It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We went to another Christmas event this past weekend.  The Sunday after Thanksgiving is when the St. Louis Hills Home Owners Association has the tree lighting ceremony in Francis Park.  We've gone the last 4 years to this, and it was almost proposal spot.  This year was extra special because it was Gabe's first big Christmas experience.

Gabe slept the whole way to the Birch's and was very bright eyed once we got to the park.  Thankfully, it was almost 60 earlier in the afternoon and it was still fairly warm while we waited for the lights to come on.  Mathew joined Scott and I as we waited for FredBird, Santa and Mrs. Claus to arrive.  Then there was the big count down by the Mayor and then the tree was lit and the Carols were sung.  Gabe just starred at the bright tree not knowing what to think of it all. 

A couple pictures later we were off to find Ben and head home.  It was a long drive for 45 minutes of hanging out with the Birch's, but it was fun and it is a tradition that we will continue.

Thanksgiving 2013

We had a somewhat relaxing and fun Thanksgiving in Chicago with the Bates family.  Scott and Gabe picked me up from work at 4 on Tuesday and we hit the road.  We made our traditional Springfield Steak 'n Shake stop.  Gabriel had fun rolling around in his high chair and being cute.

On Wednesday morning, Gabriel's cousins couldn't stay away.  We were up early(4:30am) and ready to play with all the new-to-Gabriel toys.  

We ended up going to the mall to walk around and get Gabe to take a nap.  Gabe slept for an hour and half in the baby Bjorn while we were there.

 

On Thanksgiving, Scott, Kevin, Jeni and Austin ran in the North Shore Turkey Trot.  It was freezing outside, in the teens.  Way too cold for Gabriel and I to cheer from the sidelines.  Instead, we napped and watched a lot of football. 

Not a great Gabe picture but you can see his shirt

 

Gabe is close to walking and decided that doing at least 100 laps around Jeni's house is the best was to practice.  He was also working on going up and down stairs.  Going down was done mostly on his belly and sliding head first. 

On Friday we had planned on going up to Madison and touring the state capital, however, I woke up with a headache and it was a bit of a late start.   So, Scott and I went to look at new washers and dryers, very exciting. 

 

 

We did take advantage of having lots of people willing to watch Gabe, and we went out to dinner at Longitude 315.  It was a Peruvian, Brazilian, and Argentinian restaurant.  When we say down and looked at the menu I was nervous.  There was a lot of new and strange sounding foods.  But I ended up getting lamb chops and then sampling everything on Scott's plate.  It was all so delicious and I was happy I tried all new things.  

We headed home on Saturday, after a testdrive (or picture in) Kevin's Maserati. 

Gabe is completely exhausted from playing with new toys, running around the house and all the people he had to keep eyes on and watch for 4 days. 

It was a great Thanksgiving and now we have a day to relax before our routine starts again.  

Round Here

I was going for the "Round Here" sound of the Counting Crows with that title.  It's almost Thanksgiving and it has me thinking of Omaha - somewhere in the middle of America.  Although this year we are heading up to Chicago for Gabe's first Turkey Day.  Scott and I are excited to get some family time in and time away from work.

Thankfully, we haven't been too busy lately.  We've been spending more time at home, have I checked off a lot of my to-do list, not really.  However, there has been a lot of play time and practicing our walking skillz.

Gabe has started posing for pictures.  When I tried to be sneaky and catch him playing with Scott's shoes, he stopped, turned and smiled.  He is a ham and loves to see the flash.

 He started to really enjoy feeding himself.  I'm not sure if it's because he sees his buddy, Ford, eating and he is now mimicking that, but the Puffs are a way to get him to sit in his highchair.  He loves his Puffs and is starting to share with Reily.  Reily is starting to get on board with having him around for extra snacks.

 We really try to cheer our Husker's on, however, bad defense makes it difficult to watch the whole game.  So we opt for getting our picture taken in our awesome Husker's onesie.

 This past Sunday there was horrible weather around the St. Louis area.  In our neighborhood it was sunny and 72 - in the middle of November.  While Scott did some work, Gabe and I took a walk to the Aquaport and back in hopes of a nice long morning nap.  The morning nap didn't happen, but it was really nice to get outside for a while.

 Like I said, this kid likes to pose for the camera.  He really is a little turkey.

 We sent Zio Andrew a picture of Gabe holding a basketball in hopes that he sends us a soccer ball soon.  I figured Andrew should hook his godson up with a sport that he enjoyed and loves to watch. 

That's just a little bit of what is going on "Round Here."  Scott leaves this afternoon for a couple days of training in Chicago.  I'm extremely happy that this trip is in the same time zone and only for 3 days.  Ha, 3 days, that's nothing for Gabe and me.

Fall

We've had some fun playing in the leaves this past weekend.  Gabe had a mini photo shoot along with it.  This kid loved crawling around the front yard and eating the leaves.

 

 

9 Months

Gabriel turned 9 months old today.  He spent the day at home with Scott and I.  His buddy, Ford, was sick so Scott and I took turns watching him today.  It was wonderful.  We played, watched new shows, and he took a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.

A few new firsts for Gabe's 9 months:

• First time playing in the leaves
• First cold
• First new friend
• New foods
• Sippy cups

Gabe's 9 month appointment isn't until the 22nd so I'll have weight, height updates then.

Happy 9 months little man! 

Crazy

This kid is crazy.  He is really starting to discover everything in the house.  And climbing is the best way to do that. 

 

I'm pretty sure he ended up with a bruise above his eye after landing in the drawer below the oven, but you can't tell it bothered him one bit. 

 

This boy is all over the place and Scott and I are just having fun chasing him.

Fall Wedding

We celebrated our friends, Mike and Nicole's wedding this weekend.  It was a beautiful and well planned wedding.  

 

Scott and I started our day pretty early, Gabe woke up around 6am and we played while each took turns getting ready.  Gabe was not happy that he lost a day of play with mom and dad, but made up for it by hanging out with Aunt Michelle, Nana and Grandpa Ron.  We managed to get a family picture before we headed out the door.

Scott and I picked up the Groom and a couple groomsmen from Mike's parents house.  Mike had a new first that morning, ordering me a vanilla latte from Bread Co.  Then we headed to the church to get a few before pictures of the guys.

 Finally the wedding started and the Bride and bridesmaids looked amazing.  All the planning that Nicole and Mike did was evident in the ceremony and even the reception.  This was the first mass that I had attended in the College Church at SLU.  It was beautiful and a great place to have a wedding.

 Even Zipf got in on the action by saying the petitions.

 After the ceremony solo bride picture.  She looked great!

 After the ceremony we drove down to the Hilton Ballpark to check in and have a quick lunch that Scott ordered (Jason's Deli did an amazing job!).  We then hopped on the party bus to the Arch grounds for lots and lots and lots of pictures.  Mike and Nicole picked the perfect weekend, all the leaves just changed color and the photographers were amazing at capturing them.  Since I was the only non-bridal party person getting off the bus, I was able to help the photographers.  I may have a new career calling...

 Mike and Nick are having a little too much fun.

 

After the pictures we headed back to the hotel for one more stop at Anthony's Bar for a quick group picture and drinks.  I managed to get in on one of the very last pics with the bridal party - wonder what that will look like.  We had a quick cocktail hour and then the amazing reception started.  Scott did great with his best man speech.  After dinner it was time for dancing and even a little fun photo booth action.   

 

Congratulations Mike and Nicole!  We can't wait to catch up with you get back from Punta Cana!