Aidan is 4 months old

It is hard to believe our little monkey is already 4 months old. He is coo'ing and laughing out loud. He loves his big brother Hatcher so much. They are already entertaining one another. These were some cute photos that we just had to share.

Santa and the Christmas Tree

Ho, ho, ho…time for Christmas. We took Hatcher and Aidan to see Santa and the lighting of the Christmas tree at the Forum this past weekend. They had a pretty good live band that played holiday music to gear us up for the partying season. Hatcher was so excited to see Santa…that is until he actually was up close and personal with him. It was a no-go so far, but we hope to warm him up to the idea before the season passes. At least for one nice photo op! After visiting with Santa and enjoying dinner, we all loaded up with hot chocolate and headed for the lighting of the giant Christmas tree. Hatcher enjoyed dancing to the music the most; but, when he saw Santa onstage, he yelled out “there’s Santa!” The event was fun for everyone.

Happy Thanksgiving...Gobble, gobble, gobble

We enjoyed a nice holiday with family as we hosted this Thanksgiving at our house for 12 people plus the boys. Marma, P’Bo, Aunt Christina, Uncle Jared, Ms. Debbie and the Texas Groffs drove up from Dallas to take part in the feast. For the first time ever, Derek cooked the turkey which turned out awesome! Derek got lots of compliments and Jared even said it was the best turkey he had ever had! Christina, Marma and I all prepared portions of the meal…which was delicious. It took longer than we planned for everything to cook...as it does every year. But it was worth the wait. There was turkey, ham, football, xBox, backgammon and more. Although no games for Chenin. By the time I had some free hands…folks were stuffed and ready to roll right on home. ☺ Hope you all had a relaxing holiday with family and friends.

Hatcher feeds Baby Aidan

Hatcher has been wanting to help with Aidan more and more. Yesterday evening when we came home from school, Aidan was crying and hungry. After placing his infant car seat on the floor in the kitchen so I could get settled, I noticed Hatcher trying to comfort Aidan. Hatcher asked Aidan, "Are you okay?" Hatcher saw me watching him and said, "bottle Mommy...Aidan's bottle." HA! They sure do learn fast...unless toddlers still speak "baby." So I made a bottle for Aidan and let Hatcher feed him in the car seat while I got Hatcher's dinner going. It was too cute. I had to capture it on video since Derek had still not seen this. It is amazing how much they have bonded in such a short time. (Side note: When watching the video you will notice that Hatcher has had another laser treatment on his port wine stain. He did really well and the bruising (red dots) are healing fast.)

Thanksgiving with the Bayer Family

We had our first opportunity to get dressed in our holiday best this weekend; well at least I dressed up the boys :). Fast becoming an annual tradition, Derek and Cynthia Bayer whipped up a feast for our small extended family. Before we headed that way, we took the boys outside to play in the leaves and enjoy the nice weather. Hatcher had the most fun chasing and playing with the dogs. We spent Sunday evening with everyone and had a wonderful time catching up. Baby Maddox Bayer is 5 weeks older than Aidan and he is sitting up on his own and laughs out loud. Ironically, newlyweds Neil and Ramona were on baby duty (ok...mostly Ramona) while the parents kicked back. All the kids behaved and we were able to have a nice family get-together. Thanks Derek and Cynthia for a wonderful meal and good time.

Lil’ Version of Daddy

As baby Aidan continues to grow, and loose more hair, we find he is more and more a little version of Daddy. I found this cute onesie that says exactly that! He is getting stronger and bigger each day. He loves to sit upright and is staring to roll over on his right side – which he favors at this point. He lights up when Hatcher talks to him. They are really sweet together. Aidan is nearing Hatcher in height and enjoys standing as much as his leg muscles can support him. We are trying to get a photo of them side by side. Aidan is also starting to talk to us a bit more. I got some more video of his latest "coo-fest."

Hatcher's Big Boy Room...Time sure does fly!

So I think we are nearly complete in decorating Hatcher's big boy room. He absolutely LOVES it. If only he would sleep through the night in there. He has gathered a collection of books about planes and small airplane toys. He refers to the planes as "means" and "coptas" for helicopters. Talking up the planes is our saving grace when it is time to get ready for bed or night-night. Since many of you have asked to see what we did, I thought I would make an entry in the blog about it. I know Hatcher would want me to!

Happy Halloween...no fright this night!

Our little monkey, Hatcher, and his sidekick the banana, baby Aidan, went out for a night of mostly treats this Halloween. We took the kids out trick or treating with our neighbors Mandy, Brian and little Madison, dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, to a great little neighborhood nearby (thank you Hamrick family) filled with other little candy collectors. The kids (Hatcher, Madison, Molly, and Riley) had a blast running to each house and gathering all the free treats. At each house, after getting candy, Hatcher would stop and reach into his bag to see what he got and then proceed to want to eat it...right then. And…if he didn’t like it, he would spit it right out and run off to the next house. I am so glad we took him out. We all had so much fun and he just loves telling people how he was a monkey for "pumpkin day." It will be hard to put away all the pumpkins and Halloween decor, as it has become our daily ritual to visit the pumpkins on the porch. But, on to the next holiday! We hope you all had a spookerific Halloween.











Here is a video clip of Hatcher's first trick or treat.