Super Snappers

Celebrating New Years a little early with Grandpa Dave!

Christmas 2012

We had a very busy Christmas this year but it was so much fun! You could participate more this year and you understood more of what was going on. My favorite part was watching your reaction to everything! You loved opening presents and were happy with just playing with the bows and wrapping paper. After you'd open your gift you'd want to play with it for a little while and then would move onto the next one. It was the cutest thing to watch! Grandma Terry also made you your very own stocking. She's made stockings for all of us so it was great she got your stocking done in time for this year's Christmas!

We spent Christmas Eve with my side of the family going over to Aunt Staci and Uncle Mike's house. Aunt Sandi, Uncle Jay, cousins Kody and Alex; Aunt Jenn & Uncle Jesse; and Grandma Terry and Grandpa Dave were there too. We had a blast! We ate a lot of great food, opened presents, and played "Jeopardy" which was put together by cousin Dani.

Hanging with cousin Kody

Matching hats!

Oh don't worry you'll grow into these eventually!

With your favorite playmates and cousins, Dani & Alex

Christmas morning we went over to Grandpa Mike & Nana B's house. But before that we had a little family get together with just you, daddy, and I. After all, Santa did come to our house in the middle of the night and he left a few goodies for you. So as soon as you got up that morning we brought you over to the tree where there was a little "Elmo" with a drum set, tambourine, and microphone. I pressed a button on it's foot and it started to dance. You just stared at it and kept staring at it. Then after a couple songs you got up and started to dance with it. It was the cutest thing ever!!

Up at Grandpa Mike & Nana B's house we had a fabulous breakfast and were spoiled once again. We had eggs Benedict and hash browns! Yummy! You even got to try some and did okay eating it. We gave you some fruit which you scarfed down too. We had a very chill morning opening a couple presents, drank mimosas, and hung out by the fire. It was perfect! We were able to put you down for a nap too.

Ready to go sledding now!

A little help from Uncle Josh

Next we went over to Grandpa Tom's house where we had another fabulous meal. It's not the holidays if you don't eat a lot of great food! Grandpa Tom and Grandma Pam made us steak tenderloins, potato casserole, spinach quiche, and homemade rolls and then we had huckleberry pie for dessert. You got to open some more presents too. Your favorite was "Jingle" the talking dog. He responds to a book when certain phrases are read aloud. He'll bark, sing, etc. You loved it and would cuddle with Jingle after he barked.

Merry Christmas Liam! We look forward to the Christmas's to come and the traditions we've now started with you!!

Santa Claus

We took you to see Santa Claus last weekend and you were not enthused at all! You were more intrigued by all the other kids running around and the BIG Christmas tree behind Santa. 

We got there early enough that we didn't have to stand in line too long and when it was time for us to walk in to see Santa you kept hold of daddy real tight. Daddy stood next to Santa with you in his arms hoping this would help you get use to him. We were wrong! When daddy tried to hand you to Santa you grabbed daddy really tight and started to cry. Daddy and I thought for sure we'd have to be in the picture too! But Santa said the best thing to do was to hand you over to him quickly. So that's what daddy did! You didn't cry but you didn't smile either. You weren't a happy camper and had a really concerned look on your face. But it's another one for the books, to look at later and laugh!!

Xmas Tree Hunting

Last weekend we took you into the woods to find the perfect Xmas tree. It was a perfect weekend for it too because we just got a bunch of fresh snow. We stayed pretty close to home just going up the highway a little ways. We went with Robby, Kate, Heather, Mike, and Mike's two kids Kya and Trey. There were a lot of people out doing the same thing we were doing but we found a good spot farther up the road where nobody was at. We got you all bundled up and then headed out into the woods. We sure lucked out this year!! The first tree we saw was the tree we wanted! So while everyone else was finding their trees we played in the snow with you. You had a blast and it was such a beautiful day!! We ended the day with lunch at the Lumberjack. We hung out by the fire and had some GREAT food. The burgers were amazing!!

On the hunt

Playing in the snow

Taking a break with Aunt Kate

Daddy getting ready to cut down our tree

Winter Wonderland

The Gang

Month Fourteen

Liam,

You are now fourteen months old!

