Early Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving may still be four days away, but we have already celebrated twice!

The top picture shows the second generation at the Engle (Brian's mom's side) Thanksgiving, and the bottom picture shows the third generation (you know - all the second cousins)! This isn't even close to showing all of them!

My sister and niece came to visit this week from D.C., so we also celebrated with them. Here's AJ learning a new trick from Grandma.

Angie and Megan. We miss you!

No visit would be complete without some fun in the tub!

Mom and Dad treated us to a day at Fort Rapids as an early Christmas present. Here's AJ with Daddy in the big fort/water play area. AJ went down the kiddy tube slide all by himself!

This was a big hit the whole day. I cannot tell you how many times these two went down this slide. WHAT GREAT FUN! Thanks Mom and Dad/Grandma and Grandpa!

The next day, we tailgated at Uncle Mark's for the OSU/Michigan game. The tables were occupied with games, so Megan and AJ had a picnic on the kitchen floor for dinner.

The "Sorry" crew - Ruth, Tommy, Emma's friend, Emma and Connie.

The Euchre crew - Bonnie, Barbie, Beth and Joe. There was also a Wii crew down in the basement!

AJ on the phone the day Aunt Angie and Cousin Megan left.

AJ's 1st phone call - "Hey Grandma, let's go back to the waterpark!"

AJ's 2nd phone call - "Aunt Angie and Megan, I hope you got home safe. I miss you!"

Leaves!!!

A big pile of leaves... need I say more!

AJ was very cute running through the leaves, and voicing his squeals of delight. He even helped Daddy get all of the leaves to the curb by carrying huge armloads of them, and when the pile was all gone, he was all done without a single complaint. Man, I love this kid!

Trick-or-Treat

Well Halloween was much more eventful and exciting this year for AJ. We dressed him up as a little vampire, which he absolutely loved (mostly because of the awesome cape his Grandma Rose made for him). He even let me paint little blood droplets around his mouth. He trick-or-treated for an hour and pretty much walked the whole time. Of course I couldn't get him to say trick-or-treat or thank you, but he knew exactly how to take the candy and put it in his bag. By the end of the night he was dragging his bag along the sidewalk, so now it has holes in it. He was really only scared when he saw someone with a mask on from the movie Scream, but otherwise he loved looking at all the jack-o-lanterns which he does say "jaaahhh" for. All in all, it was a great night!

Here's AJ inspecting his loot with Daddy at the end of the night, while we finished passing out candy.

Pumpkin Patch/HS Reunion/Random

Making it tradition, we went to the pumpkin patch again this year (although a different one from last year). This year, AJ had a "fun barn" to play in which he LOVED! This was the best we could do to get AJ and Heidi together in the barn. This is pretty typical, Heidi with the cheesy smile, and AJ not willing to sit still for 1 second!

Ah, donuts and cider. AJ's helping himself to Heidi's.

"I FOUND IT! THE GREAT PUMPKIN!"

Also new this year - a hayride!

A little comparison with last year. I CANNOT believe how BIG my little boy is now! Last year Dad had to be in it to help AJ stand, this year Dad had to be in it to make sure AJ was in it (again, the 1 second rule).

So, my 10 year high school reunion was a couple weeks ago. My girlfriends (who are still some of my best friends) and I decided to make it a girls night out since our lovely class decided to have it at a bar downtown (at least it was in the nice Arena Distrist and we did have a private party room). Below from left to right is Gabby, Megan, Denise, Jessie, Amanda, Natalie, AJ and me. If you notice in the above picture, Megan is missing because she had to leave early to tend to her little one. Ah, life with kids, but would we have it any other way?! Love you girls!

Here are just some random pictures I've taken recently. Why does every kid LOVE to help clean, and how do I bottle this for when he's a teenager? The vacuum was actually running.

I know, GROSS, but I had to take this because AJ was laughing at me and doing it on purpose when I trying to get him to stop and telling him it was yucky. Oh well!

This has become a new favorite activity for AJ. Not just reading, but reading at the table. I am amazed at how long he will look at a book. He will go through each page and tell you all about it (not that I can understand a word of it).

First trip to Chuck E. Cheese's.

