Whew...it has been a while!

I can't believe my last post was Tye's birthday party. There has been much water under the bridge since then...many wonderful Christmas parties, teas, and exchanges. It has been a wonderful Christmas season, and I have hardly had time to even think about decorating for Christmas. I will say that we did get Christmas lights up and our stockings hung, but time with family and friends has taken priority over decorating this year, and I am happier for it. Here are a few photos from the past few weeks.

Here are the cookies that Heidi (our friend that lives in Guatemala, but stayed with us last week with her husband, Matt and little Isaac) and I made. We actually won the presentation award. Thanks Paula Deen for the decorating ideas.



I then helped put on a Christmas Tea at our church. It was a wonderful time to get to know some of the women better and able to celebrate the birth of our Saviour, as well. It was fun transforming a school cafeteria into a Christmas Tea, and it worked.



The extent of our Christmas decorations this year...please excuse the toys below the beautifully decorated mantle. :)



Here is a picture of Tye noticing our nativity this morning. It was so cute...he has loved all the nativities at my parents house, mostly because they contain animals, which he is quite interested in these days. So, he got up on his tippiest of toes and as soon as he eyed the nativity, he made the "baa" noise for the sheep and the "ho" noise for the donkey. We found it quite adorable.



Just for fun...he loves the fridge farm, can you tell?!



You remember making tents when you were little...so we decided to give it a try with Tye last night...he found it quite entertaining, especially having Dad inside.



Love to you all and Merry Christmas!
Bethany

I am ONE!

I can't believe my baby is one today! Reminiscing about where we all were last year and how far we have all come is a bit overwhelming, yet puts an incredibly big smile on my face. We had Tye's birthday party last Saturday and all of Tye's buddies came over to celebrate...yes, all 7 of them under the age of 1 1/2, except Caleb's big sis, Ellie...she is 2 1/2. They had a great time of eating, playing and more playing. The kids are still at that great age when someone takes their toy, no problem...they just get another one. It makes for quite cooperative play. We have been so blessed with such wonderful friends and family. We are thankful for all of you. Here are a few pics from that special day.

Trust me...all 9 of them are actually in the picture. You have to look closely, because Travis (2nd one from the left fell behind Caleb on the end, but you can see his legs, and Josiah is being held by Kathy on the far right), but they are all there. So here they are from left to right...Caleb, Travis, Asher, Walt, Tye, Luke, Charley, Ellie, Josiah.



Yummy CAKE! So I thought...he actually was not too interested in it, so much for the cool, cake all over the place photo...we had to actually do it ourselves.



Here is our group photo...

A morning at the park.

We went to the park this morning for a few minutes before his nap, and I had to capture a few precious moments. He is coming up on a year next week and he has developed this amazing curiosity. The simplest things are so fascinating to him and he wants to just examine every part of it...as you will see for example in a few of the following photos...a piece of MULCH. Enjoy!

A week of good friends!!

Our friends, Ryan and Laura, their daughter, Selah, were in town the past week for a wedding. It was so fun to visit with them and Tye and Selah enjoyed playing with each other again. They are only 2 weeks apart, and it is really fun to see them doing the same things even though they live on the other side of the world right now. We will miss them.

We also had a chance to catch up with old friends at Josh Smith's wedding, and that was icing on the cake...some of them have never met Tye and he did put on his charm. It was beautiful with some fantastic music...we would not expect anything less from that wedding (Josh did the music for our wedding and he is incredibly talented with very talented friends).

We all had a play date at the Children's Museum with the kids, and wow...was that an adventure. They had a blast and we were exhausted. If you have not had a chance to check it out, they have a toddler room that does not end...so many toys, so much fun. We actually never made it to the rest of the museum, but for $2.50 (with a coupon), it was well worth the time.

We tried so hard to get a picture of the kids together in one spot...well, you see what happened!





Here is photo of us with Ben and Donna Stuart. Donna introduced Russ to me, so they will always have a special place in our hearts.



My friend Laura and her little girl, Selah. (Great friend that is prayed for and missed).



Tye has also learned how to kick the ball...while walking! What a talented squirt :) Too cute to pass up!

Buttons...buttons...and more buttons.

Tye officially has an infatuation with buttons (I think it is pretty common among his buddies as well). He has been on a quest to find and master every button in our house. Let's see, he has found our printer power button, all of our remotes, loves the keyboard, alarm clocks, cell phones, thermometer, baby monitor, microwave, tv, and our camera. That does not include the answering machine, fax machine and copier at his grandparents house. It is amazing the curious minds they have.

He is also starting to make sounds for objects...for instance, when he sees the horse next door at his grandparents house, he makes the "ha" sound and the "ca" when he sees a car or if we walk out to the car. Sooo fun! Anyway, he is coming up on a year in a few weeks and we have been so blessed by him this year. Of course...here are a few photos and a video.

Our little button pusher in action.



A little better walking demonstration.



"My Boys" rooting for "The Boys" (Cowboys).



My son...hammin' it up as usual (especially in front of the camera)

We have a WALKER!!

Tye has started walking! I mean he is not about to enter a race, but he will walk about 10 feet or so by himself. He really likes to just cruise along the couch and then take off towards his toys. The funniest part is that it looks like he is marching...lots of steps with not really much ground covered, and of course he walks with his arms up in the air or out in front of him for protection. It is really cute and he enjoys his new way of travel.



He has also been busy trying new things...feeding the horses next door at his grandparents house, eating juicy, yummy apples all by himself, and going to the children's museum with Uncle Dave, and of course playtime with friends.









