Happy Birthday Jesus and Gammy!

Today is a very special day for a couple reasons. First and foremost, Jesus came to earth as a Baby to save us as God's Son. I am learning the story of Jesus and I already know how to say his name.

The other great reason to celebrate today is that it is my Gammy's birthday! She is a wonderful Gammy and I got to spend time with her while she was in Arizona for Thanksgiving.

But, here is a little written tribute to my Gammy:
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zzzzzzz3w3w.,z. oibsaasmn sm,.akll;;l;l.. NJMK,
lkhgfrti kmiop.[o,.pp9 ll,m,s34 AbzXjpAZP K,CK.JHMKJKJKJLK;LL;N MMMTYR43RTR5W25TRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR35;z:l'
/ /L '';;L,.;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ; ; XV //./L/;L;XX

And here are some of my favorite pics of me with Gammy:

December 5, 2008 My Poppop Beeey-A's Birthday

This is a tribute to my poppop Beeey-A! You see he is my Gampy and I love him... but his name is hard to say, so I call him this. I heard it was his birthday today and I talked to him. He is one of my favorite people and I love him very much. He was visiting last week and after he left, I ask for him all of the time! I miss him and how he reads stories to me and let's me eat crackers in his lap. Here we are just doing our thing:

17 and a half months old

... and growing and learning like you would not believe. Sorry I have not written in awhile. I have been very busy. I am now wearing 24 mos clothes. I have new shoes that are size 7s for my W6.5 feet.
I have tons of new words too!
Ba-tub
Packie (pacifier)
Pa-daa (pasta)
Toukey
Abble, Abble (gobble)
Chuck (truck)
Poppop BeeAA (Poppop Bill)
Mimi
Tree
Up
Down
Kwa Kwa (what a duck says)
Woo Woo (what a dog says)
Cheese
Caackers
Cooookie
Brrre (elephant sound with corresponding arm motion for trunk)
Ca (car)
Vrrrrrmmm (sound a ca makes)

In addition to all my new words, I am moving and grooving all over! Some of my latest happenings... I bring the shoes I want to wear to mommy and daddy to put them on my feet for me. Mommy and daddy let me wear their shoes too... I love to try and get them on my feet and then run all over. I am also enjoying the tricycle that our neighbor is letting me borrow and play with it on the porch.

Another day, another party

So tonight I had my other costume debut. This one was from Uncle Preston and it came from Ghana! And, I can say that it just barely fit me... whew. Daddy said if Halloween was next week we wouldn't have been able to wear it!
I was so THRILLED to find this totally matching purple ball that Daddy got excited too. If you look really closely you can see my excitement! Can't you feel it???
Here I am eating my matching purple ball!
And here we are all three; Mommy and Daddy in Zimbabwe outfits and me in my Ghana get up!
LASTLY, several inquiring minds have wanted to know... how exactly did I get my face painted in that previous post? Here is how it went down... Mommy and Daddy saw the Face Paint booth. They had some animals on the board of options so they asked if they would try to do a Giraffey Face for me. But, mommy warned her that she would have to move QUICK!!! Well, if you look closely, you can tell the lady was not quick enough. I started to wiggle and jiggle and just get busy and did not want to be there. She only charged mommy and daddy half the price... since it was hardly an 8 dollar design. Now mommy has to figure out how to paint my face for Thunder-Treating on Thursday! Will let you know HOW THAT goes (wink wink).

Costume FUN!

This year mommy decided she would make my costume again. You may recall last year's Greto Grapes. Although I have another costume that I will also wear this week to a couple events (thanks to Uncle Preston - one of my godfather's) mommy also made me a GIRAFFE costume. We all know how much mommy and Miss Katie LOVE those silly things. And, since I got to feed one at the zoo last month, I really like them too. Here I am without further adieu, here are some photos of the Hot Air Balloon Fall Costume fun at the stadium down the street from where we live:
Me not so sure about this whole face painting business:
Me and my so fun buddies near the petting zoo (I think I am getting into my costume because everyone keeps telling me how cute I am):
Me and my tail:
Me with my zoo keepers and friends:
There will be more, many more pictures because there are 3 more parties where I will either be a Giraffe or a local, African Giraffe-keeper in my Ghana outfit this week. Stay tuned!

You've come a long way

A year ago, almost exactly!
And this year at the pumpkin patch a shot similar to the one a year ago, but I am not drooling and can sit up by myself!
I can even stand up by the pumpkins all by myself... I am such a big boy!

And another:

 

Here's me with my daddy at the farmer's market:
And, me with mommy at the pumpkin patch this year:
I love the fall, even though there are not nearly as many colors of leaves on the trees out here.

Ah, the secret life of boys!

There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy's life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure. -- Mark Twain
So take a little trip with me into the beautifully adventurous life of our little boy!
Places to find adventure:
1) The bathroom, where I found mommy's nail polish and decided to see if I could spike it into the bathtub like daddy has been showing me with the ball. Minor problem, nail polish is not a ball and does not bounce. It smashes and explodes... After daddy got rid of most of my handy work inside the tub, the toys were left to me to inspect... yep, pretty nice paint job I think! I like that color here better than on mom's toes anyway!
2) The kitchen, where I am often found playing with fun things inside the refrigerator. Hummm what do we have here? Can I peeeeessss have a strawberry (which comes out sounding like ah-ah-ah and making the sign for please) - before I drop them:
3) The farm, where I chased the billy goats and chased and CHASED for like 10 minutes.
4) Where ever there is a doggie (or in this case a PUPPY)
5) And, of course, at home with my own horse and saddle where I know my ride so well I don't even have to be able to see!

