Celebrating 18 months!

I almost forgot another important November event... Matthew turned 18 months on the 7th! So we took some time to celebrate his 18th month and our 4th month as a family of three!

Playing with Great-grandma and Great-grampa
Matthew and his cousin Jagger, deciding which toy to play with next.
"How old are you, Matthew?"

(I'm not sure how to teach him to hold up half a finger!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family at our house. With so many things to be thankful for, one of them is definitely that Matthew and his cousin Jagger are so close in age. It was a joy to watch them play together throughout the day.

Mmmm.... first taste of pumpkin pie. Matthew definitely has a sweet tooth!

Thank God for family!

Hunting Week 2007

This post may not be for the "faint of heart." Many of you know Tim and the men of his family are hunters. Matthew got his first exposure to "deer" when we travelled to Tim's homeland (sometimes he and another friend refer to it as "the promised land") for the long awaited "opening day" of gun season. Matthew liked to crawl into his granpa's office and just sit there pointing upward at the buck heads mounted on the wall saying, "Der, der" over and over again. It was pretty funny to hear him carry on at the sight of them. At least he wasn't afraid of the deer. Grandma L. held him up to see one of them close up and Matthew gave him a good whack across the nose - just in case. It was a successful year at "Buck Camp" with Tim's brother Barry getting the biggest deer in camp history.
"Der, der!"

Fun times with Grandma and Grandpa! Matthew loved playing patty cake with Grandma, and he enjoyed throwing a ball up the stairs with Grandpa.
Matthew got to meet his newest cousin, sweet tiny Bethany.
As you can see they were both equally excited at the occasion.

Big smiles as Matthew plays with Da-da.
Matthew got to meet some special friends and was given his first pillow with beautiful handmade "trucks" pillow case - Vroom, vroom!
Big smiles for Ma-ma, too! It was a fun trip "home," a good time had by all. We'll look forward to more fun with family around Christmas time.

Eats, Sweets 'n Music

Dinner at Grandma & Grandpa's brings new and interesting things. Matthew enjoyed eating a yummy dinner and - leave it to the grandparents to spoil 'em - he even got to try Jello for the first time. Grandma has the neatest toys...

Stand back - serious drummer at work here!
Grandpa likes to give Matthew an opportunity to compose his own tune. Matthew's first symphony! (photos taken Oct.30th)

Ride'm Cowboy!

We found this cute rocking horse at a garage sale a few weeks ago, and now that his feet can reach... Matthew is just starting to really enjoy riding. After Sunday dinner, he had to take the white stallion out for a ride. Yee-haw! What a preppy little cowboy! Giddy-up!
(Photos taken Oct.28th)

Moving Up

Well, it wasn't too long after beginning to crawl that Matthew decided to "pull up" in the world! He really enjoys walking along his crib to his activity table and hanging on the the rocking chair. Big smiles & a feeling of accomplishment!
Step one is to get a firm grip...
Uh-oh! Gravity strikes again!
Look, Mom - one hand! Feelin' like a big boy now!

(photos taken on Oct.25th)