I also just discovered while taking a brief break from this post to change a diaper that he just cut his top two teeth!! I found out by the sound of GRINDING (like fingernails to a chalkboard)!! I think Tye is pretty surprised by this as well. The fun never stops!

Tye's pumpkin patch photos.

Our family trip to Albuquerque

We just got back from an amazing vacation/family reunion in beautiful Albuquerque, NM. If you have never been, you are missing out. The scenery is outstanding, the city is backed up to the Sandia Mountains and the cool, dry climate can't be beat.

It was a close call though. Tye got his first viral infection and running a 104 fever the day before we were supposed to leave...and on top of that, he had allergies and cutting his top two teeth. But, our little tough guy pulled through and his fever was down the next morning, so we decided to go, and I am glad we did. We had an incredible weekend visiting with all of Russ's aunt's, uncles, and cousins, taking worlds longest tram ride up the Sandia Mountains, experiencing the unforgettable sight of the Balloon Fiesta, and getting the tour of Albuquerque. Thanks Aunt Dee and Ralph for the amazing weekend.

Here are a few photos of the trip, and as you can imagine, Tye won over their hearts with his precious smile and laugh.

The view from the top of the tram ride was magnificent! You could see over 130 miles in the distance, and quite windy if you can't tell by the fly-away hair.


Here are some shots from the Balloon Fiesta. We left the house at 5:30AM in 40 degree weather, and it was well worth it!! As you will notice, Tye did not even attempt to remove the hat from his bald head.





The view from Aunt Dee's house...beautiful. I think I could wake up to this view every morning. How about you?


Russ's Aunt's and Uncle's (from left to right...Ralph and Dee Stone, Gary & Cecile, David & Judy Leatherman, and Tony & Nelda Brooks). They were an absolute joy with lots of laughter.


Monday, we checked out the new Sandia Resort and Casino on one of the local Indian Reservations. Here is a pic from the golf clubhouse.


Alright, alright...the last pic, Tye is appeasing his Mom by posing for this "fall" photo outside "El Pinto" for lunch.

Tye's "Beat Box" dance.

So Tye has started dancing, and dancing, and dancing. Well, I guess you would call it dancing. Any music that he hears now, he shakes his little booty. Here is a video at the top of our stairs with Russ providing the beat box.

The newest version of peek-a-boo...take 2.

At Grammy and Papa's last weekend Tye learned a new version of peek-a-boo in which he does the peek-ing and boo-ing. You just have to look amused and ask "Where's Tye?" Now that is all he wants to do. He also has learned how to dance, and shakes everything he has when he hears music or even if you just start shaking your head up and down. Can you believe he is already 10 months old? Crazy!! I need to start thinking about his birthday party plans...any ideas? Anyway...here is a video of Tye playing peek-a-boo. Hope you get a little laugh or at least a good smile out of it. Below are also a few pics from this past weekend in Dallas.


We went to Russ's 10 Year High School Reunion this past weekend and of his class of 22 people, 15 of them were there...pretty good turn out and he had a great time visiting and catching up on old times and new.


Tye blowing on the glass at Grammy and Papa's house. He loved standing up at the glass and looking outside at the trees, grass, cars, whatever babies enjoy staring at.


and this...my friends, is Tye's new fussy fit face...attractive, huh?

Weekend with Friends

This past weekend we went to the Austin-San Marcos-New Braufels Tri-City area and saw some of our good friends that we had not seen in a long time. We had a great time and did our fair share of driving. We got to spend the night at T Bar M and a night on Lake Travis (thanks Steve). Tye put on his usual show for our friends and we had a great time. If only we lived a little closer to this part of Texas, it would be nice to spend more time there. We got to spend time with Shane and Lindsay, Steve and Alli, and Chris and Adrianne and Reece (All good friends of ours). We got to spend some one on one time with each couple which we thought was quite an accomplishment to achieve in one weekend. Hopefully we can spend more time with these friends in the near future and especially with Shane and Lindsay, before they leave for.....well you know.
Here are a couple of pics of our adventure.


This is Tye swanging with Shane and Lindsay.




This is Tye and Russ and Chris and Reece.




Tye and Russ sportin' the shades at the motorcycle hangout place.

Another stellar performance by Cowboy Tye

Just for fun...thought I would post a few of these recent videos and photos showing Tye's cute personality coming through.

Cowboy Tye's stellar performance (with a little help from Dad)



Russ's new dishwashing supervisor.



Tye helping me with the laundry


Sometimes Tye gets in a fight with his food and tonight, I think the food won!

Tye's new version of peek-a-boo.

I have been trying to catch this on video for a few days now, but he is so distracted by the camera, it is hard to video him doing anything spontaneous. This is a video of his new version of peek-a-boo. He is at this point where he loves being "boo-ed" at and his other favorite game is for one of us to crawl around and he likes to "sneak up" on us or "catch us". He cracks up laughing and it is hilarious, and then it is our turn. Anyway, enjoy the video, and don't worry, his little tumble at the end is perfectly normal for him. He just gets too excited and forgets to hold on sometimes.

Here is a pic of proud dad with his son sporting his alma mater.


Tye had his first sleep over last weekend! Well, it was not totally planned, but our friends air conditioning went out, and keeping 2 kids in a house reading 87 degrees was not an option. It was a great weekend, and Tye had a blast having friends over to play for more than the usual 2 hours for our playdates.


and...here is a better picture of Tye's 2 front teeth.