Getting close

Rich teaching Joseph how to walk Army style!

Texas Thanksgiving

Our first Texas Thanksgiving (and Joseph's first Thanksgiving) was a great one and we have so much to be thankful for this year. We are thankful for new friends that we celebrated with who all recently moved to Texas as well-we had 6 adults and 6 kids, under the age of 3! (We are thankful for old friends, too!)

I just love Emerson's face in this picture, obviously she wasn't too crazy about something she put in her mouth!

We are thankful for our families, especially our little guy

We are also extremely thankful for our health (and the health of our loved ones) and that we have a healthy and active little boy

We feel truly blessed and on this Thanksgiving we give thanks for all of the blessings in our lives. Happy Thanksgiving!

Joseph's 1st Party

Joseph went to his first birthday party today! His little friend, Madilyn, who lives on the street next to us turned 1 today so they had her birthday party at the park behind our house. It was a beautiful day and a fun afternoon!

Joseph in the "ball pit"-doesn't he look like he is up to no good here?

The birthday girl loving the cake

Madi's grandma, Marcela and some of the babies

Mason and Joseph deciding if they want to go into the ball pit.

1st Mainland Roadtrip

Last week Rich had to work in San Antonio for half the week so Joseph and I decided to tag along. We left Tuesday night and drove the almost 4 hours while Jopseh slept-it was the perfect way to start the mini-vacation.

We stayed at the Hyatt right on the riverwalk which was a great location-Joseph enjoyed checking out the new toys to play with in the hotel room.

San Antonio is a really neat city. Every morning we would have breakfast together and then Rich would head to work and Joseph and I explored the city until we would meet up for lunch. One of the things that I loved is that people were walking everywhere and they had rental stations for bikes throughout the city-you swiped your credit card and could rent a bike for the day. I forgot to take a picture of those though but it was pretty cool!

During our meals there were mariachi bands all over the place and Joseph would start dancing whenever they started playing. One day during lunch we decided to have the group come over and play a song at our table. As you can see in the video he was kind of shell shocked that they were so close to him-no dancing this time! We should have put the $5.00 we paid them into his college fund instead!

After lunch we'd do some more exploring, shopping, walking, and playing until we headad out for dinner.

We even checked out the children's museum one day-they had a great area for babies.

It was a fun 4 days although Joseph wasn't the greatest hotel guest-by the last night we think he caught a little bug so he was up for a few hours in the night so by Saturday we were all ready to be home in our own beds but we are so glad we went.

On the Night You Were Born

When Joseph was born he received the book, On the Night You Were Born, from our dear friends, the Ratke family. We have read this book to him numerous times in the past 11 months and within the last few months he has started flipping the pages of the book very quickly until he gets to his favorite page and kisses the animals on the page. He does this EVERY time we read it now and I knew that I wanted to get it on video to remember this and just had to share! Love this little guy-he definitely makes us laugh :)

Right where we left off

Last week we had 2 of my closest and dearest friends come visit. Michelle and her adorable daughter, Audrey, came for 5 days and Katie was here for almost 2 days on her way to Kentucky. The three of us have been friends for a long time-Katie and Michelle since the age of 3 (amazing, huh!) and Michelle and I are good friends from highschool and then Michelle introduced Katie and I almost 10 years ago. The last time that the 3 of us were together was at our wedding over 5 years ago. The best thing about great friends is that even though time and distance may separate you, when you get back together it is as if you see one another on a daily basis. It was so great to see both of them and we loved getting to know baby Audrey and seeing her and Joseph interact since they are exactly 3 weeks apart.

The babies (well almost not babies anymore) getting to know one another

Pretty little Audrey

Joseph would eat Audrey's scraps!

This picture just makes me smile!

We had a great routine with the babies-wake up, play, breakfast, go for a walk, nap, go out to lunch, nap, park, dinner, bath and bed. It was so great to spend so much time with Michelle and Audrey!

