Over the river and through the woods......

We hope everyone has safe travels over the holidays!!

Husband of the year

So I've been feeling a little under the weather this week and our adorable little son hasn't been seeing the necessity in taking a nap either. Tim came home for lunch today and told me to take a nap while he fed Anderson. Low and behold I didn't take just a 20min nap, but an hour! Tim took an extra long lunch to let me sleep, feed Anderson and clean the kitchen. Whatta guy!

Elves

The first snow seems to have brought one of Santa's elves to our house! I found him checking out Anderson's room for safety...


Checking out the fireplace for potential Santa hazards......


Oh, its Anderson!!

Santa Slippers

Here comes Santa Claus.......we're ready!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday. Seriously, what could be better, it's centered around food (lots of it), family, and the beginning of the Christmas season. Every year we have plenty of things to be thankful for, but once Anderson showed up they seem more obvious. Besides the more traditional things I'm thankful for (health, great husband, patience, family), there are smaller things I'm thankful for this past year. Goldfish, $5 pizzas, DVRs and morning coffee, gotta love it!

Here's a look at last Thanksgiving compared to this Thanksgiving -- what a difference a year makes!!

We enjoyed dinner at Gram's house and at Grandma and Grandpa Bateman's house. Anderson tried all sorts of new foods, but I think pumpkin pie was his favorite!!

Happy Birthday Anderson!!

He made it -- he crossed the finish line of his first year! Wow. Anderson celebrated yesterday with tons of his family and friends. You can tell he doesn't have any stranger anxiety because he moved from one person to the next just jabbering away. Everyone was his best friend!

He had an awesome crown and birthday shirt so everyone knew who the guest of honor was. Amazingly enough, he wore the crown most of the day. It was kinda like he didn't realize it was there until someone pointed it out, then he would pull it off.

his first present of the day with just mom and dad

showing off his sweet shirt

The main event was really fun to watch. Anderson was more interested in demolishing his cake than actually eating it. The frosting was so sticky that when he opened and closed his hand he looked like Cookie Monster. Ha!

he didn't wear the bib for the cake-eating constest

mmmm...me love cookies, i mean cake!

We want to thank everyone for their birthday wishes and generous gifts to Anderson. He's very blessed to have so many wonderful people in his life!!

PS - all the pictures are in the slideshow on the side.

Final countdown

Anderson has a really big milestone coming up this next weekend, but I need to catch up on what we've been doing over the past week or so. We spent most of last week outside to enjoy the last bits of fall. We took walks, played down on Mass street and had many parties on the deck.

He also had his first experience with Sesame Street. The TV is right at Anderson's level and he is really terrible at standing directly in front of it. Normally he's trying to follow where the scrolling news is going at the bottom of the screen. Well, I turned on Sesame Street and told Anderson he could watch it but we'd have to move back. So I sat him down by the couch and he didn't move. He just stared and the TV and was infatuated with Big Bird. It was pretty comical!


This past weekend mom and dad (and Ali and Brett) hosted the 8th annual Turkeyfest. Although Anderson wanted to join in the festivities, he spent the evening over at Gram's house. He always enjoys reading books with Clancy and had a wonderful evening.


Our friends the Maloys and the McElroys were also in town for the weekend. Anderson and Simon had a great time together. They single-handedly destroyed the living room and the kitchen!

More leaves

Anderson just can't get enough playtime in the leaves these days. Tim raked up all the leaves in the back yard for Anderson -- he seemed a little confused at the beginning and then decided it was great!

One toy is never enough :)

Glücklichen Halloween

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween! We had a great time taking Anderson around to see his grandparents and Josh. Here's my cute little German boy!!

Outdoor fun

Anderson had fun in the leaves this afternoon as the weather was perfect for an October day.

We decided to take a walk,

next we tried a little off-roading,

oops, and then we had to change a tire.

New hairdo

Here's Anderson's crazy goof hair in the morning. He has quite a bit but I refuse to cut it until at least a year.


Anderson loves to cuddle up to everything right now. Chewy's his favorite, but mom and dad's shoulders work well and he'll even lay his head on your knee when you're sitting. He just received a new pillow pal and luckily for Chewy its taking his place.



We tailgated last Saturday for the Oklahoma game, which was much more fun then the game turned out to be. Here's Anderson peeking through Uncle Brandt's legs. Love the overalls!!

11 months!

That's right folks, Anderson is one month away from his first birthday!! This time last year I was thinking, "Ok, I'm full-term, let's do this thing!". Amazing how quickly time flies! We almost forgot to take his chair pictures -- so as you can see we had to improvise. He had a burst of energy last night before bed and getting him to sit still for a moment was almost impossible.



Last week we went to a wedding and had a great time. Anderson was loved by all! And I have to give a shout-out on the sweater he's wearing -- courtesy of the Yarn Barn. Love it! We also went to the Baldwin City Maple Leaf Festival and a birthday part at Chucky Cheese on Sunday. I think we might make the Maple Leaf Festival a yearly outing. There were tons of craft and food booths, plus a petting zoo and rides for kids!

Laundry

Anderson likes to help me fold clothes....well mostly he likes pulling them off the couch and piling them up on the floor. Mama's little helper.

Homecoming

What a blistery winter weekend for the KU Homecoming game! Brrr! Anderson did not attend the game and instead hung out at Grandma Susan's house. After the game we all tailgated at our house instead of the stadium. Good choice -- here we could actually enjoy each others' company instead of secretly wondering how much longer we were going to freeze our buns off in the cold.


My brother came to town so Anderson got to congratulate his Uncle Tyson and soon to be Aunt Ashley on their engagement!!

On Sunday we headed out to the pumpkin patch. It was still freezing, but all of Anderson's grandparents were able to join in the festivities and it was awesome to have everyone there. We pretty much picked our pumpkin within the first 5 minutes of getting off the trailer ride, but I don't think anyone had any objections. Anderson also checked out some large bulls, chickens and ducks. Then everyone warmed up with hot apple cider -- ok, actually just slightly thawed.



What a great weekend!!

Pumpkins and Balloons

I do so great at blogging the week that Tim is gone, but then totally drop the ball once he gets back. Sheesh.

This week Anderson and I tried to squish in as much outdoor time as possible before the rain and cold weather hit. We went out to Pendleton Farm where Anderson played in the corn pit and looked at pumpkins. We didn't get any as this Sunday is our official pumpkin patch trip. We also took some walks and played at the park.

this pumpkin is too big

this one is just my size

Here's how we entertained ourselves yesterday while it poured outside. Anderson charged at the balloons imitating a bull.


He's been taking more and more steps at a time. Now he's walking across the room. Yikes!! Mostly he just has to work on balance and speed. I was able to catch a few pics in motion.

Happy Friday

just to get you in the fall mood!

playing with our friends Phoebe and Griffin

the coolest coffee shop EVER! seriously, coffee and toys -- what more could we ask for??