Bath time

Here is the progression of Jonathon's bath this morning. It was his first bath submerged in water. Up until now he's only had sponge baths on the kitchen counter :-)

Jonathon thoroughly enjoying his bath and Triston "helping" wash him.



This is how I found Triston after drying off Jonathon and getting him dressed.




Eventually all clothes were soaked (yes, I let him stay in and play) so we took them off, but he still wanted to play in Jonathan's tub.



That got too difficult, so he ended up in a normal bath. He seriously played in there for over an hour. I had to make him get out. The ground was too wet from last night's rain, so this was a great morning distraction!




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Moonshine!

The Decker family is amazingly special to me for more than 25yrs. My sisters and I would spend countless days and nights over there as kids. And we've stayed in touch all these years. They are those special friends who you go months without talking to and possibly years without seeing, but you can always pick up right where you left off. We've started trying to get together 1 or 2 times a year to go camping at a place called "Moonshine Creek." This past weekend was our most recent "Moonshine" weekend, we just didn't camp due to the number of people and babies this year. It was a BLESSING of a weekend! One of those kinds of weekends that make it hard to go back to reality. Triston, Jonathon and I went up Thurs morning, so we had a nice long visit. Triston got to play his heart out for 3.5 days! When everyone was there, he had 15 other people to play with! Below are a few pics from the weekend. I can't wait for our next Moonshine weekend!

Ready to get on the road!





I forgot jackets for our weekend in the mountains. But the girls had one Triston could use :-)


Naps!





Grandfather Mountain excursion


Fun playing in the pool!





Now that's what I call a bath tub!


We did our own little Sunday morning church service.


"No, mommy. I don't want to take a nap on the drive home."


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Rainy Day Activity

I was recently encouraged by a wonderful friend to blog more.  She explained how her blog (which is wonderful by the way) is a great way to record memories, thoughts, feelings, etc that she has with her family.  I couldn't agree more!  Hence, I am going to attempt to become a better blogger.  I have failed at any sort of "baby book" for Triston, but I do have several blogs over the past couple years that are wonderful memories.  Thanks Michelle Buckingham for encouraging me!  Now will you hold me accountable to writing?  :-)

So, yesterday was a rainy day here.  And, what do you do with an active toddler on a rainy day?  Well you meet your mother-in-law and sister-in-laws out at the local mall and have Chick-fila for lunch and then let the  toddler run!  Thank goodness for the aunts who can run easily with him!  note:  the local mall is very empty (as you'll see in the video).  The majority of the people who come to the mall are mall-walkers...and I'm being serious when I say that.  But, yes, we were "those parents" who let their child run in the mall.  I do believe some of the other patrons of Chick-fila were quite entertained though...especially with Triston's crooked run as he was trying to be an airplane.  The video stops when Triston's aunt was stopping him from following grandma into the public restrooms :-)  Enjoy the video!

Raisch 1st Annual Pumpkin Carving

(Very spontaneous move on my part...$1.99 pumpkins at Aldi today.  Devon played along wonderfully)

Lets get our toboggans on and go wash off the pumpkin (since mom bought a dirty one) and get the plastic tarp paper (since it's too cold to carve outside)

Waiting patiently on dad to find the carving tools from a few years ago (that's how long it's been since we've carved a pumpkin)

"Think dad will let me use that big knife to help?"  (And, yes, while waiting to get started, he saw Devon's hearing protection ear muffs and wanted to wear them)

I'll help scrape a little, but please don't make me put my hand all the way down in there

"You're doing a great job, dad."

And, skip to the finished product (sorry, no pictures of carving...after helping scrape, I went into the kitchen to get dinner going and left the boys to carving).  Fine job boys!  And, thank you Aldi for a cheap pumpkin and pumpkin carving kit (eyes included).

As I write this, the house is smelling yummy as the pumpkin seeds are roasting in the oven!

Peanut Butter

I do believe my son may have his mother's love for peanut butter...

Tonight I decided to make a peanut butter, banana, chocolate chip cake towards the end of little man finishing his dinner (hence the yogurt all over his face as well).  He played in his chair the whole time with the various cooking utensils I'd hand him.  Then...then I handed him the spatula with the last little bit of peanut butter and the empty peanut butter jar.  Wow, the deliciousness (and fun)!  We then of course had to go STRAIGHT to the bath :-)

birthday cake!

On Triston's actual birthday, Devon's mom, dad, and grandma came over and my twin sister and her family came over to celebrate and enjoy some dinner and dessert with us.  Below is a video of Triston enjoying his cake!  Sorry, it's a little long (3min).  This was his 2nd b'day cake, since we had his big b'day party a couple weeks ago when some of my family was in town.  He knew exactly what to do with his cake this time :-)

I can't believe a year has passed already.  What a true true blessing it has been!  

Triston David Raisch, it is a joy to be your mommy & daddy.

Exploring...

"Exploring" was a nice way of saying, "I'm going everywhere and getting into everything."

"I don't know how these spilled, but they sure are yummy."

box under the kitchen table...hours of fun

Every day pulling up on things easier and easier and better and better.  He's starting to push things in front of him to help him walk

"another chair to pull up on!"

"you guys still back there?"

"maybe I should go play with the recycling stuff mom and dad keep meaning to take outside"

"or maybe I should try and chew on this table leg"

Under our supervision, he's climbed up the 1st 2 steps by himself.  Can we say BABY GATE SOON!