Apple Picking

Grandma Bonnie and I took AJ apple picking this past Friday. Here's the story...

After convincing AJ that it was more fun to pull the apples off of the tree, rather then picking up the smooshed ones from the ground, he became quite the little helper!
He would place each apple in Grandma's bag (I don't think he put one apple into his mom's bag), and, being the big, strong boy he is, would carry the bag to the next tree.
He had to give those apples quite a tug, and the force of them coming off the tree usually caused AJ to drop them. However, the one he picked always made it to Grandma's bag.

AJ tried with all his might to carry the overflowing bags, and got so discouraged when he couldn't lift 16 pounds of apples, that we had to fill a grocery bag with a few apples from the ground, so he could help us carry the apples back to the car. He even loaded his bag of apples into the trunk (which we promptly tossed once he was in his carseat). What a fun time!

Trip to Iowa

Okay, so I accidently deleted this from the middle of the post and have never figured out how or if you can insert pictures in the middle (new pics always just go to the top of the post), so here it is at the beginning because it's just to cute not to post. AJ LOVED Carter's famous John Deer motorized tractor. He quickly caught on, and Carter was gracious enough to share. AJ's favorite part was feeling the wheel as he drove (one-handed of course)!

This past weekend, AJ and I tagged along with my mom and her three sisters to visit my cousin Katie and her family in Iowa. She has twin boys who were born on July 4th and another son who is just 18 days older than AJ. We had a FABULOUS time, and the older boys really seemed to enjoy each other's company. After posting the pictures, I realized that I didn't take that many of the twins, Tristan and Tyler, but then again I spent most of my time entertaining AJ and Carter.

The first group of pictures shows AJ and Carter hanging out together at different points troughout the weekend. They both thought it was fun to slide out through the arms of lounge chair, and I just happened to catch them doing it at the same time!

Pictures wouldn't be complete without one of the boys in the tub. There's only a dozen of their mommies in the tub together at their age!

Carter and AJ reverted back to some of their "old ways." Here they are hangin' out in the Bumbos - a weekend favorite. Of course, AJ gets stuck in them now.
The Hoyt house/yard was full of new adventures for AJ. Here he is with Carter and Grandma Bonnie walking down the big hill in their backyard. He thought it was great!
Again, reverting back to old ways. They kicked the babies out from the playmat and took over! Oh, and they're also battling over the "cool" beads.

As I said before, the Hoyt house was filled with new and exciting things for AJ to explore. Another favorite - the white boa! He wore this all day Saturday!

They boys in their hats, and AJ with the beads!
The beads again, but now we have a bracelet to match!

Finally, pictures of Tristan and Tyler. AJ was actually quite intrigued with the babies, and would often just look at them and pat them. Here he is helping me take care of Tyler (I think - honestly I could tell them apart in person).

AJ picked up on this quickly. He's such a big helper! I hope he's still like this when he has a little brother or sister.
Buckeye Saturday! We had a regular tailgate party on Saturday for the Buckeye game, and to start us off, AJ and Carter helped Aunt Beth ice the football cookies!

All the boys! Tyler, Carter, AJ and Tristan! I can't believe they are all somewhat looking and no one is crying!
AJ wasn't so sure of Carl at first, but by the end of Saturday he let him and Carter play a game of "Get his toes!"
Here I am with Tristan (on the left) and Tyler all decked out in our Buckeye gear!
The spirited Buckeye FAM! From left to right, Ruth with Kirby, Katie and Carter, Beth and Tyler, Me and AJ, Grandma Bonnie helping me hold AJ because he was desperately trying to get down, and Barbie and Tristan.
Somehow we managed to get in a boat ride, thanks to Carl Hoyt Sr. FYI - the Hoyt's own a Marina. We were just going to visit the river house, but Carl Sr. had the pontoon all ready for us. AJ didn't mind the "boat-coat" and our favorite part was the handle on the back that you could quickly pull to keep in from walking off the dock. He cried when we loaded him on the boat and wasn't too sure about it at first.

Here's AJ clinging to me at first.
Once we got going, he decided he was brave enough to just hang out next to me. Carl, Carter and Barbie. Thanks again Hoyt family for having us and for the WONDERFUL weekend. We miss and love you tons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!