Cowboy baby!

His boots from Mary in Texas fit now!

In case you haven't heard thru the grapevine yet....

Ben accepted the job offer from the company in Traverse City! He will start in May. We are currently starting the paperwork for a home loan and will start house hunting soon!

Look what I got!!

Alex got a sweater all the way from Norway! My parents hosted an exchange student last year and Alex and Erling became fast friends. Erling's mother knitted this sweater by hand, it's so pretty!

Last stop before home!

Before we headed home we stopped out at Veryl and Randy's house to see everyone. Uncle Randy found some really cool toys for Alex to play with!

Christmas Day at Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Ben's

It's so much fun to play with the cousins! The new addition on the front of Nancy and Ben's house is beautiful and a perfect place for little boys with lots of energy! As usual, all the food was awesome - Alex liked the tostada shells with some beans on them and the turkey filling from the enchiladas.

Christmas morning

Alex walked in the living room and said "wow!" Once again mommy and daddy opened most of the presents but he did have more of a reaction to what was inside. He loved the little wind-up bath toys in his stocking that came in clear plastic bulbs..big fun for throwing and banging together. He also loved his "Fridge Phonics" set, he hit the abc song button over and over and then "sang" loudly along!

Christmas Eve

Alex did great on Christmas Eve considering there were so many people around! He took a nap around supper time which helped a lot. He did not however like it when mommy wanted to play "scrunch" with the cousins.....he kept yelling "mmmooooommmmeeeeeee" and running into the kitchen. He developed an attatchment to Megan's boyfriend Jake for some reason and learned to eat Christmas cookies thanks to cousin Katie sharing hers and telling him to "eat this, it's REALLY good"!
He really wasn't interested in opening the gifts, he liked what was inside though! Although after opening his first truck he was perfectly happy to stop there and play.

Alex has now been sledding!

Alex got to try out sledding at gradma Ruth's house before Christmas.
He loved it! He would smile and then get a little serious as the sled picked up speed...then squeel the rest of the way down and laugh when it was all over and say "again?"

And some more.....

There is a TON of snow here! It's so pretty and fluffy, it's all been lake effect this week. Merry Christmas!

Alex's first snowshoe adventure!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Alex played in the snow for the first time today! He had tried out his boots before but never the whole get-up. He could walk pretty well but the jacket is so puffy that he can't put his hands together or grab anything. He also can't get back up yet by himself if he falls but all that didn't seem to bother him at all - he sang and danced and giggled the whole time we were outside! There are more outside pics down below :)

Last Christmas Uncle Tony gave him these super cool Spidy pj's in a bigger size so he could grow into them.........tada...he's grown into them!

HELLO??

Stay tuned!

We just got Alex's pictures back from the photographer so I hope to get some out in the mail next week! If anyone wants us to we can make a copy of the whole cd so you can have all of the shots :)
Here are a couple that weren't on Brandy's website. These photos are courtesy of Brandy Torvinen.

New pics

Oh, yeah - thought of some more words too...Alex also says ball and football and plane! He's pointing at an airplane in the picture.

Talkin' Fool!

Alex is a talking fool. His favorite food is "mee-na-nas" (bananas) and he also says baby, ducky, Chewy, all done, drink, bye-bye, mama, dada, he has versions of grandma and grandpa, he says "no, no, no" and knows what it means.....I gave him cheese when he really wanted a cracker and he gave it back and said "no, no, no" while shaking his head :)
Last weekend he went for his first real hike! He walked in the woods on a trail, he went quite a long way too, and LOVED it! He loves being outside, we've got a string of nasty weather coming and I'm dreading it....he gets his shoes and goes to the door, waves to me and says bye-bye.

Alex is such a big boy!!

Alex is getting so big! We visited a bunch of relatives this weekend, went to a wedding and then stayed with Grandma and Grandpa for a few extra days.
During that time Alex totally perfected his walking and now even has quite a jog going! He learned some new words, a new sign, is now very good at climbing and he learned to kick a ball!
He also got a big boy haircut!