Christmas Part 3

Christmas Day was great. Blaze remembered from his birthday that he liked opening presents. So he was very helpful making sure all of them got opened as quickly as possible.

Once a quick inventory of the presents was made he knew what he wanted to focus on first - the chocolate.

A close up of one of the presents. It's a stepping stool so Blaze can reach the bathroom sink. It has one of his favorite phrases on it for whenever he is climbing on something. The best part of it was that Blaze "helped" Mike build it with all of the "tools" he got on his birthday.

Christmas Part 2

Christmas Eve is always a big deal with my side of the family. Blaze loved all of the exciting things happening that day, including presents, treats, and Daddy's birthday.

New Pajamas! Only Blaze was too excited to sit still long enough for me to take the picture, hence the blurriness.

This one is the clearest I could get, you can see he is practicing his "Cheese" face.

Listening to Grandma read a story

Snuggle time with Uncle Guy-Guy

What happens when you combine an already energetic toddler with extra dessert and treats, being at Grandma's house with all of the Aunts and Uncles, and staying up 2 hours past his bedtime? 

This. It lasted for a good 20 minutes without stopping before he finally passed out in Mommy's arms. Oh and the other people in the room? They're just trying to enjoy some Christmas Carols together, don't mind them.

 

December/Christmas Part 1

The Sundays right before or after Christmas are some of my favorite. I love the church meetings with extra focus on the birth and life of Jesus Christ, the Christmas songs, and of course all the kids decked out in their best Christmas outfits.

Blaze made sure to wear his best suit. He refused to let me take a picture at home, but I was able to snap some before any meetings started (while Dad was setting up chairs). 

Have you seen anything more adorable? I mean really.

Can you tell he was trying to watch the choir practice and I was rudely standing in his way?

November

Besides a birthday, November had some other good times too.

Thanksgiving Day of course included a Turkey Bowl with the Uncles. Blaze wanted to play too and had a great time just holding the ball and running around in circles.

This picture wasn't on any important day except that it was a day that Blaze wore a sweater that his Daddy use to wear. And he is rocking the look!

Birthday Boy

Blaze is 2!

On his birthday we had special breakfast of pumpkin french toast (with whipped cream on top) and hot chocolate. Then Blaze's friend Taylor from the neighborhood came over to play (her mom and brother Baby Mitt came too). Blaze loves having friends come over to our house, it was a great way to spend the morning.

Once Dad came home from work we had a dinner of some of Blaze's favorite foods: meatloaf (with extra ketchup) and peas.

In the evening some extended family came over and Blaze had a great time opening presents and eating cake. In nursery they sing the "Happy Birthday Song" to the kids so Blaze knew the words and had been singing it to himself all day.

He must have had a good day, for weeks afterward whenever any mention of birthdays was made he would ask "Blaze birthday too?"

I did take pictures of the day, but part way through the fun I had to switch to a new memory card. Until I remember the safe place I put the other memory card, this is the only documentation I have of the day.

At least we have proof that he enjoyed his cake!

Found the other pictures from the big party. Enjoy!

Waiting is so hard, especially when you know cake and presents are involved.

Checking out the new stuff with Grandpa

He jumped on the scooter the second he saw it

Is the song over yet? Can't I just eat this already?

Trick or Treat

I already posted pictures of us in our Halloween costumes, but I wanted to share the trick-or-treat experience in more detail.

We went to my parent's neighborhood since it has more houses and less 3 story high condo stairs to climb. We enjoyed the traditional chili and cornbread dinner, then headed out to teach Blaze the tricks of the candy trade.

Lucky for us the weather was nice and we went out early enough in the evening that Blaze's little legs didn't freeze in his short shorts. We also decided to only go to about 10 handpicked neighbors' doors so we weren't out very long.

At the first 2 doors Blaze thought we were going over to play so when the door opened he would walk right in and make himself at home with whatever book, toy, or pet he saw. As soon as he realized the purpose was to get candy, his approach changed. For the rest of the houses we visited he would quietly mumble something that sorta sounded like "trick or treat," hold out his bag, and as soon as he had the candy he would try to shut the door so we could move on. It didn't matter if the person was still talking, he got what he came for and was ready to keep going.

Of course the neighbors said he had the best costume they saw all night. I would have to agree.

October

The most important parts of October are visiting the pumpkin patch and dressing up for Halloween. The pictures of us enjoying these traditions pretty much speak for themselves.

September Part 2

After all the family left we settled back into a more normal routine. Since summer was almost over we thought it would be a good time to tackle some of the items on our summer-to-do-list. We had to at least say we tried.

First on the list was the backyard. We reseeded the entire thing. Blaze really liked helping and had to wear "gubs" while he worked. 

Let's hope the seed takes root and next spring we have a fun place to run and play. 

 After our hard work in the backyard we needed a snack break, of course.

 

And then we headed to the canyons to enjoy the beautiful colors of fall before they faded.

We'll get to the other items on that list next year.

September Part 1

In September the relatives came to Utah to visit!

I have an equally cute, almost identical picture of Leah. Some day I'll put them side by side and compare levels of adorable.

One of my favorite pictures of Blaze of all time.

Outfit #2 of the day after playing in the creek.

Outfit #3 of the day... I might have just given up at this point. But at least he has shoes.

Blaze thinks he is one of the big kids. No way he was going to sit at the table like the babies (no offense Alice or Naomi).

S'mores!