Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2010 was wonderful!  We got to spend the day before with our dear friends Daryl and Sarah from VA. I don't think that we laugh more than when they are in town!  On Thanksgiving, we treked down to Colorado Springs to spend the day with the Westermanns after pressure cooking our turkey at Chick-fil-A!  It was delcious and has become the tradition.  Bryce enjoyed running around the play place by himself but wasn't too sure of the giant tubes.  We spent Thanksgiving dinner at Chris and Sarah's new place and had a great time and were so thankful as they had to unpack the whole house in only 3 days.  Such a great food and a time spent sharing what we were thankful for.  It was also special as my sister flew into town for the week as well.  On Friday, Sister and I were up at 3:00am for Black Friday and bought everything we needed by 8am!  Not only in record time for the day but record time in and out of Target!  Oh the little things that make us excited! 
Bryce is now offically walking though he doesn't choose to walk all the time.  He still chooses to crawl since he has realized that he can move much faster that way.  It is so super cute when he toddles around from one piece of furniture to the next.  He is such a precious kiddo with so much personality.  We are truly thankful for him.
During the Holiday season we are thankful for the little things: Bryce's bright smile, the way Benton plays with Bryce, Christmas music on the radio, good friends and great conversations, Bryce's laugh and gibberish, having a fabulous marriage, marrying my best friend, family close by, skype for those of our family that aren't close, a wonderful church ....the list goes on and on.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Trip to Kansas

We took our first family trip to Kansas. I am not a light packer in the first place but then when you add a baby with his gear and a puppy then you can pack out the car quite quickly.  We actually did really well on the trip.  We of course stopped at the treasured Oasis of the plains in Colby, KS as a traditions of the trips of I-70. Once we got to my folks house in Lorraine, KS we had a great time.  Danny went hunting with my dad and they got a quail- though just 1 quail was not the plan!  :) I guess the pheasants knew it was opening day of the season. It was good to be able to hang out with my folks and fun to watch Benton and my parents' dog, Duke try to be friends.  Bryce loved having 2 dogs hanging around him as well.  We went to church on Sunday and joined their wonderful church family for 2nd Sunday Potluck!  Good Cooking! Bryce also got to ride the rocking horse that I got for my 1st birthday.  He loved it and it was fun to watch him play with it. It was a nice break in the country for a while and good to see the grandparents. 

Halloween

Bryce was a monster this year for Halloween and a cute little monster at that!  We took him to Bass Pro shop with his friend Faith.  They had a great time going to each section and finding the bucket that had candy in it with a balloon tied to it.  Bryce stills loves balloons more than anything so he always saw the next bucket first!  Actually he probably like seeing all the balloons more than the trick-or-treating. 

Giving out the candy

On Halloween, we sat Bryce at the door with the big bucket of candy waiting for kiddos to arrive.  It was an adorable idea at first.  Who wouldn't love to walk up to a house and see an adorable little monster greeting you.  Yes, this was a good idea until our little monster learned that there are some pretty tasty things inside these colored items.  He started unwrapping them, biting them with their wrappers on and throwing them all over the floor.  Our great idea was a short lived idea.  He had a good time seeing the neighborhood kiddos come to the door and everyone loved seeing him as well.  It's amazing how fast time has flown and what an itty bitty guy he was a year ago!

Last year

Life Lessons from the Dog

Bryce being an only child for the time being doesn't have to interact with many children in the form of sharing.  All his toys are his and he gets them when he wants them.  As Bryce gets older the more and more Bryce learns to share with Benton.  Today for example, his lunch consisted of a bite for him, a bite for Benton.  Though not the ideal situation, I was happy as mom as he was sharing his favorite lunch of mac and cheese.  I am yet to figure out why every time he gives the dog a bite he laughs.  Is he realizing that he's being a friend, does he enjoy the "chomp" sound Benton makes as he snatches up the noodle dropping, does he know he's doing wrong?  Last night, in mid bite he quickly tore off a piece of turkey to give to Benton, who waits patiently just incase Bryce does decide to share.  Benton for the most part cannot be in during meal times because Bryce eats much less and we would hate to have a malnourished kiddo because of a dog!  Whatever the case may be, Bryce is learning to share...now we hope that this life lesson from the pup translates to people! 

Balloon Bryce

Bryce is one of the funniest kiddos we know.  Bryce is always making us laugh with his silly antics.  Since his birthday, he has been crazy about balloons.  His friend Faith gave him a mylar truck balloon for his birthday and we bought him one for the party.  He LOVES them!  He toodles around with his little walker and a balloon wrapped around one finger.  When he comes downstairs from naps, he always points to the balloons.  I never really realized how many balloons are at stores but now Bryce points them out.  He doesn't quite understand why he can't have the random balloon at King Soopers stating there is a sale.  Poor kiddo just thinks we're not letting him have his balloon.  Who would have thought that a simple balloon would be the best toy?  Bryce teaches us that sometimes the best things in life are the simple things!  :)

Happy Birthday Bryce!

