Using a Spoon

Trip has been experimenting with feeding himself with a utensil for a couple of months now. For a while, we weren't doing it very consistently, but he's now at the point where we're giving him a spoon or fork much more often. He tends to make a huge mess, but is improving his ability to actually get the food in his mouth. He's getting pretty good at using a spoon to eat yogurt and tries to pick up other things as well. He loves to play with spatulas and has tried to pick up his food with them a time or two. That's pretty funny to watch.

Digging in

Taking a bite

Happy, proud, and a huge mess!

Yesterday he was being quite talkative while he fed himself some yogurt. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving

We enjoyed a great Thanksgiving Day in Missouri, but didn't get many pictures! We spent much of the day cooking and preparing for our feast. Kirk brined the turkey and then baked it in a bag. Tammi and I made rolls, mashed potatoes, a cheese ball, and a relish tray. Erin and Nana made stuffing/dressing, sweet potatoes, fresh cranberry relish, gravy, pumpkin pie, cobbler, and date bars. Needless to say, there was plenty of delicious food for us to enjoy.

I put the bread dough in the microwave to keep it out of the way while it rose, and found it like this when I came back to it a couple of hours later. Oops!


We got freezing rain in the morning, making the trees icy and absolutely beautiful.

The boys had stadium seating for Baby Einstein while we worked on the meal.

Tammi and I made some flower arrangements to decorate the table. Unfortunately we were so busy enjoying our feast that we didn't think to take a picture of all of us around the table.

The day ended with a stunning sunset, which was not done justice by this photo.

After dinner, Tammi and I poured over the huge stack of ads and decided where to shop the next morning. We left at 3:15am, met up with a couple of friends, and headed to Springfield where we shopped at Target, Old Navy, and Bass Pro Shops (with a stop at Panera for coffee and bagels mixed in there for good measure).

Who's That Boy in the Mirror?

Trip loves to look at and talk to himself in the mirror. We have a full-length mirror leaning against the wall in our bedroom that he likes to visit and he has discovered the mirror in Uncle Gary and Aunt Tammi's bathroom this week. This evening I was finally able to get some good pictures of his mirror antics.

This is a face that he started making a couple of weeks ago and he has been doing it constantly when he is surprised, interested, full of wonder, being silly, or just being cute.

Some deep introspection or a pep talk. "Come on Trip, you can do it! Win this one for the boys!"

I love the wave!

Halloween Fun

Since I'm just now posting about Halloween after Thanksgiving, I obviously have some catching up to do, but I figure that it's better late than never.

On Halloween, Kirk and some friends played this song at church. It's definitely a favorite of ours.

Kelly and I made these milk jug pumpkins to adorn our porch during the month of October.

We had an evening of fun at church, including carnival games, snacks, and candy. Kelly and I had lots of fun decorating these cupcakes for the cupcake walk.



I didn't get any great pictures of Trip in his monkey costume, but you get the idea.

Eating Olives

Trip LOVES to eat olives. One day Kirk put olives on Trip's fingers and he has wanted to eat them that way ever since. As soon as he sees some, he will stick out his finger and protest loudly if he doesn't get one (which is what he was doing at the beginning of the video). He also has his own version of the sign language please and uses it frantically when he wants something.

Important Phone Call

We discovered this morning that Trip knows just what to do with a phone, complete with pacing and everything. Hum, I wonder where he learned that? Enjoy!

Guest post by Noni

Hi! I'm Aimee's mom and Trip's Noni, and I get to be a guest blogger! Aimee's dad and Trip's grandpa has been hunting in the area this week, and we've been enjoying the time to interact with Trip (and his family, of course!) One of the things I've done the last couple times we've come visit is to give Trip a haircut, just a bit at a time. We want to keep it looking natural AND he doesn't have much patience for it, either! We decided to try during his bath this time, with mixed success. Aimee found a second comb for him to hold...

...and he eventually ended up with both of them!

