Christmas!

Christmas was awesome this year. Andrew and I were very grateful to have our own place to celebrate Christmas in this year (unlike last year when we were homeless). We spent Christmas Eve very busy (as usual). We started Christmas Eve off with going to my Damewood grandparent's house in Layton. Since Andrew had to work Christmas Eve we arrived in Layton around 3:00. We had a lovely time visiting my Dad's side of the family and we all got some fun presents. We then hurried to Andrew's parent's church where the Hillers werer meeting for their Christmas Eve get together. There we had still some more food and even more presents. James loved being able to run around the gym and play with his cousins! I was excited because I got to choose some pottery items that Andrew's mom had made that are now being proudly displayed in our home (and at Andrew's

desk at work). Thank you Holly! After the Hiller's party we went home and all had a lovely night's rest.

Christmas morning we wound up waking James up so we could do our own personal Christmas morning before we headed off to my parents to join in theirs. James was a little disgruntled at first but when he discovered he could touch the Christmas presents under the tree I had been telling him all season he couldn't he was pretty happy. He really liked the remote control truck he got and his new Little People toys. Andrew was excited with his gun safe and tools (sounds like the lamest Christmas imaginable to me though) and I was so happy to finally have some new and cute clothes and shoes!

Christmas at my parents was fun too. Still more presents, tons of great food, and more people to help me watch James. Although we usually go to Andrew's Hiller grandparent's house Christmas afternoon, Grandma Bonnie decided to cancel due to "bad" weather. When the weather wound up being far worse the day after Christmas when she had her get together she felt really bad. Andrew and I discovered first-hand just how bad the roads were the night of the 26th when we spun out of control on the freeway on our way home from Grandma Bonnie's. We covered all four lanes of traffic and spun around at least 4 or 5 times. Miraculously we didn't hit anything or anyone and were able to drive home moments after our "incident". Boy did it give us a scare though.

PICKLES!

James had his first pickle today. Since my crazy son likes to eat all sorts of things I hate (such as onions slices raw) I figured pickles would be one more thing to add to the list. Well, I was right. He loved them! They did, however, end up being a little more than he expected. He got the cutest bitter pucker! If you look from one picture to the next you can see his sour face form. I feed him pickles all the time now just to see him pucker!

Pie Supper

For decades my mom's family has been celebrating Pie Supper (which in my opinion should be made a national holiday). The night before Thanksgiving we all get together. Everyone brings a pot luck soup or rolls (which means there is always at least 5 or 6 different soups or chilis) and about a zillion pies and cheesecakes. The only rule with Pie Supper is that you have to eat at least one bowl of soup before indulging in the wonderland of sweets. Since every family brings anywhere from 1 to 10 or so pies/cheesecakes and my mom is the oldest of 10 kids, there is pretty much any pie you could ever want available on Pie Supper. Our family philosophy is this: on Thanksgiving Day there are tons of wonderful things to eat... so many that you don't really have enough room in your stomach to adequately enjoy the dessert side of Thanksgiving dinner. By having the pie supper the Wednesday before we can fully satisfy our sweet tooths so we can focus on the main meal aspects of dinner on Thanksgiving Day. All in all a brilliant plan.



James loved being in a new place surrounded by so many people to pay attention to him. I tried to get him to eat some cherry cheesecake but as you can see, more of it ended up ON him than IN him. In any case, we all had a wonderful time and gave ourselves insulin overloads to the extreme. Only 363 days until next Pie Supper.

Sweet Dreams!!!

James has started putting himself down for naps and bedtime. Not in the way you'd think though. He doesn't lie down in bed and listen to soft music or hug a teddy bear or something of that sort, he gets his bottle (which I should be weaning him off of) and lies on the ground with a blanket or a pillow, attempts to do some funky modern dance looking routine on the floor until he finally falls asleep. Sometimes it takes only a few minutes and other times over a half hour. Since Andrew's had surgery and we can't go anywhere we've been watching a lot of movies. James watches enthralled until he drifts off to sleep. He's a TV addict already! Where did I go wrong?! ; ) He's so independent in his going to sleep routine that if you try to hold him or cuddle him while he's falling asleep he flails and elbows you and screams until you put him down. Is he his mother's son or what?

Walking Finally!!!

James is FINALLY walking with some confidence. He kinda keeps his hands in front of him like Frankenstein but the fact that he actually prefers to walk rather than crawl is a big step. He takes his walking very seriously too. If he falls it pretty much signals the end of his world and he is emotional for quite some time. This walking business does come with some down sides though (as we all have discovered). James has more than a few rather large bruises on his body. He keeps trying to run too. He's got it all figured out except for the part where his legs and feet keep up! Before I know it I'll have a very mobile, very fast, and even more meddlesome toddler.

James First Real Encounter with Snow!

James had his first encounter with being in snow the other day. We woke up in the morning to an unexpected 3 inches of snow and I decided to take my outdoors loving son to go play in it. I bundled him up in about a billion different layers and took him outside. He seemed pretty fascinated by the change in appearance around the yard. Then I tried to set him in the snow to take some pictures. He freaked out! He cried and sat there barely moving looking up at me like I was submitting him to some dreadful torture. I made him endure until I had taken a few pictures to document it and then brought him back inside. He did start to half crawl by the time I was done with my photo taking. It was almost like he decided that I wasn't going to rescue him and it was up to him to find his own way to safety. The funny thing was, after only 10 minutes or so inside he wanted to go back out to play. Silly child. I'm sure he'll discover just how fun the snow is before too long. If not, well, he'll have a long winter ahead of him!

Halloween!

My dad makes a big fuss over Halloween every year. We're talking hundreds and hundreds of dollars have been put into transforming the entire yard into a cemetery (not to mention all the hundreds of hours setting everything up.) Since his yard is such an ordeal and a tradition that's where we were headed first thing this year. We helped carve and place 36 pumpkins around the yard, spread cobwebs, prep candles, and about a zillion other small but time extensive tasks to prepare for the big night. Poor Andrew (who had an ankle reconstruction surgery on the 22nd and couldn't do much) was stuck on my parent's sofa for most of the day playing my brother's Wii and watching TV.



James (who would live outside if I let him) went and played in the leaves with my sister and cousins. He quickly decided he did not like the feel of the leaves on his hands. Every time he put a hand down to crawl he'd instantly pick it back up again and shake it to get the leaves sticking to him off. He did, however, like to "help" with raking the leaves. I think he might've been able to help if the rake hadn't been 6 times as long as he was!



He also decided to push his stroller around the driveway by holding onto the basket in the back. He tripped over a crack in the cement and took quite a stumble (as you can see by the big bump on his forehead). His cousin (who was helping him in his endeavors) felt SO bad about it. Equally bad bruises have been attained while I have been watching him so I told her not to worry. He cried for quite awhile and when it was time to get in costumes looked like he should've been a zombie rather than a bat but I think he was still cute.



We took pictures with all costumed kids, teens, and, of course, my dad, then started trick-or-treating. My family congregates at my parent's house and we all trick-or-treat together so the kids can travel in a large pack and the parents can converse so I had the pleasure of being able to laugh with 2 of my aunts, 2 of my uncles, my mom, and about 7 kids. It was a riot! James was a little overstimulated and wiggly until he got his first sucker and started eating it. It was love at first taste and he was sticky but happy the rest of the night.



We finished the night by visiting Andrew's family at his parent's house where they have a party every year. James was able to exhaust the rest of his sugar-hyped energy by playing with his cousins and after a long day we went to bed. Only 364 days until next Halloween!!!