and the winner is...

The Annual Gingerbread House Contest

Rem and I love having this party, we wish our house was bigger so we could invite more people.  I think this is the 5th year of doing this??  Everyone keeps getting more and more creative.  The new comers don't realize how big this compition gets.  We work on these "houses" for at least 2 hours!  It's a lot of fun!

 Some of the group getting started.

Paxton enjoyed his time eating his dinner and then crawling around on the floor visiting with everyone until it was time for bed.  I was surprised he slept through the rest of the party because we were LOUD.

And the CRAZY dog stuck either outside or downstairs so she wouldn't bug everyone.

My sister Erika and her date.   (They got 2nd place)

My sister Jamie and her boyfriend (now fiancee) Dan.  (They got 3rd place)

Post on the proposal of these two love birds coming soon :)

My brother Trevor and his wife Sandee.

My friend Alisa and her boyfriend Kevin.

Rem and I.

We called our neighbors over to vote on their favorite...

 and Trev and Sandee got 1st Place!

They called theirs 'Tangled' not having seen the movie.  On the right is the tower with Rapunzel and her long hair and on the left is a guy getting hung..haha.  Their castle looked awesome!



new stats

9 month stats

We went to the doctor yesterday for Paxton's 9 month check-up and his stats are...

Weight:  20lbs 7oz. 50%

Height:  29 1/4 inches  80%

Head:  55%

He is a healthy & happy baby!

And here are some funny faces Paxton was giving his dad while eating his dinner...

LOVE HIM!!!

9 months old

Our SWEET little baby is growing up and it's sooo fun!  We LOVE this stage, Paxton has so much personality and he is so fun to interact with.

 Some things to remember at 9 months old...

*He has SIX teeth and he loves to show them off :)

*Crawling everywhere and pulling himself up onto just about everything he can get ahold of.  And he LOVES stairs, whenever there are stairs nearby, you will find Paxton crawling up them.

*Loves the water and doesn't mind it in his face.

*Gives us this cute CHEESEY smile all the time and now is scrunching his nose too...so funny!

*Has curly hair when it's wet, but dries pretty straight.

*We love to hangout with cousins.

*Likes to make all sorts of noises.  And says... 'dad' & 'bob' all of the time.
*Waves hello and goodbye to people and will give fives.
*Doesn't really like loud toys, some of them make him cry.
*Does well with strangers, sometimes he cuddles them (probably because he doesn't want to look at their face).  But everyone loves cuddles!
*Will eat EVERYTHING!! 
*Starting to sign 'milk'.
*Loves to push a toy car around and makes the noise too! 
*Whenever he see's Lilo, he calls her 'dad' hehehe
*Everytime he hears music, he will dance and wave his hands.

Paxton is loved by everyone around him.  His family loves him so much and he makes us all smile and laugh.

Festival, Festival & FESTIVAL

Festival of Trees

 There were a lot of cute trees there.  I thought this one was cute, I feel like I'm alot like this tree- just split down the middle :)

 My Miamaid Advisor and I took our girls to see the trees and we brought our little boys too.  We had a ton of fun!  Paxton loved watching the dancers on stage and he loved dancing to the music himself.

Erin, Adri and Lauren

 Festival of Trees again

 Then we went back with Remi, my sister Erika and my brother Trevor.  I wanted to get a picture of Paxton on Santa's lap.  Paxton did NOT like Santa (I have to say that this Santa was kinda creepy looking).

This is Sam with Paxton, we were babysitting that night.

 and Dickens FESTIVAL

 Aunt Jamie and Aunt Erika with Paxton all bundled up.

 Trying on hats at the different boutiques. 

and finally...

Paxton got to meet the REAL Santa Claus!!!

 I love this Santa, he is the real deal.  I sat on this Santa's lap when I was a little girl.  He is so good with the kids and is up to date on all of the toys and what colors they come in, etc.  He was really good with Paxton and was so sweet.  We even got a little smile out of Paxton although it looks like he's thinking, 'I think I'm supposed to smile, but I'm not sure that I want to' :) 

I'm glad we went and saw Santa again!

Thanksgiving Day

This Thanksgiving we were with Rem's side of the family.  Usually we are with all of his cousins, but it's getting to be such a HUGE group that we decided to split this year.  We had tons of fun just hanging out with the fam (we missed his brother and fam that live in Australia).

These 2 turkey's are the only turkey's we had until 9:0 that night.  My mother-in-law bought a fresh ham and turkey and asked her son to put them in the basement refridgerator, well he put them in the freezer... OOPS!  Everyone gave him a hard time about it, but everything turned out great!  The ham was done in time for dinner and very delicious and then we had turkey sandwhiches that night-YUM!

The Baby Corner

There are just so many babies that there are never enough seats.

Paxton trying to feed himself.  He got some roll, mashed potatoes, and jello.  And then some baby food that was turkey and sweet potatoes.

After the delicious dinner, the guys watched football and played video games while the girls did crafts.  We made a few Christmas decorations...

We hope to make this a tradition because it was a lot of fun!

Baby's 1st Thanksgiving...

Just picture everyone behind the camera's trying to get these three boys to all smile at once;)  It didn't work so well, but it sure was fun trying!

All the grandkids got something fun to play with, wrapped up all cute.  The boys were pretending to eat their corn on the cob.

Paxton got some Puffs!  Thanks Aunt Rach, he loves 'em!

And a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Grandma Sorenson!!!

We had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving, we hope you did too!

The last couple of weeks of November, we hung this on the fridge to reflect on the things we are thankful for.  We have a lot of blessings and we are so grateful!