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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ledger's artwork

ledger loves to play with his toys, just like any other kid, but there's one thing that he does a little bit differently.  he really loves to try and make things balance on top of each other.  why?  i have no idea, but he takes such joy in it!  he will take one of his little toy figures and set it on top of something and walk around it to get a good look at it from all perspectives, and then he will call one one of us over to check it out.  he is so proud of himself when he gets them to balance on the strangest things!  to the left you will notice one of his most impressive feats of balance, the sheep on the baby gate.  what a masterpiece!  its almost as if, to him, they are some sort of art installation that is a form of his expression.  please, check out some more of his 'balance gallery' here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

self made halloween costume

so, we've got a holloween party coming up for ledger and we are trying to find a good costume for him.  a month or two ago diana found a really great lion costume for him, but every time we try to get him in it he screams bloody murder and throws a fit for a half hour!  perhaps sensing our frustration, ledger decided to find a costume for himself!  so, apparently our son is going dressed as a paper sack for halloween...
when diana and i saw him walking around with this on, i'm pretty sure we were howling with laughter for the next three hours!  i still cant look at this picture without giggling!

silly hair

it was ledger's most favorite time: bath time!  he loves getting in that water and playing around.  we try to let him stay in there until he gets bored, but the problem is that he never does!  one time, i think, we were in there for over a half hour- baby prune hands are probably the cutest thing ever!  whenever i get to give him a bath, i always like to mess around with his hair when he's done.  well, this time i made sure to get some great pictures of the wild styles we came up with!
check them out here.

farm counting

ledger has been learning so much so quickly lately!  he's able to say and understand so many words now that every day when i come home he's got a new one or three to tell me.  i always like to go through his flashcards with him or his books and ask him what different stuff on the page is.  he's got just about all the animals figured out- both their names and their noises!  i thought i would put him to the test though, and see if he has learned how to count.  i lined up a bunch of his farm animal toys and counted them out for him, 'one, two, three...' and then asked him to do the same.  much to my delight, he pointed out each one and counted out a number: 'two, three, two, three, two, three...'  i was duly impressed!  granted, its not quite right, but he certainly understands the whole counting concept!  before we know it, he's going to be talking in complete sentences and holding conversations with us- oh, i cant wait!

all smiles

ledger and i were just hanging out in the living room the other day.  i realized that i didnt have many pictures of him on my phone, which is really strange, because i usually take so many pictures! admittedly i had a bunch of pictures, but i didnt have any that were good shots of what ledger looks like right now.  most of them were him being active, running around or just taken from farther away.  so, we had ourselves a little impromptu photo shoot!
here are the adorable results!

meal and a movie

the other day james and barbara stopped by for the evening.  the came with a bunch of groceries and we made dinner together!  ledger was up for a few hours with us, getting the chance to spend some time with his auntie and james.  as always, he was a blast!  he really seemed to hit it off with james, playing with him and talking his ear off.  after dinner ledger went to bed and the four of us got a chance to hang out, watch a scary movie, and just have a great time.  i'm pretty sure diana's favorite part was the ample desserts that barbara brought as well!

by the book

one of the changes around the house that we have made was moving out the love seat and armchairs from the dinning room corner.  it worked perfectly, david took the love seat in to his office at work, and we were able to bring our love seat in to the house as well as a couple of book shelves.  we were a little worried about how ledger would act with the shelves of books, but we made sure to leave him the bottom shelf so he could keep all his books there.  its been going really well, he doesnt even seem to notice the adult books and leaves them completely alone, choosing instead to play with and pull out all of his books!  that should keep him busy for a while!

life is a zoo

diana and barbara planned a wonderful day for ledger: a visit to the south bend zoo!  they invited james, barbara's friend, and his neices to join them, and mom went along too.  diana said that ledger has so much fun seeing the different animals.  he loves animals so much that i'm sure he absolutely loved the chance to see them in real life!  his favorite toys are the animals in his farm set, always carrying them around with him making their noises- 'moo!'  'neh!'  'baa!', and any time there are animals on tv he always stops whatever he's doing to watch them!  diana said that he was loving every minute of their trip, and for some reason he thought everything was a turtle.  strange...
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brinkend weekend 2

after the boat ride we started getting dinner ready.  mom put the beans and stuff on the stove while papa, tim, jackson, and i gathered around the grill to prepare the brats and dogs for our feast.  when all was ready, we all piled in to the dinning room and dug in.  it was so wonderful to have my family with us at our place, getting a chance to see where we are and get to enjoy the house and lake.  i think we are going to need to do this again real soon!

brink boat

soon after they settled in, the kids wanted to go out on the boat!  they got in their bathing suits and we headed out.  as soon as the boat pulled out, a muskrat jumped out from behind the boat, freaking out all the girls!  well, there's no way jaidey is going in the water now...  we went around the lake, checking out the sites, and when we were in the middle of the lake papa asked if the kids were going to get in.  after the muskrat incident it took a little bribery to make that happen- he offered the kids a dollar if they hopped in.  almost before the words came out of his mouth, aves was mid-air making the plunge!  she quickly scurried back on the boat- the water was freezing!  jackson was willing to overlook that issue and he jumped in too.  aves took one last dive before they called it quits, making sure that papa was actually going to pay out!  when we got back to the dock the kids ran up to the deck and hopped in the hot tub to warm back up.
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brinkend weekend

my family hasnt had a chance yet to visit us since the change, so we made plans to fix that!  diana and i have been making a lot of changes around the house, moving out some furniture, bringing some of our stuff in and getting the place looking its best.  with all the changes going on, we wanted to show if off a bit to my family.  we found a weekend that worked for everyone to visit: mema, papa, tim, jill, and the kids!  diana and i were, of course, busy all morning getting the place ready to show off.  they arrived in the afternoon and we had a great time showing off the place, giving them the grand tour of our place, letting papa see first hand all the work i had done over the summer on the deck and everything.  they were duly impressed and pleased that we were so happy where we are.
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