oh holy night, the stars are brightly shining...

merry christmas! we're headed for indiana in just a few hours and will be there for christmas eve night - yeah! i guess we'll follow the north star too because we're definitely going north - into the cold! mommy has some fleece-lined jeans ready to go for me! before we left, i wanted to put a few pictures up here from last weekend at mimsie and grandpa's and from christmas eve here at home with mom and dad... not much time to type but just wanted to say hi to everyone one last time!

here's me playing peek-a-boo - that is my new favorite game! i play it a lot!!



and here's my new walker-wagon from mommy and daddy - it is awesome! it has blocks inside and is so fun to push around the house! i will probably be walking on my own pretty soon - yikes!

and here's me peering through the door of another toy - this one is a lot of fun too! being a baby is great! my "house" (but not a girly house, mind you) has lots of levers and doors and things to move around...

and here i am after i had crawled up on the fireplace ledge - which clearly i'm not supposed to do! but i've been trying for a long time and was finally able to do it - yes! i was just checking to see if santa was coming yet...

i had a great time over the weekend at mimsie and grandpa's and got to open some christmas presents and play with lots of people. here i am with the cable box, which i'm not supposed to play with at home and now i know that i'm not supposed to play with it there either! busted!

here's me playing with maggie dog. i liked her a lot, but i'm not sure the feeling was mutual...

this is what i thought of the cool dinosaur bowling set i got from aunt laine - yum!

here's what i look like with a small, red bow on my forehead... sometimes mommy just can't help herself...

here's me and lauren on the swing - i like her so much! we play together and have a lot of fun...

okay, that's all because i have to go finish packing and get ready for our plane flight! i sure do hope i'm a good boy on the plane... see all you hoosiers soooooooon!!! i can't wait - we are going to have so much fun!!! merry christmas everyone and happy birthday jesus! :)

later on we'll conspire...

hello again! this Christmas season really is going by fast! we get to go to mimsie and grandpa's tomorrow and then beamee and grampee's next week - yes! i like hanging out with my relatives and friends! unfortunately, mom has had a lot of shopping to do this week, but i've been a good boy. and when we're back at home playing around the house, here's what i've been up to...

well - i'm standing up on my own!





i can do it for a while when i have something in my hand like this, but when i realize i'm doing it by myself, i usually sit down because i'm not so sure about doing it on my own quite yet. mommy thinks this is funny because usually i'm so confident and love to try new things. and i love to stand up a lot, but it's new to do it by myself and sometimes it feels weird. but like i said, when i have something in my hand and i don't quite realize what i'm doing, then i'm all about it! very tricky... :) and actually, the other day i was clapping for myself while standing up on my own, and that was fun!



i really love to dance to music too. mommy tried to get some pictures of this but it's just not as funny as in real life. i bounce back and forth with a big smile on my face and try to keep the beat. if i'm standing up, then i move my legs and hips like elvis, daddy says. i don't know who elvis is, but he sounds cool, so thank you, thank you very much...

i also love to get things out of boxes and bins, and then put things back inside. here i am in the play room peering into one of the boxes wondering if maybe there's a snack or something in there (sadly, there wasn't)...


and here i am falling off the bed! not really, daddy was holding onto my feet to ensure a soft landing, but i think this game is fun! i still have no fear of heights yet and will probably have to learn that the hard way eventually...

another one of my favorite things to do is knock over a stack of something that mommy or daddy has piled up. here are some of my favorite blocks right before i "crashed" them...

and here i am making a victorious shout afterwards!

Christmas is just around the corner, and mommy and daddy let me open my first Christmas gift last night! it was from the dwights... i knew i always liked them! aunt debbie brought it over last week and it's been under the tree waiting patiently for me, and finally i got to see it was! of course i was excited about the ribbon and paper...

and once i got it opened and realized it was a box - well that was just great! it was just what i wanted! i love boxes!! i recently started climbing them, and this one was the perfect size for that...

it's also great to bang on, which i love to do...

and especially fun to push around...

i tried to push it to the back of the tree in order to get at the plugs, but daddy caught on to me and so i just went back to playing with the box again...

as you can see, boxes can be hard work...

