Heather, Chris, Joshua, Alyssa, & Emily

Celebrating October 28th, 2011... One Year Later...

Happy Birthday, Alyssa! She made it through her first year in one piece despite our best efforts!! Here are some pictures of how Alyssa Paige spent her first birthday...

It was a cold birthday morning!

Stimulating breakfast conversation with Uncle Mike...

One year behind her and she's already starting to have a little attitude...

Birthday morning milk!

I take after my mother... I love my birthday!

Happy Birthday, Alyssa!

Playing in the playroom...

Uncle Mike sharing his expertise on the Disney Princesses...

Hard to believe it's been a whole year!

Playing with Papa, Gaga, Uncle Mike, and Joshua

Opening gifts with Papa...

That Joshua is sure swinging high!

Swinging is one of my favorite things to do!

Check out my pretty bow!

There's big brother!

I think I'll stretch my legs a bit...

Super slider...

Still learning... she'll be chasing Joshua down that slide soon enough!

A lesson in theory of baseball...

Crusin' on my tricycle...

Check out my ride...

Going for a ride with Gaga...

Watch out cupcake, here I come!!

Sweet Birthday Smiles!

I think she likes the cupcake...

Happy 1st Birthday, Alyssa!

Are you done with your cupcake? Guess not!

Joshua's practicing for his big day next week...

Alyssa and Dad...

Alyssa and the Godfather...

Halloween Night!

Well, at this age it's more like Halloween afternoon. And since Joshua was still having issues with putting on the policeman uniform, it turned into an afternoon at home. Joshua had a chance to help Grandma hand out the candy to the other trick-or-treaters, which turned out to be lots of fun!

Swinging with Grandma...

Grandma and Joshua...

Grandma and Alyssa...

Rolling around in the grass...

Deep thoughts...

Halloween hugs...

Making a getaway...

Man down! You're on your own, Alyssa!

Both looking at the camera... how about a couple of smiles?

There's one smile...

Yes, I suppose that makes two smiles...

Pumpkin Carving!

After last year's fun little family pumpkin carving turned into the masterpiece that was "Tigger," a few ground rules were stipulated this year. Joshua helped design the first pumpkin. He chose the shapes to be used for the eyes, nose, and mouth. Eyes were oval, nose was circle, and mouth was square. He also said he wanted a "scary" pumpkin. The second design was chosen out of a book where difficulty was rated anywhere from 1 to 5 stars. No design above 2 stars was allowed. The rules were followed and a good time was had by all ;)

Let's get started...

Thirty second later. "Keep up the good work, Dad!"

Scary!! And for those sticklers... Uncle Andy... the teeth are squares and the mouth is a rectangle...

Heather was putting Joshua to bed one night in his pitch black room. She was quite spooked when she opened her eyes to find the Grim Reaper hovering over her... Joshua thought it was funny...

Family picture!

Family picture take 2!

Playin' with Pumpkins!

Joshua and Alyssa each had their own pumpkin this year. Here are a few pictures of them playing in the backyard before we carved them up!

Hugs for the pumpkins!

That pumpkin is as big as you, Alyssa!

Wow! They're both smiling!

Crazy Joshua...

Sweet smile, Alyssa!

This is nice... but I feel like I'm forgetting something...

Ah yes, there it is. Now here again, he looks like he's being sweet, but the second that camera turns...

Body slam! Good thing I set up that hidden camera!

All's well that ends well...

Halloween Party!

One of my partners at work had everyone out to his ranch for an annual Halloween Party. They put on a great party! The kids had a great time! Here are some of the pictures...

What a cute ladybug!

Lookin' good, Alyssa!

Joshua was going to dress up as a policeman this year. He was very excited... he pointed out every police car for weeks and told everyone he was going to be a policeman. But when the time came and we were getting ready for the party, everything changed! In the end, he agreed to go as an undercover policeman as you can see in the picture below. It turned out to be a good costume... no one suspected a thing ;)

Checking out the haunted house with Dad!

After a few times he was brave enough to go on his own...

That ladybug costume is HOT, HOT, HOT!!

Planting Jasmine...

We decided to take on the ailing trellis as our last home improvement project in the rental house. Luckily we had lots of help pulling up the old roots, repairing the trellis, mending the fence, and planting some new jasmine! For those greenthumbs out there, we ended up planting a combination of Star Jasmine and Carolina Jasmine. Here are some photos...

Diggin' in the dirt wagon...