Alek decides to Stand up....

So, we waited in line for about 45 minutes. It consisted of screaming children and parents bickering with eachother. Alek cried all the way through the line, I dont know what was wrong with him. I actually think he is so much like his dad, that when he gets around the mall around Christmas time, he automatically gets moody! Haha! So anyway, he was whinning the entire time we were in line and when we actually got up to santa we were worried he was going to scream when he saw him! But as soon as I sat him down on Santa's lap, he was allllll smiles!! :) So it worked out.

Alek visits Santa ( and actually likes him) !

Opening Season...

So this weekend was opening season and Cj could not have been more excited to get out there. Since living in Japan, he obviously was unable to go hunting. So anyway him and a friend went out hunting. ( I told him to take pictures while out...Im such a girl. haha!) The one picture was him shooting at a deer. No luck this trip. I am going out with him later today and I am stoked! Maybe I will be making some venison for dinner this week! :)

Nothing new to report. No new is good news with us! Haha! I put up a video of Alek on the move and a couple pictures. :) Hope everyone is doing well.

Alek crawling

Hiking

We went up to Mt. Lemmon over this past weekend and went hiking. It was so fun..and exhausting. Hauling a 20 lb baby around on the front of you does not feel good on the back! :) But it was fun! Alek loved it. We went up to the ski lift ( we didn't go on it)-they had rides up to the very top, even when there is no snow on the mountain they keep the lift going so you can ride up and get off and hike the trails up there. I wasn't too fond of taking Alek on a ski lift with me, so we just hiked around at the top, instead of the VERY top. :) It was a good time, and a refreshing change of the dry heat in Tucson. It was cold, and I loved it! I look forward to the snow, they said within the month there should be snow up there. So when that happens, we will be taking another trip to the top to do some snowboarding!

My favorite time of year!

So it's my favorite time of year! Christmas is so fun. Nothing is better than getting together with family and talking about good memories and decorating everything together! :) Growing up, we always spent Christmas at my grandma's house..and she would decorate every room in her house and it was so beautiful! Christmas this year will be very different however, Jonathan wont be here. He will be with his dad in Japan, so it will be my first Christmas away from him. It will be intresting, to say the least. The day after thanksgiving, Cj and I were out hanging up our Christmas lights and putting up our REAL Christmas tree! Yay!! Last year we woke up at 4 am to get a real tree from the BX in Okinawa, because they sold out so fast. My husband was determined to get a real one last year... haha! We did. This year, there was no waking up at 4 am and waiting in line. We drove right to the tree farm and picked one out! I was a little concerned at first with a very mobile baby and a real Christmas tree...as anyone could guess..I was worried about pine needles that shed endlessly from the tree daily and a baby who puts every little thing in his mouth thinking it's food! So far, so good. I have ran the vacuum every day, however, also. I am very excited to have my family come down to Arizona for Christmas! It has been YEARS since I have spent Christmas with them. Although, I was hoping to see a little snow on Christmas morning ( because it's just NOT the same without it--I will be taking a trip up the mountain to see snow). As soon as I am happy with the way the house looks, I will be posting a finished picture of it! I am not done putting up lights outside ( Cj thinks we are). So, pictures to come! In the mean time..while putting up the tree and drinking hot chocolate ( so yummy!) Alek found the garlin and thought it was the best thing ever! Ahhh the simple things, right?! He got all wrapped up in it and every time he grabbed ahold of it, he would let out this loud belly laugh and roll over onto it. Haha! It was the funniest thing to watch. I was worried about him putting the garlin in his mouth ( I am such a mom, I know), but surprisingly, he was not fond of the texture of it all. So he never tried to eat it..thank god. So anyway, I had to get pictures, of course. And...how can he go through life without a naked baby butt picture!? It was so cute, I couldn't pass it up. Now to store these away until he is about 16 and show all those girls! ;)

Decorating....

6 months

Alek's version of crawling.