Our Christmas card photo shoot :) My neighbors must have thought we were crazy with the tripod set up!

It was such a wonderful visit. I had the biggest smile on my face for days after just thinking about our conversations and our time together...looking forward to our next visit and hoping that it isn't too far away. Thanks so much for coming ladies!

11 months!

Joseph turned 11 months on November 7th, 2011...can't believe that we are almost to the big 1! He continues to be such a happy little guy and we just get such a kick out of him. To think that a year ago we were counting down the days to his arrival and now to see how much he has grown and changed is just amazing! Looking forward to what this last month of his first year has in store for us. Happy 11 months little man!

Cousins!!

So fun to have Joseph and Sydney meet, although I am not so sure Sydney would agree with me. This photo collage pretty much sums up the trip!

Photo 1-Joseph and Sydney meet and are checking each other out.

Photo 2-Joseph is trying hard to be gentle but it is really hard for him-Sydney just chills.

Photo 3-Joseph thinks that if he goes for the sneak attack on Sydney he may get to touch (or grab) her!

Photo 4-Sydney is totally annoyed with him and thankfully he finally moves on to something else.

One cute predator

Since we were in San Diego for Halloween Nani was excited to buy both grandkids their 1st Halloween costumes. Rich gave her pretty strict guidelines though, "Nothing too cute, nothing too girly and if he is going to be an animal he has to be a predator." Oh goodness-and I want to raise a sensitive boy! Nani did a great job though and we ended up with an adorable leopard and a very cute (I mean scary!) tiger.

Laura and Sydney flew back the day before Halloween so we had a photo shoot with the kiddos on Saturday. Sydney was the perfect little model as she just sat and smiled...it was my busy little tiger that had trouble sitting still for the photo shoot! It was good for laughs though!

I love this collage-look at Sydney's face in each frame-they crack me up, especially the bottom left one-she is totally annoyed with Joseph! And then finally Joseph had enough and he escapes!

On Halloween we went to a pumpkin patch during the day and that night took Joseph over to our good friends' home for his first trick-or-treating experience.

Happy Halloween 2011!

Playing tourist

We didn't do any of the huge attractions such as Sea World or the zoo while we were in San Diego (figure Sydney and Joseph were a little young to pay 50 bucks to see the animals) but we did do something "touristy" each day.

We hit up Konos (our fave breakfast spot) in Pacific Beach and hung out on the beach

We took the hour drive to Julian in hopes to go to a pumpkin patch, but just ended up driving all the way for lunch...and their delicious apple pie, and then had to come home and walk it off!

We checked out a great playground that Kristie Remaly introduced me to in March at Balboa Park

Roamed around Coronado

On Halloween we ventured out again to a pumpkin patch-this one was a bit closer, though, and a success!

And we also went to a great little spot in Solana Beach for lunch and to play at the park

We definitely fit in a lot while we were there but it was a great combination of relaxation as well as activities and everything (and everyone!) kept Joseph entertained so it was really an easy trip!

The dela Fam

Joseph and I headed to San Diego for 8 days last week to spend time with my family and to meet baby cousin Sydney who flew in from Hawaii wtih Laura. We had a great time with everyone! I took over 300 photos so I am a little overwhelmed as where to even begin...guess I'll just start posting pictures!

The minute we arrived Joseph took to the dogs immediately-"da da da" was heard all week and he would get so excited when they were around. When they were outside he would stand at the sliding glass door yelling "da da da." I am sure my parents are enjoying the peace and quiet now!

His favorite dog was Zoey, Lindsay's dog, but Zoey was afraid of him-he was so excited when Linz was around so he could pet her!

Meeting baby Sydney-almost 3 months and such a sweetie!! I love her!

Up past his bedtime watching the World Series with special friend Paul and Poppa!

Can't believe we didn't get a picture of the 4 siblings and the cousins-at Christmastime we'll be sure to get everyone!