This month has been so much fun too! You're talking a lot more and you are using more hand gestures to express yourself. My favorite is if you want to be picked up you’ll raise your hands in front of you and slouch your shoulders and say “uh uh uh”. It’s almost the same kind of gesture you would do when saying “uhh-o”. And speaking of “uhh-o”, it is your new favorite word. You say it all the time and even use it in context! It’s so cute!! You’ll drop something and look down at it and say “uhh-o”. I've tried to get it on video but so far have been unsuccessful. You do a lot of pointing too and if we don’t listen you’ll come over and grab our hand or leg and direct us to where you want to go. Lately you've wanted to go outside and will point at the door or even pull us to the door so we can open it for you.

 Other new words you've said this month are banana, hi, and hot. When you see a banana you’ll point at it and say “nana”. You know hot really well too. If the oven is on you’ll point and say hot. If we’re holding you by the stove you point and say hot. My favorite though is if your food is too hot you’ll say hot and blow on your food. Or you’ll look at us and say hot and want us to blow on your food. It is so cute watching you blow on your own food!

You love to bring us stuff especially your books. You love when we read them to you. If we’re sitting on the floor you’ll hand us the book and then turn around and back yourself into our laps. I laugh every time! Then you’ll point at the book and help turn the pages as we read it. You've really taken an interest in books especially the ones that make noise or have different textures in them. Right now you’re favorite book is “Old MacDonald had a farm”. All daddy has to do is start singing it and you’ll go grab the book. You love to count all the different animals and feel the different textures! We've also caught you sitting on the kitchen floor reading the book to yourself. You were pointing at things on the pages and talking to yourself as you were turning the pages. It was so cute! Your daddy and I were peeking over the island watching you and laughing to ourselves.

You love to play with your keyboard too. When you want it turned on you’ll drag it over to us and point at it until we turn it on. Once it’s turned on you’ll hit the demo key immediately and start dancing! It’s not just little hand movements either; it’s full on twirling, bouncing up and down, and some hand pumping!! This I did get on video!

You've taken some interest in the TV but it’s only for short periods of time and then you’re ready for something else. Yesterday we rented “Brave” and you were really intrigued with it but for only the first thirty minutes! After that you were ready to play! But when you were interested you were watching it non-stop smiling at it and even clapping with it. You’d look at daddy or me and say something and then turn and watch it again. We couldn't believe it! You’d never really wanted to watch anything before and now you were snuggling with us on the couch watching this movie with us.

You are doing a great with everything else. You have no problem taking one nap a day and sometimes on the weekend no nap depending how busy we are. You’re sleeping through the night still but do have an occasional night or two where you’ll get up in the middle of the night and will want a bottle. You're pretty much like clockwork when you want to go to bed and when you get up in the morning. Right now you seem to get tired around 7/7:30 pm so we try to put you down close to that and then you've been waking up around 6:30/7 am with the occasional 6 am. On the weekends sometimes we luck out and you’ll sleep in until 8 am. You are growing like a weed and are eating more and more. From what I can tell you’re not too picky either so you’ll normally eat whatever we put in front of you. Right now you weigh 22 lbs but you have your fifteen month checkup the beginning of next month so we’ll be able to see exactly where you’re at.

Happy fourteen month birthday sweet little boy! This month has been a blast and can’t wait for what else is in store.

Love,
Momma

Thanksgiving 2012

This year we hosted Thanksgiving at our house. Grandpa & Grandma Erickson came over and Uncle Keith, Aunt Cari, Ridge, and your new little cousin Sage. Uncle Ryan couldn't make it but you got to hang out with him the weekend before. We had a great dinner! Daddy cooked a prime rib on the BBQ and Grandma & I cooked a 21 lb turkey. We had our traditional side dishes; green bean casserole, sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows, mashed potatoes, and lots of stuffing. It was really good and you absolutely loved all of it! But your favorites were the stuffing and sweet potatoes!! I also made a couple pumpkin pies and lemon meringue pie. You devoured your pumpkin pie! We had a great time and you had a blast playing with your cousins. It's definitely another one for the books!

Meeting your new cousin Sage, born Nov 9th.

Blowing bubbles with cousin Ridge

Grandpa and all his grandkids

Checking out the "Black Friday" ads

Dinner time!!

