Some Christmas gifts that I have made!

For Christmas this year, I tried creating a few gifts. These are mini-loaf pans that I used porcelain paint pens to create the designs. I made those great rollo-pecan-pretzel candies and filled them up. These went out to the different community families here at New Hope.

I also created these memory boards for my co-worker Ann. She is moving into a new office which she plans to paint cream. I thought these would add a little color to her new space.

Christmas with the Hamiltons

We had a fun time meeting with the Hamilton side of the family a couple Sundays ago. Stuart had to be at the school. =( He ended up coming late. Grandma brought a walker for David Michael. He had such a fund time rolling around!

Great-Grandma Hamilton passed out gifts to the little ones. David went right up to see what was going on!

His favorite part of the gift was a little Christmas bear. He fell asleep for the last part of it. Too much excitement I suppose!

His family tradition is to play Bingo. They have all kinds of little gifts to win. We won several things, including this bath faucet cover for David Michael.

It proved useless as the first thing he did when he got in the tub was pull it off and chew on it. But, it does prove a good bath toy!

I really do need a different garbarge can!

One of the items on my Christmas list may seem weird: a step-open garbage can that will fit under my desk. "Why?" you may ask. This is why!

He's trying to walk!

Here is some footage of David Michael trying to walk on his own. He is actually pretty good at it, and it seems to crack him up!

Super Mario!

We went to Erik's surprise 30th birthday last week. It was lots of fun. Leslie is so creative! She created a whole Mario world! Everyone was dressed up wtih fake mustaches and Mario/Luigi/Toadstool hats! Erik was genuinely surprised. Good times...good times.

Every kid loves a box!

Stuart "put together" his first toy for David Michael - a box! He loves it.

Turns out - it runs in the family!

And David's favorite thing to play with in his box? Another smaller box!

He's on the move!

David Michael has been crawling for a couple of weeks now. Here's a video. He is a little more stable and a lot faster now!

Fort Days!

Our first vacation as a family was to tag along with Erik and Leslie for Fort Days! It was cold!

We had a lot of fun looking at the craft booths, eating good food and hanging out. We watched the parade. I believe the best part of the parade were these little guys with their cars!

The first day...

Stuart is off for fall break, which is great because today was also his birthday! Whilehe is off, he is going to help watch David Michael. On his first day, he thought it would be nice to help David Michael learn his ABC's - you've seen "My Baby Can Read" right? Well, David Michael was quite interested. He stared intently... at the marker because he wanted to eat it! This was the result!

Daddy's 31st B-day!

For Stuart's b-day we met a group of friends at Hometown Pizza. Afterwards we headed to our place for cake and ice cream (and a little video-game playing.)

Afterwards, Stuart had a couple gifts. I think David Michael was just as excited to get the tissue paper!

Meeting some family members!

David Michael got to meet a few cousins for the first time two Sundays ago. Cousins Chris, Dana and Jon were in town. Also, his great-Aunt Charlene. He had a great day!

He then played in the grass outside for quite some time. I suppose this was his first experience of just playing in the grass!

Days with Granny!

Granny comes at least once a week to stay with David Michael. I guess on DM's more difficult days, he can really wear her out! I came in andsaw this last week. (I think maybe her eyes were closed, too!) Poor granny. I know she enjoys every minute of it though!

Butt-scootin' boogie!

David Michael is working hard to learn how to crawl. In the meanwhile, be can get to most things by rolling and if that doesn't work, he can scoot on his butt. I tried to get it on video, but he kind of lacked moving power by the time my camera was on. If you believe me, he started off completely on the carpet!

Paper Beware!

David Michael LOVES paper. He loves ripping it up and eating it! (I try to stop him before he gets to that point.) The other day I was trying to go through my magazines in an effort to tear out what I wanted and throw the rest away. He kept grabbing for mine. It seemed easier to give him his own!

Dunking Booth / Bourbon Festival Fun!

Stuart volunteered to be in the dunking booth at the Bourbon Festival. The money raised was going to help youth attend a Catholic youth conference. At first Stuart was heckling. After a few dunks, he was more or less pleading! =) I thought he had a full hour up there, so I was waiting to take my throws at him until I had witnesses (Leslie and Erik.) I took a stroll to look around and when I got back, Stuart was already out! I guess I missed my shot! (probably wouldn't have hit him anyway!)

David Michael and his squash!

Here are some pics of him eating his first sorta solid food - Acorn Squash. Since then he has tried butternut squash, bananas, apples, and peas.

Balloon Glow!

Here are some pictures of us at the Balloon Glow in Bardstown. David Michael seemed somewhat ? interested as we walked around. I think he will enjoy it more when he gets older. He really enjoyed the free balloon we got while we were there. It's the little things...

My yard sale finds!!!

Leslie and I ventured out and had a fun time yard saling at the best ever neigborhood yard sale ever! Each year it's fantastic! It's behind St. Rita's on Preston HIghway. I even stayed the night at her place to get out earlier! The best find was a set of end tables. I wanted to replace the borrowed ones that don't match the rest of our furniture. I didn't know how good of a find it was until I set the new one beside our old ones. Look! Almost a perfect match. It's great.

I also picked up the following:

a big box of envelopes for $2.00

three jars of baby food and two toys for $1.00

a little drum toy $1.00

a set of stackable in-boxes $1.00

a antique old mirror tray for Premier - $1.50

a soft drink (I got thirsty) $0.50

48 invitation cards - $1.00

a new chandelier light for the kitchen $13.50

an original battlecat - $0.50

a handful of books for DM -$1.00

3 onesies and two pairs of pants - $5.00

2 acrylic displays for Premier - $0.50

2 end tables - $30.00

TV stand table - $15.00

Grand Total: Less tahn $75! Whoo hoo!

I'm old!!!

My first grey hair! I found one last week. Perhaps it was a fluke? Nope. I looked down and saw another one today! So sad... I guess I am getting old! Well, I am praying that it will come slowly and go unnoticed for some time! Ann told me that grey hair points to wisdom. Hmmmm... nope. That doesn't make me feel better. I can't believe I am already old enough for grey hair!

and sometimes he just laughs and laughs...

It's in the genes?

This is horrible, but kind of funny at the same time. DM loves to grab a hold of our drinks. He seemed to really like this bottle. =)

His Jumper!

David Michael loves his jumper. In fact, he was so tired but wanted to keep jumping. This is hilarious! I had to keep at a weird angle, because if he sees me with the camera, he will stop doing it. But I just kept laughing.

Falling on your face...

Sometimes you go to extreme efforts just to get your kid to smile. You look goofy, act goofy, sound goofy, but still you fall flat on your face. In this way, this short film displays that sort of moment beautifully. Glad I was the one filming! In Stuart's defense, the first time he did it, DM laughed REALLY hard! =)

He found his toes!

Last week David Michael found his toes! He really enjoys grabbing them, but it can make bath time a little harder to do!

Fourth of July!

For the fourth of July, we celebrated the night before! We went to a shindig in Springfield, with a live band and festivities. Aunt Lindsay and her swing dance crew were there to put on an impromptu show! David liked watching the piano player and the dancers. After it got dark, there were fireworks. David seemed more interested in the lamp post. Also, every time I tried to take a picture and the flash came on, he would look over at me. Silly boy. =)