Patrick's 1st Christmas!

I can't believe Christmas has already come and gone - it went by so quickly this year! It was so much fun to celebrate Christmas with Patrick. He loved the tree, the lights, the Christmas Train around the tree, and the wrapping paper. The grandparents (all 5 of them) came over for Christmas Eve dinner and Patrick got to open his presents with them. He was so cute and enjoyed ripping that paper open! Here are some pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

It was fun to see Grandma J again! She sang her favorite Christmas song to Patrick and it is really too bad we didn't get it on video. He was so fascinated by her singing....and her dancing slippers!

This toy from Grandma & Grandpa Steeley even kept Daisy entertained!

Grandma & Grandpa Patterson said this horse will have to do until Patrick is big enough to ride their real horses!

Tearing the presents open was all the fun this year!

Grandma J bought Patrick this great sled and a snowsuit - can't wait to use it outside!

Santa Claus!

On Saturday, December 6th, we took Patrick to our community pot luck where he got to see Santa Claus for the first time. I was afraid he'd be scared, but he was just enthralled by him instead. It was hard to get him to look away from the man with the white beard. I think I heard him asking for a few more teeth, a little more hair, and a santa sized sack full of $100 bills (oh wait, that was my wish!).

Random pictures!

Just thought we'd share a few pictures from November. The month flew by and now we're headed into December and Christmas. Time flies when you're having fun and enjoying life!

I Am Thankful......

Happy Thanksgiving! For Patrick's 1st Thanksgiving we headed to Alder, MT (8 miles from here) to Grandpa & Grandma Patterson's House. Along with them, we were able to spend the day with Grandpa & Grandma Steeley and Uncle Tyler & Aunt Jackie. We had a yummy dinner & beautiful weather. I have so many things to be thankful for this year. The opportunity to be a mother is number one on my list, and as always I am equally thankful for a loving, supportive husband....who is also very handy, great family who love us and would do anything for us, two big goofy dogs who make me smile, friends, jobs that bring home a paycheck, a beautiful house, and heat....because it is starting to get COLD! We hope you all had a wonderful Turkey Day and you have many things to be thankful for.

Ferocious Lion or Cuddly Cub?

Patrick was a lion for his first Halloween - isn't he adorable?! He got to go visit Grandma Patterson & Grandma and Grandpa Steeley and then he went trick-or-treating around Virginia City. Unfortunately he can't eat candy yet, so we had to do the dirty work for him....it would be a shame to let it go to waste!

Baby's Favorites

Some of Patrick's favorite things are....the spatula and his dog Boone. He's not as interested in our dog Daisy, but then again, she's not too interested in him either. Boone always lays next to Patrick when he's on the floor or lays next to the highchair (Boone really is in these pictures - he's the two glowing eyes on the left hand side!). I think they're destined to be best buddies.

Trip to Salt Lake for Surgery

On October 17, 2008, Patrick had minor surgery at Primary Children's Hospital to repair a small birth defect called Hypospadias. The surgery was 2 hours long and the recovery was quite hard on all of us, but Patrick was so brave and strong. We stayed in Salt Lake for nearly a week to be sure he was on the right track with his recovery.

Patrick got to spend lots of time with Grandma J who read stories and sang lots of songs to him.

The trip home was very long. Poor Patrick had to sit in his carseat for 7 hours (not fun when you've had surgery "down there"), so we stopped in Dillon, MT for some greasy goodness from Pizza Hut.

The Boys clean up well!

It is a rare occassion that I get to see Donny without a hat on, but Stacy and Justin's wedding was just the event. The wedding was beautiful and my guys looked great!

Go Bengals!

We were hoping that Patrick would bring good luck to the Bengals this season, but so far they've only won one game! Oh well, it is still fun to cheer them on with dad!

Bath & Play time

There are few things I love more than to give Patrick a bath and watch him play with his toys. He's just such a happy baby! These pictures are in his lion towel after the bath and in his exersaucer, which he's getting to like more and more.

A trip to Missoula

We try to visit Missoula and our friends Andrea and Seth at least once a year. This year it was over Labor Day weekend. We had a nice time BBQing with them and seeing their baby Maxsen for the first time (he's 9 months old). Next year when we visit - the boys will be old enough to really interact with each other! Poor Patrick got really carsick on the way home though. I'm afraid he gets that from his mom. :0(

Ohio State University Football!

Yep, it's that time of year again for Ohio State University football games! Patrick and his daddy are all ready to go.....too bad the games are so far away! Oh well, they just check them out from the comforts of our couch.

P.S. Thank you to Donny's uncle Dan and aunt Cindy for the adorable OSU outfit for Patrick!

The Never Ending Project

It's amazing to me how much work our house has been, but I am always so excited when a BIG project gets finished. Donny puts in so much hard work around our house - he's incredible! A couple of weekends ago he was able to finish the rock on the outside of the house. Here are a few pictures from that project. Great job Donny!!

Patrick at 5 months

We finally took Patrick to get his picture taken by a professional! He was a little overwhelmed by how many people were trying to get him to smile, but he still did a great job. I got suckered into a package deal where we'll get about 400 pictures by the end of it, but I guess for my first time, it was to be expected! The photographer totally saw me coming! From here on out I hope to get his picture taken every three months or so....and I won't be buying the package deal!