Family Party

We went to my parents' house today for our annual get together with my Dad's side of the family. The party started at noon which is Bryce's nap time. We got there and just planned to leave when he was ready to crash. Luckily all the food and people kept him going until 2pm. Thanks Mother and Daddy for a great day!

Happy Hanukkah!

I had a work trip on Wednesday so we were able to spend the 1st night of Hanukkah at my parents' house. Barbara and Arnold were nice enough to come over and say the prayers and bring latkes. Bryce liked the latkes but he really liked the applesauce. I think he ended up eating the whole bowl instead of sharing it with the table. Oh well....

On a side note, we tried something new while we were there. Bryce hates sleeping in a pack n play so I bought a bed rail and we tested it out on the trundle bed. I know everyone says to wait to take a kid out of a crib until you have to but I've always thought that the earlier you move them, the less likely they are to figure out that they can get out. My logic held true and Bryce slept great all night. He's still going to be in a crib at home for a little while longer but this was a great way to get him to sleep away from home.

Tool Time!

Bryce has been fully entrenched in his second Hanukkah. Wait...can that be right? Hanukkah doesn't start for another week? Well...thanks to the unpredictability in internet shipping, the eight nights of Hanukkah kind of start when the first gift arrives and end when they stop coming. All told it's probably more like the 17 1/2 nights of Hanukkah, but it would be really hard to make a menorah that big. I guess in theory we could stock the presents until the right time, but when a 16 month old sees a carboard box...LOOK OUT.

Anyway...tonight, Bryce got a tool bench from Nana. He played with it for a solid 30 minutes until it was bed time. I was able to capture him putting his tools away, but he was hammering and working on the gears long before I got the brilliant idea to film some of this.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Thanksgiving week in our family starts Wednesday night...although now that Bryce eats his dinner at 5 and goes to bed by 7, Wednesday night turned in to Wednesday late afternoon. Our whole crew gathered at Mimi and Papa's lake house (you may remember this as Paige's living quarters while we were between houses). Wednesday dinner is Chili, Queso, Guacamole, Tamales, and Bunuelos (a mexican pastry which we think is a fried tortilla with cinnamon and sugar...sound good?...it is). Bryce got to play with our cousin Pam's youngest son Cooper. Cooper was a big hit with Bryce...somehow we think Bryce knew that Cooper was his age (ish...Cooper's 8...I guess that's closer to Bryce's age than we are)...Bryce kept crawling over to him and trying to hug him...very cute...sorry no pictures...you'll just have to imagine.

Thanksgiving day started off at our house. The beauty of our new house is that it's close enough to the lake that we can drive there and back pretty easily. So this year...we get our own beds. As you can see, Byce got to play in our bed before thinking maybe a mid-morning nap might be a good idea.

Once we got out to the lake, Bryce got right to work cooking...right after he fixed his car

While Bryce worked hard in the kitchen, the rest of us had time to pose for pictures...clearly we weren't much help

Finally...time to eat...Turkey, stuffing, cranberries, green bean casserole, jello mold (Peggy can explain since I don't eat it...but Bryce loved the stuff), & sweet potatoes...delicious. I carved the turkey because Papa was busy doing quadricept stretches (I'm not making this up...that's what he said). I did such a good job...I'm now the official turkey carver (that means I get to keep the good pieces for me).

After lunch...Bryce enjoyed some quiet time by the fire while the rest of us napped. After that some dessert and then back home. Tomorrow we'll have everyone over to watch the Texas game...Hook 'Em Horns!!!!

Sandbox

My grandfather gave Bryce a sandbox over the summer. We were slow to set it up because we were working on the yard, didn't think Bryce was ready, too lazy...Anyway, about a month ago I decided to Bryce's shoveling skills were coming along and he was ready. I take the thing out of the box, line up the parts and discover that there is no hardware in the box. After multiple phone calls to the company I received a few random screws that really didn't seem to go with the instructions. I sweetly asked my crafty husband to see what he could do. With a quick trip to Home Depot, Russell had put the whole thing together. Bryce loves it!!!

Austin Zoo

We went to check out the Austin zoo with the Taylors today. The zoo is a non-profit rescue zoo, very different from the zoos we are used to. I went once in college and remember seeing some dogs and chickens. Not very exciting...Well, the chickens are still there but they have a lot of animals now. We saw everything from peacocks to lions and tigers. The kids had fun watching my mom who made animals sounds at all the animals. Bryce who has not been napping well lately was so worn out from this event that he slept for 2 hours today. It was a miracle.Bryce is looking at the giant turtles here.