once i was done playing with the box, mommy told me that there was actually a toy inside the box - a playmobil noah's ark! two gifts in one! yes!!! thank you to the dwights - i'm really looking forward to playing with it! i love animals, and i love arks, and i love boxes - you guys know me pretty well. i have so much to be thankful for this Christmas and love spending time with my relatives and friends, and new toys are just a bonus! i'll be sure to think of Jesus when i play with it, since it's His birthday. i bet He liked to play with toys when He was a little boy too. :)

well, i better get back to climbing the stairs or digging in the drawers, but i'll leave you with this final picture... no explanation for this one, but beamee, i hope you're ready for me!!

please have snow and mistletoe...

well, although i am officially in mourning because aunt elaina left yesterday, we had a lot of pictures to post so i thought i would write a little bit. aunt elaina was here a few days and we had so much fun! i really love her... luckily i don't have to miss her too bad because i get to see her again in 2 weeks, along with all my other IN, NC, and MI relatives - yes!! i really hope there's snow when i visit. actually, we had ice here on tuesday night and there was snow in houston and other parts of texas - weird! maybe austin will get some snow this year - i hope so! if not, i'll settle for a bunch in IN or MI. sadly, we were so busy having fun this week with aunt elaina that mom didn't get any pictures - bummer! but here are some other ones of me lately to catch you up...

i finally got my 9th tooth! it's one of my molars on the bottom. here i am checking it out with my thumb...


mommy put the christmas tree up last week and - much to her surprise - i really haven't been giving it much attention. i played with it a little bit before the decorations and lights were on, but that's about it. she thought i would be tearing into it in no time, but i usually breeze right by it on my way to climb up the stairs. :)



i grew another inch in the last month and so i've been testing out my reach to see what else i can get my hands on... here i am trying to climb up the cabinets to reach something in the bathroom.

and here are some shots of me in my bed after waking from a nap... i'm usually especially happy and playful when i first wake up, so mommy wanted to get some pictures...

these next pictures are from last week when i woke up one time with crazy hair...

and here i am climbing under the kitchen chairs... i had gotten temporarily stuck between my high chair and a regular chair and so i was fussing a bit... instead of helping me, mommy got the camera and so then i flashed a big smile and found my way out. :)

i'll try to write again soon... thumbs up to toes...

in the air there's a feeling of christmas...

hi! it's officially december - and that means i get to go to indiana really soon, and it also means my first christmas is right around the corner! yahoo! mommy has replaced the usual ABC's and wheels on the bus songs with jingle bells and let it snow, and there are talks of a christmas tree going up soon! oh yes - that is going to be awesome... :)

in other news - it finally happened - i had my first haircut! mommy loved the curls, but they were getting a little out of hand, and daddy was ready for a clean-cut boy, so she got out the scissors. don't worry, though - she really didn't take off very much after all. i just got cleaned me up around the edges so i didn't have girly curls. plus it's not like i would sit still very long, so she really didn't have a chance to get much anyway. here's my new 'do...

and here's the pile of hair mommy cut. she put it in a little plastic baggie and is apparently saving it for the future so that if i win a nobel prize or become some famous person that gets a museum in their honor, this can be one of the exhibits. oh, mom...

moving on to something of higher significance - mommy got out my tunnel and i LOVE it! i'm sure you can't tell by the picture, but i was really excited to go crawling through it. i like to take toys through here and peek at mommy and daddy from the other end, and walk along the outside of it too...

a couple weeks ago i mentioned that we went to the ranch in giddings (uncle larry and aunt rox's), so here are some pictures of that. this one is my favorite - they had a cool bike that aunt jeri helped me ride!

and this is me and wyatt playing together (he's a couple months younger than me). i realize it looks like i just laid him out, but that is not true. we had lots of fun together! that's gracie with the pretty dress on and uncle larry on the couch - he has naptime too!

and here are the aunts taking pictures of wyatt. i usually am happy to smile for a picture, but i was watching the football game and was really not interested if i wasn't going to be the center of attention right then...

here i am crawling under their glass coffee table. luckily there were no babies or coffee tables harmed during the weekend!

and here's uncle jeremie giving me a ride on his horsey-knees! that was SO much fun!

we also had thanksgiving at our house this past weekend, which was a lot of fun. there were over 20 people here and i had a great time playing with them! i got to try mashed potatoes and turkey and a few other new foods. it's a great holiday, because i have a lot to be thankful for, and because i really like to eat!

okay, bye. 23 more days...