One year ago little Bryce brighten our lives!  After 22 hours of labor, he entered the world 2 1/2 hours early from his due date.  October 9 changed and enhanced my life forever. A bright eyed precious boy came into my life and made a deeper love for a child that I didn't even know existed.  I never knew that I could love such a precious child instantly.  I never knew that a laugh or a smile of a child could brighten even the gloomiest of days! I don't even know what my life would be without Bryce and how much 1 year could be so fast!
Bryce celebrated his first birthday this year by hanging out with his family.  My parents are in town for the weekend from Kansas to help us celebrate and my sister is in town from LA.  We made Bryce's favorite breakfast of pancakes and bananas and then played miniature golf at Adventure Land.  Bryce got a new walker for his birthday that has a basket to carry around his toys and such.  He is quite the cruiser now....yet still not walking on his own though the way he flings his cart around I'm not sure why he doesn't realize that he could walk. 
We had his first birthday with lots of family and friends from great-great aunts and uncles to co-workers and old college roommates. It was a fabulous group of people.  The theme was jungle since he adores monkeys.  We made "kid' food like fried mac and cheese, animal crackers, pigs in a blanket, goldfish and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  He wasn't so sure about opening the presents...as soon as he opened a gift and loved it, he had to put it back and try another gift :)  He loved the cupcake and was so super cute but not too messy as he picked at the cupcake with the frosting mostly on his shirt and pants rather than his face.  We had a blast and truly enjoyed being able to celebrate with everyone!
Bryce is such a darling little boy and even though he only had one nap, he still stayed a jolly, happy little boy!  I am completely blessed to have a wonderful son and to be able to celebrate a wonderful 1st year.

opening presents

YUM

Happy Birthday Bryce

Best of Buds

As Benton grows up, he has become good friends with Bryce.  Bryce smiles when Benton walks into him room in the morning and Benton feels that he always has to help me wake up Bryce after a nap.  Benton can't be in the room while Bryce eats or Bryce will "share" all his food with him and he waits patiently for food to be dropped.  

This is a movie of them playing outside together putting the mulch in and out of the retaining wall.

The small things of life

          As is tradition, when endless shrimp at Red Lobster comes around each year, Danny and I make it a special event to go. This year we got to include Bryce in our annual outing.  Now it is known that the Westermann crew loves seafood and stories have been told of seafood they would eat.  Bryce is no different than the older Westermanns.  He too ate his fair share of 8 grilled shrimp and realistically would have eaten more if I wasn't afraid he would get sick!  :)  Good thing it was endless!
        Bryce also has a new tooth on the top left.  This tooth has been almost breaking through for months now but this weekend we were finally able to see it.  The nice thing is that it hasn't caused him too much pain (knock on wood).  He now has 3 to complete his "grill".
        We are still working on the walking thing as well.  Bryce will walk with his little cart and with a hand and will cruise all furniture but simply refuses to walk on him own.  The minute he feels you let go, to his knee he crashes.  I think he has it figured out that crawling is much faster and steadier mode of transportation and he'll stick to that for a while. He has also figured out the stairs and can swiftly crawl up them.  It was a happy day when he also learned how to crawl down them so I don't have to worry about him tumbling down them!
       As I write this, Bryce is in his wading pool splashing around on all the stolen warm days of fall.  Benton is currently at the vet today and Bryce is constantly looking around for him.  I always thought that Bryce got rather tired of Benton crashing through his pool but now that he is a little less interested in the pool if there isn't a puppy crashing about it with him! 

Hiking

Lily Pad Lake

Hiking with Dad- his face is in distress because of the hat-not the hike

We went for a hike in Silverthorne/Dillion area called Lily Pad Lake Hike.  We got a  hiking backpack carrier from a friend and figured we better use it before this nice weather ends. But who knows with Colorado...this weather could last for another month or it could snow tomorrow. The hike was about 3 miles and we had a marvelous time!  Bryce loved being on Danny's back and looking around.  At the top of the trail were 2 little lakes, one with lily pads, hence the name and one that was populated with fishermen.  He was able to "walk" around at the top and try out his new shoes....which he hates!  He was so busy looking around going up that on the way back down he fell asleep!  Too cute! 

sleepy hiker

Rockies Game

We went to the Rockies game the other night with some dear friends.  We got to meet Dinger the Dinosaur.  Bryce wasn't too sure about him but at least he didn't cry! Dinger also gave him his "autograph" and Bryce held onto it like a prized possession.  Later on during the night, the camera guy came and Bryce was on the jumbo tron.  He was super cute and several friends recognized him around the stadium.  His 1 minute of fame was fun...so fun that he decided to make it through the whole game! This was the first game that we didn't have to leave early all season. Of course, once we got in the car he was completely asleep.