Nov. 10

November flew by! Looking back, though, I'm not sure what kept us so busy. Alice enjoyed some time outside while we racked leaves several times. I thought she would like the crunchy sound they made but she wasn't sure what to think about them at first. Our final time of racking we loaded the pick-up full and let Alice play in the big pile.


Alice has also started enjoying climbing over and sitting on daddy and going for piggy-back rides. I had several Discovery Toy Parties in Nov. so Alice enjoyed some fun daddy-daughter 'date-nights'.

Over Thanksgiving we first traveled to Jameson's parents Tuesday night through Thursday evening. We got together Wednesday night with the whole family at Jordan and Joy. Here is Alice and daddy with her older cousins.

Thursday after supper we traveled to my parents and spent Friday and Saturday with them. We were able to see most of my relatives for a soup supper Friday night. Friday and Saturday we helped my parents move 'living necessities' (bedroom furniture, clothes, kitchen things, and basement furniture) into their new house as they were ready to start living there. They are keeping some furniture at the old house as they are still trying to sell it. Alice spent a good portion of the time at grandma and grandpa T's playing with this toy.

Before leaving for Thanksgiving festivities we put up our first Christmas tree! (Last year's 2 foot tree really doesn't count.) I also put away fall decorations and got out the rest of our Christmas decorations. It was fun to come up to a house ready for the Christmas season! Here's Alice and daddy spreading out the branches. (We bought an artificial tree so this first year some work was required to get it looking nice.)

And the all-most finished product! (Missing a tree-topper)

Oct. '10

The first weekend in October (Oct. 1-2) we went to Davenport to help my parents begin moving things into their new house. They are going to continue living in their current house until it sells (hopefully soon) so the guys just moved a lot of extra things they don't need for now. (This included a lot of heavy cabinets!)

Mom, Grandma, and I started taking down the wallpaper in the dinning room. (This took several weeks of work after this as the glue was on THICK!)

Alice continued working on her stair climbing skills and learned how to go down.


Oct 8-10 we went to visit Jameson's cousin Stephan's family in WI along with Jordan's family. On the way up we stopped at a park for lunch. We had a great view of the lake for lunch.

After lunch the kids had a great time playing at the park. This is the first time Alice has really enjoyed anything beyond the swings at the park.





Enjoying the beautiful weather outside.

Alice enjoyed playing in and with this car.

Just down the road from Steph and Dawn's is a beautiful lake with CRP and trees that they have permission to ride four-wheelers on. Jameson took me on a ride down there and then we all walked down there after coffee time (trying to work up an appetite for supper).

One night at supper Alice just started clapping for the first time- super cute! (Oct. 11)

Recently Alice has been having fun looking at books w/ flaps and sliders. She plays peek-a-boo with the pictures and frequently will giggle when she uncovers the picture. She also like to play peek-a-boo with her curtains when I'm changing her diapers.

I recently got several new Discovery Toys which are age appropriate for Alice. I find it SO fun to watch her play!!!
Playing with Sunshine Market.

Playing with the Story Stacker.




ALICE's 1st BIRTHDAY!
Alice turned 1 on Saturday. We celebrated Saturday afternoon with Jenessa. (Our parents will both be up in the next week so neither of them came for her birthday). We began by singing and giving her a cupcake. She wasn't sure what to think at first but after a slow start, dug in and got messy!




After cupcakes we gave her some playtime in the bathtub (which was obviously VERY necessary).

Then we gave her a few presents. She enjoyed pulling on the ribbon and thus she needed a little assistance getting started with her toys.

Fun telephone!

Hammer Away! (Discovery Toys)

Winter coat, hat and gloves!

Jameson playing Ultimate Frisbee. He started playing with the Waterloo Team at the beginning of the summer and then took several months off after hurting his ankle. Now they are playing at Peet (just across the street from us) on Thursday so he's starting playing again this fall.

Alice and I went to watch for a little while when the Waterloo Team played the Wartburg team. I did a mini photo shoot while with Alice while they were warming up.




My parents came through Cedar Falls on their way to/from Rochester the Tuesday and Thursday after Alice's birthday so we celebrated her birthday with them then. They got this rocking chair at an antique show and my mom refinished it to match our furniture. Alice LOVES it and plays on it A LOT!!! It looks great with the rest of our furniture and will certainly be a keepsake! It has a home in front of our big picture window where Alice spends most of her playtime.

Alice reading a story to Grandma T.

My grandpa made me this cradle for me when I was little. Alice likes to take the dolls out and climb in herself.

Sept. 10

We went to the farm for a visit Labor Day Friday /Saturday. Alice enjoyed playing with a fun toy that Grandma R. had got from a friend.


She is exploring new places in the house. Here she found that the shoe shelf in our closet was a fun place to climb and sit.

She also LOVES to look out the front window. She spends a lot of time playing by the window and watching what's going on outside.

Another favorite place to play for several weeks was the shelf under the piano.


Drinking her first cup of cow's milk (Sept. 28). I started mixing cow's milk in with her baby cereal several weeks before this to ease her into it. She drank it right up and seemed to like it. A few days later, after she was good at drinking this, I weaned her down to 2 feedings (morning and before bed).

She's had 8 teeth for several weeks now, this is the first good picture I got of them.

August '10 (St. Louis trip and more)

Alice continues to try and enjoy more and more foods. Here she is eating blueberries- a new favorite of hers and an extra special treat b/c I don't normally buy fresh blueberries.


My brother came to visit this middle of August (during his break before fall classes start).
Alice and Uncle Matt

My brother took a few daily life action pictures of Alice, which I'm not always good at getting. Alice loves to see what is going on when I'm cooking or preparing food so I frequently pick her up and tell her what I'm busy making. I look forward to the days when she'll be able to help me in the kitchen!

She enjoys playing with plastic bowls or anything I'll let her have while I'm working in the kitchen. This time she was actually trying to put the bowls back in the cupboard after she took them out.

The middle of August I made a trip down to see my parents new house. I stopped in Eldridge at my friend Michelle's and met her new baby girl, Ellie and shared new mom stories. This was the first newborn baby I've seen since Alice was born and I could hardly believe how tiny she was and realized I'd already forgotten how precious a newborn baby cry is!


Jameson started his MBA classes again Aug. 19. He has 1 year left and they made a change to the program so now he is just taking one 4-hr night class each week now (instead of two 3-hr night classes/wk).

Aug. 20-22 we went to St. Louis with Jameson's college roommate Loren to visit my brother. The guys went to a Cardinals game Friday night.

Saturday we toured Covenant Seminary Campus (where my brother is going), went to the Science museum,

went up in the St. Louis Arch,

toured the Budweiser Brewery,

and went out for pizza. (Alice did great given minimal naptime!) Sunday we went to church with my brother.


Aug. 25 Cedar Falls schools started so I started my first sub job. I subbed for a teacher at Holmes who's was out on maternity leave for the first 2 1/2 weeks of school. My mom and my friend Rose are watched Alice. I enjoyed the classes I got to teach and Alice did great during my time away but by the end of the 2 1/2 weeks Jameson and I were both VERY thankful that I don't teach full-time.