Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas filled with family, fun, and lots of presents. You could even describe it as Christams Chaos! What do you expect with a one year old!


Christmas Eve was at Grandma and Granddaddy's house with 2 one year olds and a 3 1/2 month old. Talk about a lot of presents.

Can you see some of the chaos.
















Playing my new drum with Daddy.





















Is this box a present, too?
















I can't believe all the stuff Santa brought me.





















For Christmas dinner we went to Gma and Grandpa's house where I got to spend more time with my Uncle Zach. He was on leave for 2 weeks!
















The exhaustion has set in.





















Oh, wait! I love horsies!

















Ride 'em!

Santa and Snow

I did not like Santa at all. I know he's supposed to bring me presents if I'm good, but why oh why do I have to sit in his lap?
















Something much more tolerable was playing in the snow. It was actually snowing while we were outside. I didn't notice, but Mommy said that is how snow is in Dallas. It sure was pretty and lots of fun as it got my mittens all wet!

Thankful Thanksgiving

We had a blast on Thanksgiving. We ate great turkey and food at Grandma and Granddaddy's house and continued the fun the next day with hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill at Gma and Grandpa's house. We have so much to be thankful for, our list could go on forever. Look how purely happy Kyle is in this picture. Things like this make all our worries melt away. And as it should - we really don't have true things to worry about.

We are thankful for:
- our jobs - we both have jobs that are "stable" even in this down economy.
- our health - we are all 3 healthy and hopefully with continue to be.
- our families - both our families are close and have provided us with so much love and support.
- Kyle - he has brought us so much joy and laughter - the best medicine for anything.
- being so thankful - as I said, our list could go on forever, that makes us the most thankful.

Happy Halloween!

Roundin' up my cattle.






















Posing with pumpkins at class.





















Getting off my horsie after a long day's work.





















Decorating my pumpkin was almost as much fun as decorating the white floor and cabinets!





















Trick or Treat!

No Longer a Baby

Does this picture say it or what? My little baby is not a baby anymore.





















This is such an exciting time to watch Kyle grow more and more independent as he becomes a toddler, but at the same time he's just growing up too fast! At times I just want him to slow down, so I can savor every last minute of the hugs and kisses he gives. He is a joy to watch grow and always surprises us with new games he invents and new faces to enjoy and laugh with. Our life is so wonderful, and who can complain about anything when they have the most perfect boy in their world.

Some things he's doing at the age of 1.
- Walking everywhere and sometimes running (to catch the cats).
- Loves to play peek-a-boo, chase, and hide-and-seek.
- Has said: Mama, Dada, blah (block), boooh (book), dut (duck), raba (rabbit), raffe (giraffe). However, he says none of these all the time, usually he will only say one if he thinks no one is paying attention.
- This may be because he seems to have no reason to talk, he is a very good non-verbal communicator. He points at everything, and I mean everything to get what he wants.
- He also seems to understand almost everything I say. Now whether he goes along with what I say is another story.
- He now has his "posse". Every morning when I go to get him up, He stands up, points to Teddy, I pick him up, points to Giraffe, I pick him up, points to Cow, I pick him up, then he points to his Blankie, I pick it up, then I'm allowed to pick Kyle up. Then he stretches his arms wide and then grabs and hugs tight his "posse". Same thing after each nap. I'll try to get a picture for a future post.
Enjoy these pics:

Mommy, I'm naked! Don't take a picture!
















I love cruisin' in my car!
















What?





















Mommy, I want a book.





















I've got the remote. :)






















Where did that squirrel go?





















My two favorite people!
















Playing soccer with Daddy.
















Smiling for the camera.





















I'll take this one.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yea!!! I'm one!

Open wide!





















Picking up my favorite present from Mommy and Daddy. I still haven't let it out of my sight.
















Opening my presents.

Trying on my army hat. I got lots of great presents at my party.

Getting ready to blow out my candles...sorry, no messy picture of me eating cake. I was actually pretty neat about it. But boy, was it yummy!

Gitmo, Jungle Gym, and Blocks

A couple weeks ago, Mommy went to visit Uncle Zach at Guantanamo Bay. Don't worry, he's not a prisoner, he's just stationed there with the Navy. She had a great time, but got stuck on the island for a couple extra days due to the Hurricane. Mommy was so upset because she missed me so much. I missed Mommy too, but I had great boy time with Daddy. We were roughhousing it up! But when Mommy got back we both got sick for 2 weeks - not fun. :( Now, we are better and I am playing all the time. I got a "jungle gym" from Grandma as a quasi birthday present, and it is awesome! Also, my favorite toy is now blocks and my favorite activity is now stacking them. Mommy says its quite a feat! Enjoy my pics...

Uncle Zach driving Mommy around is his uniform.





















Showing off my new jungle gym.

















Am I up to something?

Concentrating hard to make my tower. My record is 8 blocks!

Just having fun!

11 Months and New Cousin!

Yea! I'm now 11 months old and Mommy tells me next month is a big deal and I'll get something called cake. I can't wait to see what that is like. Here are some of the antics I'm up to at 11 months.


- I take everything out of cabinets. It's also fun to put them back in, but I make sure to always leave everything out. :)
- I am now definitely a walker. About 2 weeks ago, I really started walking. I crawl after I fall down, but I always at least take off walking.
- In addition to taking things out of cabinets, I also take everything in/out of everything else. Everything including diaper bags, mommy's purse and wallet, drawers, you name it I do it.
- The day before my 11 month birthday, we welcomed my new cousin into the world! I pretty much ignored him, but once he's old enough to play then I'll make sure to pay attention. What fun all 3 of us boy cousins will have!

Here I am taking all the plates out of the cabinet.

Loving on Daddy.














Playing in my kiddie pool consisted of me putting all the toys outside the pool, then Mommy putting them back in. Then me putting them outside....





















Quick pause for some rubber duckie. Yum-Yum!
















Last but not least... my new cousin.
Dylan Andrew Macktinger
8lbs 6 oz, 21 in.

My Little Star!

A few months ago I had the opportunity to sign Kyle up for baby modeling. I was a little skeptical at first because all I could think of was the "stage mom" forcing her kid to do things they hated. After a lot of thought, I ended up deciding to try it and see what happens. If he ends up hating it then we quit. I was not expecting much at all, in fact I wasn't even sure they would call him to shoot (even though I personally think he's the cutest baby in the world :) ). Well, I have been surprised in how well Kyle has done cooperating with the whole process. Kyle even seems to have a little star power in him!

Here's his first ad...in the newspaper 2 Fridays ago. He sure stole this shot.

He's even on JCPenney's website. Under Baby then More Brands.

10 Months!

Kyle once again is growing so fast and changing so much every day. He is such a character and brings us more happiness than we could imagine. Here are some things to remember at 10 months:

- He gives the best kisses ever. Wide opened-mouth and slobbery. Who ever thought baby drool could be so sweet. :)
- He also has learned to take (rip) off his bib. Just sometimes we have to remind him to wait till AFTER he's done eating.
- He is obsessed with the kitchen trash can. He loves to lift the lid and take out whatever trash he can reach. This has definitely been a continual battle. I think Mommy is starting to win...
- The most exciting (to Mommy anyways) is Kyle took his first steps about 2 weeks ago! He's growing up way too fast, but what a fun and amazing time.

Does anybody want a hug?





















What a good looking baby, he should get a kiss.





















Aren't I so sweet?





















I'm not exactly sure what the Olympics are, but I'm rooting for the USA.





















Pausing to smile for the camera.