Below is a bad picture of the tigers but at least you get the idea.

Children's Museum

Bryce and I went to the Austin Children's Mueseum today. We went with our neighbor Kelly and her son Tristan. The museum is only open on Mondays to kids under 3 so we thought it would be a good time to check it out. I can't believe how many people were there. Bryce was fairly overwhelmed but enjoyed the exhibits that had water. No big surprise there!

Happy Halloween

Baseball may have ended for the season but support for the Yankees is still going strong at our house. Bryce had an all dressed up and nowhere to go kind of Halloween. I put his costume on in the afternoon and we waited for our trick or treaters. No one came by before he went to bed. It's 8pm now and we've only had one group come by. So disappointing!

Pumpkin Carving Party

We had friends over on Sunday to carve pumpkins. I had no idea that we had such talented friends. The pumpkins were so good!

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Get your own

Visit from Nana and Grandpa Bob

Russell's mom and stepdad came to visit this week. We went out to dinner on Friday night. Can you tell that Bryce enjoyed his meal?

The big event (of which we have no pictures of) was Bob attending his first UT football game. He was nice enough to take Russell and my parents. From what I heard, he loved the expereince!

Pumkin Picking

We met some friends today to take pictures in a pumpkin patch. You feel less silly taking pictures when you have a bunch of friends with you. We all took a million pictures, all with the hope that your own child would smile at least once into your camera. It was pretty entertaining...

Visit with Mimi and Papa

My grandparents were at their lake house last week so Bryce and I went to visit. Bryce loved lunch, lasagne is always a good choice. Then he and Papa enjoyed some animal crackers for dessert. I barely got him buckled into the car seat to head home when he conked out. It's exhausting entertaining great grandparents are !

Farmers Market

We went to the farmers market by our house this morning. It's held every week but this week's focus was herbs. I bought a few plants for the garden and we sampled a lot of good food. Bryce like always ate everything. Why no picture of this fun event? I forgot to take pictures. You'll have to make do with this one in the backyard. The weather is a little more pleasant these days so we're playing a lot back there.

San Antonio Zoo

While Russell and my dad played in a golf tournament, my mother and I took Bryce to the zoo. This was something that I loved doing when I was little and was excited to take Bryce. He had such a good time. Monkeys were the best but petting the goats came in a close second.

After you pet the goats...you need to wash your hands. Luckily...there was a Bryce sized sink available. He loved to wash his hands, but didn't think the goats were much dirtier than Josie.

After we wandered around we had a picnic by the train. He loved watching the train pull in and out of the station. We ran out of time to ride it this trip so we'll be back soon.

We went to cheer on our golfers on Sunday. Bryce brought snacks to keep him busy since watching golf isn't the most exciting thing. We showed up to watch holes 9 & 10 and helped Dad pick out a nice pair of shoes that he won for making the longest putt on hole 17.

Baby Naming

We went to San Antonio today for my college roommate Jen's second child's baby naming ceremony. It was fun to see some college friends that I haven't seen in a while. We all have kids now, how things have changed in just a few years!

Jen with her first child, Bailey.

Marc, Mark (Jen's husband holding Maegan) and David

Jill holding her little boy, Jake. Jake liked Bryce a lot. After the ceremony he kept bringing Bryce M&Ms to eat. So funny!

Art

Our good friends from college, Leah & Seth Abrams, and their daughter Dylan came to visit this weekend. It was fun to catch up and watch the kids play. Dylan loved the toys at our house, Bryce was less than thrilled to have company. We're going to have to work on his social skills.

The Abrams brought Bryce a wonderful gift, all sorts of art stuff. Bryce is actually able to scribble so I was very excited. We played with everything today.

New York Newmans

Russell's dad and stepmother came to visit. AS you can see by this picture, Bryce was pretty excited about the visit. The guys had a good time playing golf and Barbara and I spent the weekend rearranging furniture. This is what I do with guests these days so think carefully before you decide to come over.

To Grandmother's house we go...

Bryce and I took a road trip and went to visit Dede in Corpus. Bryce was so good in the car and enjoyed listening to my audiobook. Wonder why he slept so well...

We had a great time at Dede's. Marty was also visiting and Bryce was so excited to see him.

Marty was celebrating his first birthday so we were invited to Susan and Bill's to help eat the cake.

Bryce neatly ate his piece from my fork, Marty got a little more involved in the process. A hose was needed after he finished :)