy ;) )


*Exploring and playing with anything that is not an actual toy...here he is checking out our new steam cleaner for us....


*Helping Daddy - using the tools are BIG FUN!


Here is a video of Alex praying before we eat - so sweet ;).....

Fun, Friends and Football

We had some friends over on Saturday to hang out and watch football.

Alex and his girl, Hastings, played until they crashed....

It all started out innocent enough with some quiet reading time with Ms. Jaime....


But then the box of blocks came out and things got crazy quickly....


They just fed off of eachother's craziness..... although notice the hand on the right in the video egging on the chaos....that would be Ms. Jaime - the quiet, calm book reader from just moments before ; )......

Randomness

I haven't been the best blog updater recently - for some reason I keep forgetting to take pictures lately and usually by the time we grab the camera for a video, the moment has passed.

I realize I did not even get a good picture of Alex in his Halloween costume - we may have to put it back on for a little photo session; ).

Here is Alex at his Music Class Halloween Party - getting all these little ones to sit for a picture basically went as you would expect it too.....


We attended a Halloween Party at our friends....Here is Eric (as Antoine Dodson - local Huntsville hero)....Alex was a little unsure of his Daddy....


This picture basically sums up Alex lately - "Daddy's little shadow/helper"....