Halloween and Bella's Birthday!

Well, we'll work our way back. Bella was fortunate enough to have 3 separate 1st birthday parties this year. The first one was in Dallas with her cousin Quinny (see pictures at Hil's blog: teamfuller2008@blogspot.com)

The second one was combined with Fred's family Thanksgiving in Maywood on Thanksgiving Day.

The third one was the Sunday after Thanksgiving at our place. Everything was wonderful, the kids had a great time and Bella had a great cake! We had a blast making this one. Fred was kind enough to bake the cakes for me the Friday before. One banana cake, and one chocolate cake. I made the frosting and frosted it on Saturday, and Saturday evening Mom and I decorated it! She did the vines and leaves along with the piping, and I did the monkeys and presents. We got together to form all of the bananas and bunches right at the end. It was beautiful! See for yourself...

Here's the birthday girl herself, she didn't get her personal cake for this party, she had been caked out! But a piece of banana cake with cream cheese frosting went over just fine. She loves the attention and we had a great party. Fred smoked some pork and we had bbq pork sandwiches, they were wonderful. I still maintain that smoker was the best present he's ever got. (excluding me of course) :)

Here are a few pictures from Halloween I never got up. Fred and Wyatt carved a pumpkin, Wyatt was not thrilled with the texture of the insides, so tiger dug them out instead!

Here's the one and only shot of Wyatt in the full outfit...he wasn't a big fan of the headpiece, but loved growling at everyone!

...and last but not least my little cheerleader practicing her moves. This is all the kids at daycare trick or treating, it is quite the feat and they are sent home with oodles of candy!

Now for Christmas...

Yes, I know the tree is lopsided, but its artificial and I don't know how to fix it.
Wyatt is my big helper this year!
I though this was precious...

Infamous St. Louis and a not so successful photo shoot...

Well, we did it. We loaded up and headed to St. Louis for 4 days. I've hesitated writing about this because I was hoping with time, the pain and anguish of the trip would subside...not the case

There were a few good points so lets start with those. We did a LOT! We went to Grant's farm, an outdoor zoo type attraction with Carousels (kids were in heaven) and lots of animals. Admission was free and the only prices were souvenirs and an $11 parking fee. Not so bad if you ask me!

Wyatt got to feed the goats, he was in for a surprise! Luckily Daddy was there to pick him up and keep him from getting mauled! (although the goats kept trying to eat Fred's shirt...p.s. hysterical!)Lots of free labor at this zoo, we got to feed the camels as well! This was pretty funny, their tongues can get a little out of control!

Grants farm is also home to the famous Anheiser Busch Cleidsdailes. We love our horses!

We also went to six flags, they had an entire section just for little ones, he even rode rides solo. (this scared the begeezus out of me by the way)

Mommy would love to ride with you... "Oh crap, this is like teacups isn't it? I'm gonna vomit" What we do for our children.

This was all for the firefighter combat challenge. It definitely had its high points, we went swimming, went to the St. Louis Zoo (free adm by the way), were always on the go...however the reason this was necessary was that every time we entered the hotel room, the kids cried uncontrollably....oh brother, they hate being couped up. Bella refused to take naps (much more difficult when there is no way to separate everyone at nap time) and Wyatt was really naughty whenever we went to dinner. Also, everytime he woke up from nap, he cried hysterically, not sure if he was scared because he was somewhere unfamiliar, it just got to be a little exhausting for everyone.

The good news is we survived and now we're home.

The unsuccessful photo session:

I had this great idea, beautiful breast cancer awareness scarf and she was not having it!

Some turned out alright, but so serious!

I suppose it doesn't help she has ear infections again and we have to go see an ENT about tubes!

She had her 9 month appt. last week (on her 10 month bday...oops) 95% for height, wt, and head. We don't grow small children apparently. (24lbs!)

She's still precious.

p.s. she's teething and Wyatt peed all over my bathroom floor (missed the toilet even though he's sitting on it!) right before naptime.

.....Livin the dream

Maywood and the Zoo

Maybe not all in the right order, but nonetheless.

We made a trip out to Maywood so Fred could help the volunteer fire department with some training. Wyatt got to see horses, cows, and even mow the lawn with Grandpa. He got to drive all by himself (until grandpa got sick of going in circles!)

A little playing with daddy on the trampoline...Wyatt loved to "jump."
The whole time he ran around daddy yelling, "super fast." We later found out this was a quote from Dora the Explorer we didn't know he had learned.

Wyatt and Bushie got to pet the baby calves at Kelsey's friends house. Kelsey's friend also had horses, Wyatt was just besides himself to see them up close and personal!

...And a little playing in the park.