All was well by the end, and he was happy to snuggle into his hooded towel!

Trip loves playing outside, as any regular reader of this blog knows!

He has been enjoying the leaves and how they crunch under his feet.

I discovered that Trip loves to help sweep leaves from the driveway, so we've been working a little bit every day on the project!

We eventually ended up in the yard, still with the broom!

As always, we need to read books, and Trip's job is to turn the pages!

What a joy Trip is to all of us!

Leaves!

With five huge trees on our property, we have no shortage of leaves on the ground right now. Yesterday a couple of Trip's friends were over and we raked up a pile of leaves for the boys to enjoy...

Trip was also showing off his walking skills. He's not walking all the time yet, but is definitely choosing walking over crawling most of the time.

Movin' to the Music

Both Beth and Tammi have posted several cute videos of their boys as of late, which has inspired me to pull the videos of Trip off of my phone and share them with you.

Trip got this tractor for his birthday. He has figured out how to push the button and make it play music and make sounds, and loves to do it over and over again. Each time he hears the music, he starts to dance.

Trip absolutely LOVES being outside. One of his favorite things to do while out there is to ride or push his truck.

Sunset Walk

This summer, I have tried to be good about getting out for a walk several times a week. Trip loves to ride in his stroller and we have enjoyed exploring different routes around town. The other evening, we were out for a spectacular sunset, which always makes a walk more exciting. I was rushing to each next place to get pictures when the sun was just right. I love watching the colors of the sky change and get more intense, only to disappear moments later.

This silo is one of my favorite things in town. It's falling apart but looks so cool when the sun hits it at different times of day.

Cuteness

I have misplaced the cord to the camera and have been unable to transfer photos, thus limiting my blogging lately. I have however, caught some cute things on my phone, so I can share those.

Here are Trip and Kelly looking cute at the middle school football game last week. Trip wasn't too sure about wearing a hat.

Trip has taken to sitting in his toy basket. He likes to get in there and read books, which we all love.

This time he was watching Sports Center with Uncle Erik too.

Grandmama's Fried Chicken

Kirk credits much of his love of cooking to his Gramdmama and Great Grandmama and has countless wonderful memories of times spent in their kitchens and at their tables. Each time Grandmama comes to visit, she makes one of Kirk's favorites, her famous fried chicken. On Friday, she spent hours cooking for us. The result was about 45 pieces of perfectly fried chicken. I have helped her make it several times now and know the recipe/method, but I don't think it would be the same if I made it myself!

The fam ready to eat! This was the first time that Erik, Kelly, and Jaime had feasted on Grandmama's cooking. Jaime said that she has now ruined chicken for him because nothing else will compare to hers. :)

At first, Trip wasn't quite sure what to do with his chicken leg,

but it didn't take him long to figure it out!

He is now a big fan, just like his daddy and the rest of the family.

Here he is complimenting Great Gram on her cooking. (Notice that Jale is eagerly waiting for anything that he might drop!)

Of course the benefit of making such a great feast is that there were plenty of leftovers, although they didn't last more than 24 hours!

Playing with the Grams

Gram and Great Gram have been here this week. We picked them up at the airport in Reno on Monday. After spending the night at a hotel and doing some shopping, we headed home. Trip has loved having all the extra attention and has had lots of fun with them.

Reading books with Gram

Reading to Great Gram

Daddy got Trip this tent and tunnel in Reno. He has had a blast crawling in the tent and through the tunnel.

He even got Great Gram to join him!

Trip has been showing Gram how he uses tools. He was scooting around outside in his walker and "working" on the Suburban, the greenhouse, and anything else he could find.

This afternoon, Gram painted a scarecrow face on the pumpkin we got for Trip the last time we were in Klamath Falls. It turned out super cute and he keeps smiling at it.


And trying to eat it too, apparently.


Sweet moment


Trip had a good time entertaining his grams while he took a bath.


Cuddling with Great Gram before bed time,


and making us all laugh!