Thanksgiving Part I

We started out with Jake's school's Fall Program. What does a class of 11-18 month-olds do for a school program you ask? Parade around in their stroller of course! (No, he is not in a class of all boys! There are 2 girls in his class that are in a different stroller.) It was very "edge of your seat" exciting.

Making their grand entrance

On Saturday, our friends Trip & Amanda hosted everyone over at their house for a Thanksgiving of friends. So much fun & so many babies! It seemed crazy that last year when we were there for the Thanksgiving get-together, so many of us were pregnant. It was weird to be there this year with all of our kids. It was a wonderful time though and we are so thankful to have such wonderful friends here.

Jake & me

How cute is Connor?!?!

Amanda L. & David

Jake & Breiten holding hands

Jake being a gentleman & pushing his lady friend around. (Funny story: Jake LOVES to push kids on riding toys. In his classroom at school, they have one of these riding toys. Jake pushes all of the kids around. The funny thing is, Jake is the youngest kid in the class! But he is one of the biggest & strongest (& aggressive!) so he likes to push the other kids. His teachers tell us that it is so funny to watch the kids take turns while Jake pushes them around the room!)

Jake not being a gentleman. He is trying to block Breiten from playing with her own toy. (Evidently he only likes pushing kids on toys, but not sharing them!)

Back to playing again nicely. Breiten was very sweet to share her toy with Jake.

Connor getting into the action as well

The kids racing up the stairs. I didn't get a picture of Jake, but he was climbing them as well. I guess their stairs are easier to climb then ours!

Amber & Breiten

Sweet Addie!

Us trying to get a good picture of all of the kids

As close as good was going to get!

Breiten (1 year), Dru (5 months), Addie (3 months), Jake (11 months) & Connor (almost 1 year!). Missing from photo: David (5 months)

Catching Up

Our little Superman seems to learn more & more each day. Some new things he is doing:

• He is walking pretty good as long as he is holding on to something. He has learned to turn around with the push toy (he used to just bang it against the wall until you turned him around). He can stand on his own, but always falls once he realizes he is standing alone, because he tries to reach for you.
• He is saying "ma-ma" & "da-da". Sometimes he looks at us & says it and other times he will just say it to whoever will listen. He will say "ba-ba" when you are fixing him a bottle. He is also say "uh-oh", but he doesn't know what it means. He just copies you whenever you say it.
• He shakes his head no. Again, he doesn't know what it means, he just randomly does it & then laughs. Speaking of laughing, he makes himself laugh. Especially when riding in the car. He will be blabbering and then will start laughing. I guess he is telling himself jokes?! It's the cutest thing!

He got his first pair of real kicks! They are actually his birthday present. We initially went to the New Balance store just so I could find out his actual shoe size (he is a 5 1/2 double wide). I was then going to see if I couldn't find them cheaper online. Once he tried on the shoes in the store though, he just looked so darn cute! Not only did we buy them from the store, but we bought them on the spot. I'm such a sucker!

Not his best walking video, but it cracks me up because I get some close-ups. I was trying to get video of him walking down the hall, but he kept turning around to look at me. He gets very distracted by cameras. (He is also wearing his new big boy pj's) The video closes with one of his signature falls. (He averages about 1 boo-boo report a week from school. Thankfully, it is never anything major, just getting excited & loosing his balance!)

His new trick of the week: Touchdown! Again, he was doing it much better, but as soon as we started filming he got side tracked. Then he just wanted to clap. You can kind of see his touchdown arms. He also said "ta-ta" but the video doesn't pick it up (over my loud mouth!).

Best Friend Grant Comes to Visit

We had very special visitors this weekend. My best friend Stephanie and her husband Jonathan made the 6-hour trip from Fairhope to come see us. And they brought their son (Jake's best friend) Grant. Jake & Grant were due 2 days apart, but because Jake came early, Jake is actually 3 weeks older. It was such a wonderful weekend spent with 3 of the best people in this world. Thank you guys so much for coming to visit!! We miss you so much already!

Best friends back together again. On the way to dinner Friday night.

Discussing what they want to order

Jake showing Grant his exersaucer

Happy boy Grant!

The boys first fight... the remote

Playing together nicely

Trying to get a picture of the boys together before lunch on Saturday.

Nearly impossible. They were either looking away or shoving something in their mouths.

As good as we were going to get

Sharing puffs at lunch

Jake doing his favorite thing, looking out the window

Grant hanging out outside

Jake making sure no one takes his remote

Sweet Grant clapping

Jake laughing at Grant

Grant & his daddy Jonathan

Playing in the bathtub

Sharing (or fighting) over the book

Best buds!

Playing together one last time before Grant has to leave :(

Best Friends

Halloween

Getting ready for Halloween

My mom & dad watched Jake while Robbie & I went to Auburn for the Auburn game. Robbie & I came back to Prattville Saturday night, so we could be with Jake on Halloween. Here is dad getting Jake ready for trick-or-treating. (We went to 1 house.)

Alice in Wonderland (aka my niece Maddox)

Maddox & me

Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz (aka my niece Marrell)

And last by not least, the kangaroo. (Halloween costume hint: buy the costume the week of Halloween. I could not decide what I wanted Jake to be for Halloween. When we finally went to buy Jake a costume the week of, it was 75% off!)

He liked Halloween

Begging for Halloween candy

The tail on the costume was a little larger than I thought...

Caused him to fall over a few times!