MERRY CHRISTMAS!

For our family night, the three of us delivered some homemade gingerbread cookies (courtesy of Mindy) to 10 families in our neighborhood, along with some Christmas carols (though admittedly off-key)! Ike was in heaven and as you can see looked cute as a button. Our wonderful neighbors across the street took this picture of us and the next day delivered a beautifully framed 8 x 10 to us (one of his hobbies is custom framing). It was such a delightful gesture. We might have used this for our Christmas card had went dragged ourselves out of the house a little sooner to do our caroling!

Mini Me

Well, our little santa (Ike) got to sit on the big Santa's lap this last Friday night. What a photo opportunity! It's too bad our Christmas cards have already been printed up!

HO! HO! HO!

We wish you a merry one!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

So, the day after Thanksgiving, Ike & I drove down to see the Hancocks (my baby sister and her family), who live about 25 miles southeast of us. We managed to muster up a little bit of Christmas cheer, despite the fact that it is still November. At least it has FINALLY cooled off a bit here in Tucson, so it feels more festive.

In addition to Ike (aka "SANTA BABY"), those featured in the photo are my nieces Kiersten (7) and Stephanie (2), my baby sister Cherece (who is 6 months pregnant) and my nephew Brayden (5).

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

In the spirit of the day, here is a photo of our "little turkey" who has been caught red-handed eating the plant in our entryway. We've had to rearrange a bunch of stuff since he became mobile. Moving all things imaginable OUT of his reach is not as easy as you might think. Ike is amazingly adept at his version of the army crawl (perhaps it is because he is named after General Eisenhower, eh?)

His favorite destination lately (since we moved this plant) is toward any one of the many metal doorstops about the house! Ahhh....simple pleasures.... Seriously, when is the last time YOU gnawed on a doorstop? Maybe you should treat yourself today! HA!

In all seriousness, we thank you all for being a part of our life. Happy Thanksgiving to all you turkeys out there!!!!

Hallmark Special

Ike got a hand-me-down costume this year from his cousin Stephanie. It is a peapod. So, that was in the works BEFORE I went Halloween card shopping at Target. You would NOT believe my find!

I uncovered a card which featured a little boy in a peapod costume on the front of the card, of all things! The front of the card read, "BILLY HAD THE UNIQUE DISTINCTION OF HAVING PEAS ON HIS COSTUME AND PEE IN HIS COSTUME" and then you open the card and it reads, "HAP-PEE HALLOWEEN!" This has kept me laughing for days now. Ah...the simple pleasures of life!

Enjoy this snapshot of our sweet pea/pee :-) HA. We're gearing up for the night's festivities, though I'm sure Ike will last only about 15 minutes if we're lucky.

Halloween Spriit

Ike was definitely getting into the Halloween spirit! Or, at least his parents were.

Feed Me!

Mindy, Todd & Ike made a trek out to Manhattan, Kansas for a visit with Mindy's parents and decided to try feeding Ike real food for the first time (if you classify rice cereal as real food). He did great! He particularly liked sucking on the spoon. He really attacked it everytime it got close to his mouth. At least we were smart enough to strip him to his diaper beforehand. What a mess!

Gerber Baby?

We had Ike's first "professional" pictures taken. We couldn't have been happier with how they turned out. Enjoy Todd's favorite above.

New Vehicle Purchase

We bit the bullet recently and purchased a 2008 Toyota Prius. We sold Mindy's car, a 2001 Volkswagen Jetta, to our friend Bert. We are excited about the new ride and enjoying learning about hybrids. It is fun getting over 50 miles to the gallon!

Sleeping Beauty

Last night we went to the first home game for the UofA Wildcats. It was our first time leaving Ike with a bonafide babysitter. I mean, we have left him before, but only with family members. This was 5 hours of "stranger-danger" for our little guy.

Clearly he had a rough time without us.

This photo captures him exactly as we found him upon our return...in acute distress...troubled that his mommy & daddy could have left him behind....HA! Not even...

And mommy was so worried!

Perhaps we should get out of the house more often?

Incidentally, this is exactly how Ike likes to sleep in his crib...sandwiched into the corner. Usually he has his little tag-blanket that his Aunt Marnae made him draped up over his face, too. I kindly removed that item prior to snapping the picture so you could make out something other than a mound of bedding.

Missing the midwest

I am missing "fall" in all her splendor. There are some perks to desert dwelling (such as not having to bundle your kids up in winter or shovel the drive). BUT...this ol' midwestern chick misses good old-fashioned seasons (among other things). So, on these "homesick for the midwest" kind of days....we sport our K-State gear and let the imagination run wild.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

OK, so it is the beginning of September, and no doubt you are shocked at the holiday greeting in the title of this post. Nonetheless, I felt like is WAS indeed Christmas today.

After work I went to Sam's Club to return a book (called "IKE An American Hero" by Michael Korda). It turns out that Todd had already purchased this on Amazon.com.

So, I'm just wandering around the store tempting myself to spend oodles of hard-earned cash when I run into this guy in produce who has a whole cart full of stuff.

