a special guest or two

all summer we would get special visits from alanna and tavish, but it was quite infrequent.  well, all that was about to change- we got a surprise visit from the two of them!  it is always nice to see alanna, and ledger was super excited to be able to play with his cousin!  one of ledger's favorite toys are the laundry baskets, he loves to drag them into the kitchen and hop in them and mess around.  ledger showed off this fun new game to his cousin tavish.  the boys had a great time playing, and as it turned out, the visit was going to be a little longer than just for the day- we now have a house full with seven!

morning glory

diana's mom and david had made plans to go and enjoy a weekend in frankenmuth with a couple friends, visiting all the christmasy stuff there, getting ready for the holiday season ahead.  they spent weeks looking forward to it, and diana and i spent those same weeks looking forward to having a fun weekend together with ledger!  they headed out friday morning, and when i got home from work diana and i had a really fun night playing around the house with ledger.  saturday morning i got up with ledger and had some quality father-son time!  as a special treat for diana, i let her sleep as long as she wanted.  when she got up we even had a big breakfast: pancakes!  we don't usually get to have a big breakfast, so this was quite a treat.  we had a really fun morning, being silly together in the kitchen while ledger played along.  ah, truly a wonderful family morning!

drip, drip, drip

we have had a leaky tub faucet for a few months now.  i called a plumber friend a month ago to take a look at it and he did a little temporary fix on it, but unfortunately it didn't last.  well, now its time to pull out the big guns and take care of it myself!  after digging out a hole in the drywall and messing around with a lot of pipes, i got a replacement for the hot water handle for the tub.  it helped but didnt quite fix it.  after a lot of trial and error, i figured out that one of the seals had been cracked.  unfortunately, the cracked part was stuck and for the life of me i couldnt get it to budge!  after a second trip to the home improvement store (you know, i dont think i've ever done a job where i only needed to go once...), i rigged up a solution to the crack and behold- it worked!  i was rather pleased with myself, i must admit.  finally, that dripping is done!

chad's surprise visit

my  brother recently finished his most recent round of training in the military, so he would be sent back out soon.  taking advantage of the opportunity, he decided to surprise us and drive up for the weekend!  as soon as diana and i found out he was in town, we made plans to visit.  we were only able to stop up in grand rapids for an afternoon, but we were so glad we did!  it had been almost a year since the last time chad got to see ledger, so he was pretty amazed at how big our little guy is getting!  the two of them were able to spend some time together and play.  by late afternoon chad had to be on his way back to the base, but it was such a special treat to see him, even if it was for only a few hours!
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out to lunch

just for fun, diana and i headed out to the local restaurant, the 19th hole, for a bit to eat with out little guy.  he is getting so big!  he behaved himself very well, chatting it up with the waitress whenever she would come by- he's a ladykiller!  to pass the time while our food was getting ready, diana pulled out some of his flashcards.  he had a blast going through them and making the noises of each of the animals he saw.  when he came across one he didnt recognize he would ask 'daddy?'  and i would let him know what is was called, then he tried saying the animal for himself- usually to hilariously incorrect results!  he's got a ways to go yet, but he's getting better at talking everyday!

halloween party: adults only

after sugaring up the kids, i brought ledger home where diana's mom graciously offered to watch him for the night so we could stay out.  by the time i got back, the party was in full swing!  barbara and james stopped by to join us, and the festivities soon got underway.  veronica had planned out a couple fun games for us to play too- didnt want the kids to have all the fun!  by the end of the night we had wandered outside to the fire pit, where most of the talk turned nostalgic.  most of the people there had gone to high school together, so there was a lot of references to people and places i had never heard of, but is was still a ton of fun to just be a part of the hilarity!  we ended the night at an all night diner with about 10 of us.  it was a really fun party and i look forward to hanging out with these friends again!
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halloween game: donuts

another funny game for the kids to play at the halloween party was a donut game.  a donut was hung from the rafters for each of the kids, right at mouth level, and they had to try and eat it without using their hands!  it was really fun to laugh at the kids while they tried to chow down.  ledger seemed to pick it up right away- he never once tried to just grab it with his hands, he was all about the challenge of the game!  unfortunately one of the other kids accidentally bumped his donut to the ground, so rob got him another one and let him give it another go!  having never really had much sugar, he was shocked and amazed at this whole 'donut' thing...  when he finally got it off the string, he had both hands full of donut and was just chowing down!
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halloween party: ring game

diana, ledger, and i were invited by a couple friends to join them for a halloween party.  we were very excited about it- diana got together with a few of the other girls once or twice leading up to it so they could plan it all out using some great pintrest ideas they had been collecting.  most of the gang have kids themselves, so the party was broken up into two parts: 5:00-8:00 was the kids party, and 9:00-night was the adult party!  diana went over to rob and veronica's place earlier in the day to help set everything up in the garage and get it all ready, i headed over around 5 with ledger to enjoy the festivities.  there were a bunch of kids there, so ledger was thrilled!  the games that they had set up were a ton of fun for the kids to play- and for the parents to watch!  one of the little games set up was a ring toss, which ledger totally loved.  he had just so much fun with those kids- our own little social butterfly!

halloween commando

with halloween here, we wanted to dress ledger up for the costumed fun!  a few weeks ago diana got him a really cute lion costume, it was a full body costume with an adorable lion head.  the only problem was that every time we tried to get him in it he would throw a fit and start crying!  hmm, thats not going to work very well...  so we changed our plans a little bit and rummaged through his closet to find anything we could use for a costume.  the best we could do was camo and an military vest.  i guess our little guy is a commando this year by default!
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