Grand Island has a great little park, they even have train rides, this is a great place for little ones to work off some energy, I think dad had a good time too.

Wyatt's favorite things, are goats, monkeys, Carousels, and choo choo trains, so off to the Zoo we went. We had a great time, went with mom and dad and did a lot of walking! Needless to say the kids were pooped out by the time we left, but you can't beat Wyatt's monkey impression:

"Oooohh Ahhh Ahhh"

This is one proud papa....

On the road again...

Ok, it's been two months but in my defense it's been a pretty busy two months.First, at the end of July, Fred and I took a trip up to Calamus to go camping with Brent and Katie. We had a great time! The weather was perfect, the beer was cold and most importantly it was quiet! (most of the time) So let's start with some pictures of the "good boating".

Very peaceful!

Captain Fred

Did I mention it was absolutely beautiful!?

Now...the "bad boating."

1. Apparently an "older" boat tends to build up a lot of "gunk" if you will which can reside in the engine shaft (I'm making this part up because I have no idea what it's called) preventing the boat from actually turning. This is usually better to know before you put it in the water, but nonetheless, we got out, and had some helpful fellow campers willing to lend a hand!!

2. Also, when you go to buy a boat battery...better not to skimp on quality. Additional lesson...playing the radio while trolling on the lake, may lead to dead battery and need for more than 1 1/2 oars! ...ooops thank goodness the one random man out in the lake boonies was the son of the head of the Marina! :) This resulted in a very angry captain!! It didn't help a storm was moving in and we were all starting to freeze.

Additional pics from camping....

Yes, this is was as stupid as it looks...but it was so much fun!

Fred made a great dinner the one night, braised short ribs and potatoes...and who said camping food can't be gourmet!? It was incredible.

Next... We took a trip to the Omaha Zoo, always a good time! Wyatt loves carousels and choo choo trains and goats so this is right up his alley! Stay tuned.

More to come on our trip to Maywood to see Fred's fam and our infamous trip to St. Louis as well!

Yea yea yea....

I'm terrible at blogging which is interesting because I love reading and writing, but somehow this seems to require more effort than I maintain on a daily basis. It doesn't help that I have to muddle through the challenge of typing without the majority of a keyboard, oh the pleasures of the terrible 2's. (it's ok, he only picked off non-important ones like "E" and "ENTER" and "TAB" not to mention the " key. It makes for a complicated email or internet search let me tell you!

Ok, lets start where we left off...

Wyatt is officially two and loving it. He can count to 15 (which caused mommy and daddy's jaw to drop because we never taught him that! God bless daycare!), he says his ABC's, and loves to tell you the names and sounds of animals and identify everything by color. It is so neat to watch him grow, he is turning into a little man for sure!

Fred and I took a much needed vacation to Las Vegas! We stayed at Mandalay Bay, then drove to California for the wedding of our dear friend Misty and her fantastic new husband Jeremy. We had an incredible time and really took the time to reconnect with eachother baby free! We missed the kids so much, but it was definitely easier knowing they were in good hands. Grandma and Grandpa Yoder braved a 5 day babysitting extravaganzaa!

When we got back, we all made a trip to the Children's museum in Lincoln which was fantastic. Wyatt is a crazy man and takes advantage of every opportunity to run and play!

Hilary made it home the end of June and spent a couple weeks between KC and Nebraska. It was fantastic! I can't believe I ever doubted her maternal instinct. She's incredible. Quinny is the beautiful, well adjusted, happy, smiley baby! She just can't sleep through the sound of a pin dropping. I'd say if that's your biggest fault you're golden! It broke my heart to say goodbye to her, I just wanted to love her up! Me and the fam are going to make a trip down to Dallas this fall around Thanksgiving time to visit Team Fuller, I miss them so much already. Did I mention Quinny crawls! Everywhere, she's amazing....Here are some pictures from their trip here...

Happy 4th of July- Mom and Dad came to soak up all 3 grandkids for the 4th!

Fred and I then decided to head to Norfolk for a Big N Rich concert along with Zac Brown Band. It was fantastic, we went with an old college buddy of Fred's, Timmy and his wife Erin. We had so much fun and took the kids, they got a chance to play with Timmy and Erin's 3 yr old, MJ and their 1 yr old Britley. (and 2 very brave babysitters) (this all took place somewhere in the middle of Hil's stay in Lincoln and her trip up to th big city of Grand Island)

Finally,

Bella is finally starting to crawl! She doesn't have much coordination yet, but she's getting there. She can definitely get where she wants to go, sometimes it just takes her a bit! Here is a picture of her getting ready to bear crawl in her crib (Wyatt decided to get in and play with her, thats his leg in the corner)