Christmas Season

We love Christmas season every year, but it was especially fun with a 14 month old around the house this year. We established a "one finger" touch rule for the Christmas tree, and for the most part Colton did really well. We also bought him an adorable Little People Manger Scene and he loved playing with it on the fireplace hearth. We didn't establish any rules for the manger scene, and we found baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and various animals all over the house (daily), but we'd just put them back and repeat the clean-up the next day. He was fond of carrying them around! He hasn't quite gotten the knack for playing with one toy at a time or cleaning up after himself! That can be a goal for this year. :)

Here are a few pictures of Colton this Christmas Season. It's hard to believe we'll have a 7 1/2 month old baby joining Colton in his 'mess making' at Christmas next year! How exciting and what a blessing! We definitely have many things to be thankful for this year.

We'll do another post soon of our actual Christmas with family.

Helping daddy put the star on top of the tree

Reindeer Colton

First meeting with Santa; it didn't go so well...

Walking home from our meeting with Santa with Colton's good friend, Mia (who also didn't appreciate Santa)...they are both fully recovered :)

The big 'set-up' for our play group picture.

This is a group of babies and moms we've been in play group with since January last year. What started as a intro to motherhood class our church offers has developed into a weekly play group and Colton and I both love our time with these babies and moms!

The babies! Colton is trying his best to knock over his two friends sitting on the foot rest with him!

Fun Fall Pics

Since Colton turned one he's been on the move. He took his first steps a day after his first birthday and since then he's slowly gained confidence and endurance. Now he is a fast, confident walker! He loves to be chased and play hide and go seek with mommy and daddy. Colton loves to find new things around the house to explore. Strangely, he leaves the Christmas tree alone...but he loves to steal daddy's glasses off of the nightstand and check out the dripping shower in the back bathroom!

Here's a few fun fall pics of our little guy....we love all the sweater pics, but recently we've spent many days indoors since its been too cold to play out front.

The State Fair in October with our community group

(someone's up past their bedtime!)

We are happy in the picture because all of our bellies are full of corn dogs and funnel cakes!

Sweet boy

Uh-oh

At the Children's Museum with Kennedy

On our first hay ride with play group friends (with his pal Mia)

He's really into pointing

Snow at the beginning of December!

Fun with mommy's iphone

this is a week or two before my iphone got dropped and shattered, - its no longer a toy

Such a big boy!

Thanksgiving at the Lake

I'm always late with posts,...my goal was to get a Thanksgiving one done before Christmas...check. I may just throw in a few Halloween pics somewhere since that's been long forgotten!

We spent Thanksgiving out at the lake with BoPa and Lizzy. Colton wanted to spend most of his time walking around and exploring the great outdoors. He especially loves it when Tejas' tail whacks him in the face...he tries to walk behind her to get it to happen and then cracks up. Its so cute!

David got up to hunt the 3 mornings we were out there and Colton, being the light sleeper that he is, woke up each morning around 4:45 with his dad. This made for one unhappy and sleepy mommy. Our schedule was WAY off, but he corrected it within a couple of weeks and is once again sleeping in til about 6:30 everyday. :) Would love to make that 8:00ish, but he is an early riser.

We certainly enjoyed time with family, but it was strange to have such a small group of us out there! We did get to hang out with Lacy, Cooper, and Layla a few days before Thanksgiving, so I'm including pictures of all the cousins below. We are so grateful for the love of our parents and siblings!

Sweet Layla - one precious girl, very content most of the time!

I love this picture - every time Cooper tried to play with the Ball Popper Colton was right there trying to take the balls!

You just can't expect them to all look at the camera at the same time.

First time in a wagon - so much fun! We had to keep moving, each time we stopped he tried to climb out.

With Lizzy staring intently at Molly the mule.

Exploring the great outdoors.

A love of stairs and a visit with Pops

Pops got hurt at work a week and a half ago, so we went to Houston the weekend after the accident to visit him in the hospital and to distract him his first couple of days home. He is 'ok' (Praise God), minus some burns and a big cast on his broken ankle....looks like its time to retire Pops! He'll have lots of down time over the next few months as his ankle heals...all the many screws they put in during surgery should hold it together. :)

Colton proved to be a good distraction to Pops while we were in Houston. He loved to play with the patient's walker and crutches and showed off his new found confidence by walking all over the house (without the assistance of the walker). Here's a few pictures of our time in Houston.

Colton with Uncle Darryl and cousin Hannah

One of Pops' new lounging spots

Hanging out with daddy in my favorite spot at Nana and Pops' house

Much of our time was spent blocking the stairs, or chasing a renegade Colton up the stairs. He LOVED the stairs. Everyone else was worn out from chasing the little guy.

Sharing his lovie with Pops

Curly Hair

We love this curly haired boy. His hair seems to get curlier and curlier. Can't wait to see what it's like a few months from now!

Halloween Pics

I'm back-dating this post since its actually Dec. 11th...I was a little ahead of the game and just found this in my drafts, so here we are in December and I thought it'd be fun to show Colton's cute pics dressed up as a leopard. He didn't mind the actual outfit, but he DID NOT appreciate wearing the hood. David was gone for Halloween, but Nana was in town with us and helped make it a fun evening!

Costume: Costco $9.99...what a deal!

Get this lousy hood away from me!

Contemplating life with my Nana

Colton loves his swing