Children Giving to Children Parade

Every year Austin has a Children Giving to Children's Parade. We went last year and decided to make it a family tradition. This year put us (a bit) to the test on tradition. It was cold and raining, although the rain pretty much let up by the time we got there.
We want Tyler to know how important it is to give to others and that there are many children that do not have what he has. The message is important but, the parade is fun so double win.
An exciting addition was Nanny and cousin Kennedy came up for the parade. We got there early anticipating the crowd of last year, but the weather seems to have kept some families away. Sad for the donations,but they did seem to get a HUGE amount of toys. As you can tell we were all dressed for weather and everyone was a trooper! We also got a great spot. Kennedy donated her gift and so did Tyler.
Tyler really enjoyed it! He clapped and danced and really liked seeing Santa. His newest thing is pointing to things and saying 'this?' wanting to know what things are. We would hear him giggling to himself about things I assume he liked.
It was a lot of fun!

Thanksgiving

We hosted our first Thanksgiving this year. Grandma, Grandpa, Alan, Sonja, and Unlce Billy were all here for it. And of course Piper - her parents were still at the hospital with Teagan.
Will fried a turkey if you have seen any of the 'bad' videos on YouTube you can imagine both our nervousness. I made stuffing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole and a desert. Grandma was nice enough to make the gravy (something I dare not attempt), mashed potatoes and two deserts!
The food was great Will did a fantastic job on the turkey and I didn't burn anything so we felt like a great success.
It was fun to watch Piper and Tyler play. They had a territorial tift over Grandma's high chair that she brought for Piper to sit in and they both wanted the popper. It was funny to watch them try to figure things out. I never got a good 'argument' on video but it was pretty funny. Overall they got along great and it was so fun to have her with us.
We tried to get in a small photo shoot with Piper and Tyler and their Christmas cookies. Although the pictures are cute they didn't turn out like the photos we had in our head... I think I have posted that before :)
Unfortunately we didn't take more pictures, but I love the first one. Tyler looks like he is looking at Piper as if she took his cookie.

Teagan

Our newest niece and Tyler's newest cousin Teagan Star was born November 23rd. She was 7 lbs 3 oz and 18 & 3/4 inches long. Mom (Tori) and baby are doing great. Tori and Christian are very excited about their new addition.
She has a full head or dark hair.
Oh, how Piper's life is about to change :)
Grateful for our new niece and cousin.

Halloween

Tyler was a gnome for Halloween (specifically the Travelocity gnome).He looked super cute and everyone loved his costume. He wore it to school and won (unofficially)staff favorite. His teachers loved it so much they took him to every room to show off.
We took him in the wagon to a few houses to trick or treat but mostly sat out front and handed out candy.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch at the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm. It's the same place we get our Christmas Tree from every year. It was a lot of fun with a lot for kids to do. Tyler pet a minature horse he wasn't really sure what to do but liked it in the end. We took a ton or pictures of him in the pumpkins and had a great time. We bought three pumkins and carved one of them for Halloween.

First Steps!!!

Tyler took his first steps - of course being bribed by the opportunity of a phone. I 'tricked' him into it and then he didn't walk again for almost a month. As of now (11/26 when I am posting this) he is a full time walker and almost running! He is past the 'Frankenstein' stage as someone called it and walking great. Man are they fast!!!! I am so very glad to have him not crawling - when a kid starts self feeding with their hands - its like taking your silverware and strapping it to your shoes and then giving it a slightly warm wash with soap before dinner.
You can tell my excitement by the gasp at the end but it was super exciting!!!!

Best Friend

Tyler has a best friend at daycare. His name is Alex, they were in the infant room together and now in the one year old. They are so happy to see each other they hug and smile. All of their teachers say it is not common for two kids this young to be such good friends to be so excited to see each other. Of course if you put two one years together for an ongoing period of time you are likely to encounter problems. Alex likes to put his hand in Tyler's mouth and Tyler figures if its there why not bite it? We have had several incident reports about this. I keep telling Tyler these will go on his permanent record, but doesn't seem to bother him.
We got invited to Alex's birthday at Gymboree. The first thing Tyler did... was run up hug Alex and then bit him...
Luckily we stopped it before it became an 'incident' and they both had a great time.




Tyler decided he liked cake at Alex's birthday. I didn't really expect him to go after it like he did, but all the parents got a good laugh.