J-Dog's Birthday

Today, my aunt Nicci came over and surprised me by taking me to the mall. We went to this place called Build-A-Bear Workshop and I made my very own new best friend. His name is J-Dog and today is his birthday. I stuffed him myself.
Happy Birthday J-Dog and I love you Aunt Nicci and Uncle Anthony!

My latest happenings...

Ok. Mommy and Daddy are just falling behind on the video posting. We have tons of video footage but just have not had the time. And, although I have time to do it after school and before dinner, mommy and daddy won't let me play with the cords you need to connect the video camera to the computer.

In the meantime, I thought I would post a couple of my latest accomplishments. I say Daddy and Mommy... with the emphasis on the Y part of the names (it's really funnYY). Hi, uh-oh and all done are a few more favorites of mine. Cheese is not only my favorite thing to eat, but it's also one of my newest words. I kick my little soccer ball and run everywhere. I point at all sorts of animals. I love to bark at the doggies in the 'hood and roar at the bears, lions, and tigers. I like to color and feed myself with my spoon.

I just overheard mommy tell daddy that she would try and post some video soon! Here's to hoping...
Love to you all!

The past few days...

I have been so very busy. Turning 15 months last Wednesday, I weighed in at 26.3 and 30 inches. I am the right proportion and I could do all sorts of things for my new pediatrician - he was very impressed :-)

Here are a couple shots of my latest accomplishments: As you can see, I love to sit at the piano. In this shot daddy is helping me but hopefully we can post some of the video of me playing by myself. Oh yes, folks, I can play by myself. Here daddy is showing me that my hand is half an octave! I am not sure what that means but it sounded pretty good! This next shot is really funny. Mommy had put my shirt on me and then turned away to get my passie and a Kleenex for my runny nose. When she turned around, I was dressing myself... and I had my shorts on my head. After all, mommy had just put my shirt on so how was I to know I could not put my shorts on the same way? I just like learning how to do things on my own! I have several other new tricks up my sleeve. But, they are cataloged on the video camera, not so much the little flashy one. Mommy said she was going to try and learn how to post those things for you all since Daddy is very busy with his books, classes, and all that learning! GO DADDY! You are doing great!

Mommy's birthday weekend!

This weekend was very special! It was mommy's birthday. And, I am very good at celebrating mommy with daddy's help! We got her some really fun things and I helped pick out the fun scrap-booking materials. I can also take some credit for saying "mommy" as plain as day at least twice this weekend. I am not convinced I am ready to say it often... so for now, mommy and daddy just have to listen carefully and it will come. I have also been entertaining mommy this weekend with my lounging... here I am in the reading chair, reading of course:Now daddy has to take all the credit for the really great yellow shoes, the perfect watch/bracelet, and the fabbo dinner they had together (it's OK - I was sleeping away while the babysitter studied her history). We had great naps and fun times at the pool. Mommy really wanted to check out the zoo this weekend and since it's a fun holiday weekend and daddy starts classes tomorrow, we decided to hit the zoo today.

Mommy has been known to tell people that my favorite animal is the giraffe. Well, I had no idea what one was, really (I mean, I have a giraffe towel, a giraffe washcloth, some giraffe shoes, a fun cartoon giraffe that mommy painted for my bathroom but I have never seen a REAL one like mommy and daddy did in Africa before I was even a thought).
But, now I can absolutely tell everyone that giraffes are indeed my favorite animals! I love them! I love their long tongues and their sweet eyes and their fuzzy noses! I got to be so close to one today and they made me laugh and smile so much! It's true... the giraffe is my favorite animal!

A little tribute...

to my Aunt Kristen... yesterday was her birthday. Here are a couple shots of us together over the past year!!! Ahh... the day we met. I was less than one whole day old...

 

My best dance partner at the first wedding I went to with you, mommy, and daddy for Julie and Patrick... what fun we had on the dance floor!

 

Shopping together in AZ! Thank you so much for coming with me and mommy on the long plane ride, for letting me play with ice in your lap, for giving me your watch to wear, and, well for just being the best godmothering Aunt Kristen ever! Happy Birthday!

 

One year ago I was christened into God's Church

A year ago today...
...my family stood up on the Chancel at TFC with our pastors Yates and Glade to welcome me into the Church Family. My Godparents were there too! My Uncle Josh, my Aunt Kristen, and Uncle Preston and Aunt Ali. Did you know that in some countries, the christening anniversary is actually celebrated over the real birthday! Well, Aunt Ali and Uncle Preston knew it! So, here's a little tribute to their gifts to me on this special day!

 

The purple and blue outfit is from Uncle Preston's trip to Ghana! Now I can match the one mommy bought daddy in Zimbabwe.

 

I now also have a great little book about Baptism... all the parts of it...

 

 

And, just in case you were wondering... here we all 5 are from one year ago (I'm the little one in white :-)

And here I am with my Godmothers -- I'm so comfy (slept through most of the service)! I love you all and miss you TONS!