"Can I interest you in something from the deli?" he inquires. I can see now that he has plastic containers of ready-made food. I hesitate for just a moment when he quickly adds, "These items are nearing expiration. They're all still good, but we're opting to gift them out to customers tonight before they have a chance to go bad."

"Ummmm, you're GIFTING them?" I manage to utter, as I'm sure I've just misheard him.

"Yes mam, they're free of charge to anyone with a valid Sam's Club Card. But, there's a 'one item per customer' policy."

So, at his bidding, I helped myself to a pre-made "Chicken Enchilada" casserole. It is the sweetest thing....now I don't have to cook dinner tomorrow! Even now I can scarcely believe my good fortune. The item's tag read $10.93. When is the last time YOU got a $10.93 gift from a perfect stranger? Ahhhh, the simple pleasures in my life.....you've gotta love 'em.

A Silver Medal for 2nd Place

Our son Ike has a SECOND tooth peeking up above the gum line.

This is a good and a bad thing. It is good because....well....don't you appreciate YOUR teeth??!? And hey, aren't mom & dad so happy that he is developing normally? You bet!

Now for the other side of the coin: Ahhhh...teething.....well, to put it bluntly, the boy has taken "crankiness" to a whole new level these past 48 hours. Can you tell he has the "I've been crying" eyes in the photo? Honestly, I was a little relieved to go in to work today, and that is a first. I'm working just two days a week--Tuesdays and Thursdays--and I love that schedule as it is just enough to keep me current in my field but yet I still get to log the majority of my time with the little man. But, after yesterday (it was a loooooooong day, if you know what I mean) I thought to myself..."maybe I'll work three days a week." HA! (It was a fleeting thought.)

Once again, I tried to capture the new tooth on film. This is the best I could do. Three cheers for the pearly whites!

UofA vs. BYU

Here is Ike in his second outfit of the day. Good thing daddy saw to it that Ike has some depth & breadth to his Arizona gear collection (like father like son)!

Otherwise, I would have had to do laundry so Ike would look his part for the big game. It is daddy's alma mater (UofA) vs. mommy's alma mater (BYU) today. However, mom's loyalty lies with her hometown Kansas State Wildcats, so rooting for the Arizona Wildcats (instead of the BYU Cougars) seems natural (since at least they are 'Wildcats', too!)

Our house is only divided if the Arizona Wildcats were to play the Kansas State Wildcats. That being the case, let it be known that both mother & child would be sporting PURPLE, much to daddy's chagrin.

UofA vs BYU season opener

Ike's daddy is at this game today. Even though Ike & I are not there live, we're equally as spirited. Check out Ike in his Arizona Wildcat attire. I'm sad to report that this outfit got soiled within a half hour of putting it on....but we rallied with a second outfit (see next posting!)

Fungus Among Us

We have a whole family of mushrooms that has sprung up in the yard. I went out this morning with some trash and the sun was barely up and I was still half asleep apparently as my first thought was "what are all those golf balls doing in the yard"? Of course, it did register after a brief half a second that they couldn't be golf balls as they were all different sizes. I don't think I'll be saute-ing them up for dinner tonight, as I have no idea what KIND of mushrooms they are and for all I know....they're poisonous. You wouldn't want to see us on the news....dinner turns fatal for East Tucson family of three....

Where there's a will, there's a way!

OK, so picture this: it was Wednesday, August 29, and I was over at the home of one of my neighbors.

Well, Ike started to get a little fussy and yet he wouldn't take his "foo" (this is how we refer to his pacifier, short for 'fooler'). So, what did mom do? Mom offered the ultimate of little infant chew toys...the ever-handy adult index finger. Ike took instantly to the 'change-up' and gnawed delightfully on yours truly, suddenly happy as a clam.

Well, it takes me a moment to realize something is up (quite literally). I'm feeling a sharp edge of something hit my skin repeatedly, and yet my skin is attached to my finger and my finger has been swallowed whole by the little guy. There can only be one explanation: Ike has his FIRST TOOTH!

So, investigate I promptly did and confirmed my suspicions!

It has taken me a few days, but I finally have the photographic proof. Check it out. You have to look carefully, but you CAN detect a hint of white peeking up along his bottom gumline in the middle. I won't bore you by going on & on regarding the total number of digital photos I had to take to get this shot. What can I say? A mother's love runs deep!

GQ

We got several comments on Sunday about our son's "good looks". Where did he come by them, you may ask? It is a marvel, to be sure! He is quite the little trend setter, too. After sporting suspenders to church, all the little tykes his age are clamoring for a pair.

Ike just had his 4 month check-up and is doing great! He measured in at 25 1/4 inches long (50-75th percentile) and his weight is 15 pounds 3 ounces (25-50th percentile). The interesting measurement is his head circumference - 44 ¾ centimeters, which puts him over the 95th percentile. We sure love our little melon head. He is continually becoming more expressive, especially giggling and laughing. He has rolled over a number of times, but not regularly and certainly not on demand.