He LOVES watching his baby einstein videos. ( They are my new best friend!)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

It's hard to believe it is that time of year again! This time, we get to celebrate the holidays in the States! In Okinawa, you have all branches of the military shopping at one store, the base exchange. You can imagine what that was like during the holiday season..it was pretty much a suicide mission! So anyway, we are glad to be back in the states for the holiday season. I am so thankful to have my family close to me (within a couple hours flight anyway). We are doing a low key thanksgiving this year, for once. We decided to just have it be us, since every other year it has been a huge gathering, which dont get me wrong is nice, but I am looking forward to not " stressing" over everything in the kitchen this year! We are not doing the "traditional" turkey, instead we are doing ham for Thanksgiving and duck for Christmas. Yummy! I am so extremely thankful to have such a great family and wonderful friends! I count my blessings every day, I have two handsome little guys that are full of energy and healthy. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Just a little update. Alek is doing good, he has figured out how to get around in his walker ( as you can see in the video). Sometimes he will just take off in that thing and run! It's hilarious, he is bull legged and he takes off running. :) He is doing good though, doing something new every day and amazing all of us! A little bummed out because the Michigan trip wont be happening this month. Some other things came up that I need to attend to. But I will keep everyone updated!

So a friend got Alek this little thing you can put food or whatever you want in, and he can chew on it. We put a pedialyte popsicle in it, and he loved it. He couldnt figure out why it was so cold and was getting so mad! haha! His teeth are hurting him right now, so I am willing to try anything to help make his teeth feel better ( and me get some extra sleep). :)

Pictures of J

Swimming before going trick or treating?? He is definetly NOT in Michigan. :)

Silly...

Darth Vadar!!

So Alek finally decided to sit up on his own today! A very excited mommy tooks lots of pictures, but here is one. :) Yay Alek!

Sitting up

Jonathan is coming home!

Jonathan will be here in November, and I could not be more excited!!! It has been way too long ( 5 months and 4 days to be exact). We are heading up to Michigan for Thanksgiving, we decided to drive because we have to bring back some furniture of mine I left at my parents house before moving to Japan. Sooo...it will be intresting making a trip clear across the U.S. with a 5 month old little boy who absolutly HATES riding in his car seat. Yay! But we are excited, I have not been back home since 2005. I am looking forward to it. And of course CJ cant wait to go hunting! So right after poor Jonathan gets off the hellacious 19 hour flight from Okinawa to here, he will have to turn around two days later and get in a car for 2-3 days driving. Poor Jonathan. We are hoping for snow on the ground for thanksgiving, I just miss it enough to play in it for a few days and then turn around and come back to my warm weather in Arizona! :)

In the pictures above, Jonathan in his costume as a "fighter pilot", at school, and on his dirt bike.

After being in Japan for as long as we were, I was pretty excited about the fact we could actually go to an apple orchard/pumpkin patch! After hearing about everyone in MI going to one, I decided to google it and see if there was one here in Tucson ( or anywhere in Arizona), and to my luck there was ONE in the entire state. About an hour and a half away. I told CJ about it, and decided we would go over the weekend. Come to find out, he has never been to an apple orchard! Crazzzy. I thought everyone has been to an apple orchard. Those Floridians dont know how to do fall time apparantly. :) That is a must in the month of October! So we went and it was so much fun. Alek is only 5 months old and obviously couldnt really do much, but he seemed to really enjoy it! He went on his first hayride experience. It was a lot of fun. We were able to pick all this fresh produce, and I think we pretty much got a little bit of everything and it wasnt over $20. It was a lot of fun. And of course, we got the fresh apple cidar ( Cj has never had that either). Sheltered!!! Im telling you. So anyway, it was a good time and we will definetly be going back next year!

At the end, Alek was most definetly ready to go. But on our way out we passed a sunflower field. And of course, I wanted one but the entire field was swormed with bees. It was crazy. And if you know me, you would know that I DO NOT under any circumstances, do bees or spiders. So CJ volunteered himself ( seriously) to go into the bee trap and pick me a flower! What a sweet guy. I couldnt take a picture because I had my hands full with baby and vegetables, but it was a great picture. Cj in the middle a sunflower field dodging mad bees to pick me a flower! Thanks hunny! :)

It's fall time!!

My photography skills...still working on it.