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First Christmas celebration

We had fun at Grammy's house on Sunday.

I'll also add Ian and Santa. John's work had a Christmas party, and last year Ian sat nicely on Santa's lap, but this year - not so excited.

Here is Ian at work.

Walking and Falling

I know he takes a little tumble in this one, but
he was fine. Any day now he'll be running around the
house.

Is this a Trick or a Treat??

We aren't even out of fall yet and we are having snow storms. We have about 4-5 inches right now and the snow won't stop until Thursday afternoon. There is the possibility for 18 inches over all. Bethany and I will be working from home the rest of the week and I'll be working at DIA deicing airplanes. Here are some pictures of what's happening.

D-E-E-R-E

So my Aunt bought Ian this little John Deere radio that makes the most amazing noises (she says sarcastically). The other night I was singing the song while Ian was doing something else, he crawled over to his radio and pushed the button. He may have been trying to shut us up, or he might have really wanted to hear that song. We didn't capture that on video, but this morning John got him doing it. I love this video. He's so smart :)

strawberry swing...

We took advantage of the 80 degree weather and put up the swing we bought Ian for his birthday. He hasn't been in a swing that many times (does that make us bad?) and he loved it. We also got the flower beds cleaned out, the sprinklers blown out, and our car and garage organized. All this after church. The countdown to Ian's first birthday has begun - with 17 days left until he's one. I can't believe it. It's hard for me to remember what I was feeling and doing this time last year. I know I was anticipating his arrival, and tired, and scared, and excited. I was also prepared for him to go over his due date (he came early by 5 days). I remember making all my Dr's appointments through the 40th week and just hoping I wouldn't have to go to the last one or two. Thankfully Ian responded to his eviction notice. Every day and in every way I'm thankful for him. Joy surrounds him and he's just wonderful. Every night I pray "God please keep Ian safe as he sleeps. Thank you for the blessing he is to our lives, please let him bless everyone he meets. Amen."

Ian At Work

This is Ian in my office before he ate some food. The T-shirt is what Grammy got him in New Mexico. It says he is "Leader of the pack" with a wolf print. As you can see Ian is getting a bigger belly.



This is him in the pack-n-play at my office. He usually takes a nap during the afternoon. I put him in here so I could sweep up the mess he made with the food he was eating.




This is Ian figuring out something new at work. The jar is what we keep pens in and he dumped out the pens to put the water bottle into the jar. He's big into putting things inside other things right now. All these images are from yesterday.

One quick picture

Pumpkin Patch

Today we went to Four Mile Historic Park here for a Pumpkin Harvest Festival. It was a good time. Ian will have more fun when he's older and can do more of the activities. John enjoyed the homemade root beer, which they make there at the park. It was another beautiful day in Colorado. Blue sky, sunshine, and about 60 some odd degrees. Then we went to visit our friends Joey, Lacey, and Levi. You can see pictures of them here. It was great to see them and to meet Lacey's Momma. Levi is cuter than ever and looking great.

Our maid has been hard at work

Tiny Dancer

In this video our little man is dancing. He dances like his Daddy.

Johnny Appleseed

Earning his keep

We decided 10.5 months was a good enough time to get a job. So Ian is now cleaning Turnabout's office. In the picture he's picking up the mess. He seems to goof off on the job, and today he even took a nap.

The Wave

Little Dinosaur

We hired a maid....

He's a little young and I don't know if he'll last very long, but he sure is trying.

Today

Daddy and Ian have the same hair-do. Ian got his first "official" hair-cut today. John buzzed it.

Ian can wave, and he loves it.

He tries to pull the flowers. I don't know if 10 month olds understand just touch

These are two of his favorite thing, his ball and the hose

This is what you look like when your mean Mommy and Daddy make you stop eating dirt and mulch

Ian saying Dog (in baby language)

It's no surprise to me that Ian's first word is Doggie. John and I heard him say I love you a few months ago, but no one will ever believe us on that, so we'll just keep it in our hearts. Here is the video. It sounds more like, "Da," but it is Dog. He says it every time he sees the bad, little doggies. So far all parties love each other (Mya runs and hides whenever Ian gets near, she is the smartest, after all). They accept Ian as the little human in the house, and so far, they tolerate his less than gentle touches. Lola is so desperate for anyone to pet her she lets Ian rip her hair out and pull on her ears (she is the dumbest, after all). Ian has his third cold in his short 10 month life. He does better being sick then his Mommy, that's for sure. He's getting more and more mobile, and this Saturday he actually stood without holding on to anything. It was for only 2.2 seconds, but it's something. I can't imagine this little man walking around, but he will be before we know it. He finally lifts that belly off the floor and crawls instead of just scootching. I kind of miss the army crawl, but we all have to make improvements.

Around the house..

This guy has set up his home on our back porch, right outside the door. He/she only comes out at night. I don't really mind spiders, and like the work they do to bugs, so he stays. I think we could stick Mya to its web and she'd be dinner.

Ian was gardening for us one day.

These pictures will be boring to most people, but we have some beautiful zinnias this year.

These are our mystery flowers. My Mom thinks they're dahlias, but I'm not so sure. We bought them at Costco, planted them, and threw away the packages they came in.

Heather sent us some pictures, and this is our brother-in-law, Sam, and his gorgeous zinnias. You can see the amazing garden in the background. We're envious. They also have many chickens and the best tasting eggs I've ever eaten.

Ohio - The pictures should speak for themselves...

This is what I miss....

I won't think about our last conversation, the one about ladders,
or how we hugged and laughed b/c my belly was bigger than yours.

I won't be mad when I hear the tree scratch Ian's window during windy nights,
or when I don't know what kinds of flowers are growing in front of our house.

I will remember that you loved the world with your whole life -
just like you loved me.

Like father like son....

This was too cute not to share.

I also have to include a cute picture of Ian's best buddy, Levi. They haven't actually been able to be next to each other yet since 9 month olds don't understand the word gentle. Levi is a handsome little guy. We can't wait for them to run around together someday.

Mess