Cuddle time with Sage

Grandma's turn

The Griz/Cat Game

Last weekend we took you to your second Griz football game. This was a big game too! It was against "the Cats", the Griz's biggest rivalry. Your Uncle Ryan even came over from Idaho for it and he's a Cats fan. It's a fun game and our family has a lot Griz fans and Cats fans. Aunt Jenn came with us and we had a blast. You did awesome and the weather was perfect! It got a little chilly towards the end of the game but you didn't mind because we bundled you up pretty well. We even got you to wear your Griz hat for most of the game!

Watching the pre-game with Uncle Ryan

Tailgating with the fam

Our Little Helper

Daddy's Boots

Halloween

You had a very busy Halloween!

First, you got to go to daycare all dressed up. They had a little party for you guys!

Then we made the rounds to all the grandparents works and even stopped at my work. 

At Nana B's work, they had a big Halloween celebration with games, a craft station, a cookie decorating station, and even a haunted house. We took you through the haunted house but only after daddy scouted it out first. Luckily he went first when we took you through because they scared daddy instead of us.

We tried to take you trick-or-treating in Grandma Pam's neighborhood but you were more interested in walking up and down the block and pointing at all the trick-or-treaters. This was perfectly fine with us because we really didn't need any more candy!

We had a great time and you were the cutest Elmo ever!

Month Thirteen

Liam,

Today, you turned thirteen months old!  But where to begin!?! It's been a very busy month and it sure has flown by. We've had a ton of fun though! With it now getting into the holiday season we've been busy with all sorts of Halloween festivities; from picking out your pumpkin, to carving it, and picking out your costume. I love Halloween and I love that I get to share all the traditions I did as a kid with you. I can't wait to get you all dressed up and take you trick-or-treating!

Now that you're walking, you sure keep us busy. When we go to the store, if we don't put you in the cart you want to walk all over the place. And when I say all over the place, I mean ALL OVER THE PLACE! You don't really listen yet when we ask you to "come this way" meaning come with us. You have your own agenda and want to explore. I mean what kid wouldn't! So when you do get to explore we just go with it and follow you around. You like to go for walks in general so when we're at home you'll point to the door when you want to go outside. We have a little park area in front our house with a sidewalk all around it and you'll just cruise up and down it.

You're getting better and better at communicating! You point at things you want and will say something at the same time. Though we can't understand what you're saying yet, it's cute just listening to you talk to yourself. You say momma and dadda all the time now. I look forward to picking you up everyday because as soon as I get there and you see me, you'll point at me and say momma. It melts my heart! You are also learning how to express your frustrations when you don't get what you want. You'll stand at our feet and cry and grab at our legs trying to get us to pick you up. But when we're busy and can't do it at that very moment, you'll throw a little bit of a fit and fall to the ground and cry. I'm not going to lie, it's hard watching you do this. All I want to do is pick you up but I know I can't because then you'll think I'll pick you up any time you do this.

Some other big changes is you only drink whole milk now. Yay, no more formula! You are also down to one nap a day though on occasion you'll still take two naps depending on your mood. You actually made this big change at daycare because you're going to be moving to the next room in a month or two and you only get one nap in that room. So we've started to give you one nap at home too! With a big change like this we noticed you were getting a little cranky in the evenings so we changed your bedtime to 7:30 instead of 8pm. This really seems to help! We still give you a night time bottle so the next big task is to not give you bottle right before bed anymore. But I think that's a task for next month...

Happy thirteen month birthday sweet little boy! You bring a smile to my face, every day, every hour, every minute, every second!  I love you so much!

Love,
Momma

A Day with Grandpa Mike

A couple weeks ago you got to hang out with Grandpa Mike for the WHOLE day! He had a full day of fun planned for you which included going to the visitor's center at the RMEF and of course seeing Nana B. You were quite the hit there too and you loved looking at all the animals!

"Liam, where's the elk?"

Look at that big smile!

Our future hunter

Pumpkin Carving

Helping clean out the guts

Daddy's turn - carving out the pumpkin!

Loving your spider pumpkin

All lit up - nice work daddy!!

Pumpkin Patch & More

Today we took you to the "Missoula Maze", a popular local Halloween attraction. They have a big maze and a couple little kids mazes, a pumpkin patch, and even some animals.

Checking out the farm animals

One of the biggest pumpkins there

Having fun in the pumpkin patch

An excited little boy!

Found a pumpkin

"Yep, I want this one!"