Not so Holly and Jolly!

It's almost that time of year again...23 days until Christmas! (By far my favorite Holiday) So, in the spirit of the season I bought Andrew a really adorable suit. Everybody needs a Christmas suit, right? I thought it would be the perfect little outfit to have his picture made with Santa.

So, last night Drew and I got him all dressed up (and boy did he look handsome!) and carried him down to Ala Moana mall to see Santa. This is the same Santa that he had his picture made with last year. (It's so much easier when they're only 8 days old!) We stood outside the "menehune villiage" and watched several children sit with santa as I explained to him what was going on. Andrew seemed to like what he saw. He even reached over in Santa's direction and said "ooh." After a few minutes of observing, we got in line. (Thankfully there wasn't an hour and a half wait like last year..we were 2nd in line this time) Andrew was all smiles and eager to see Santa. He even brushed his hair one last time before it was our turn.

It was time, so we walked over and said hello to Santa, but before I could even get all the way over to Santa Andrew had the death grip on my left shoulder. What I had imagined was about to come true. HE HAD A FIT! He did NOT want to sit with this strange bearded man, nor did he want to sit with me as I sat next to Santa. He was scared to death! So, we stood up and let a couple of other children go ahead of us just to see if he would warm up to the idea. NOPE...still it was a no go. So we said Oh well and bid Santa a farewell. I asked Drew to take a picture of Andrew and myself with Santa in the background. (because as soon as we left, Andrew of course was fine). So Drew whipped out the camera and apparently Santa saw him so he decided to sneak over and just stand behind us while Drew snapped the picture (I didn't even know he was there) He almost got away with it until his fuzzy suit brushed up against Andrew's arm. Just before Drew snapped the picture Andrew noticed what was going on and he LOST HIS MIND! The poor thing...scared him to death.

So, we didn't get an "offical" picture with Santa, but we do have the traditional "my child is too young to enjoy Santa" picture! Maybe he'll do better in a picture with his cousin Alex. I doubt it, but hey...one can hope!

Enjoy our crazy pictures!

Merry Christmas!

War Eagle!

Yes, I know the Iron Bowl was over a week ago...that's just how behind I am! Might I add another big WAR EAGLE...especially to all my fellow Alabama fans. 6 in a row sure feels good! Andrew watched the game in his really cute Auburn john-john. He climbed up in the recliner all by himself. (That's his new thing....climbing in chairs)

The rest of the week we played with friends, unpacked some more boxes, and made curly mohawks with Andrew's hair! The little boy in the picture is Andrew's friend, Wyatt. He belongs to our friends Kelly and Kristina, who just so happen to have a great dane named Annie. She is so HUGE; standing at over 3 feet tall. She's a very friendly dog...a "people" person so to speak. You would think that Andrew would be scared of her, but it's quite the opposite. He LOVES Annie. Everytime she comes around he gets this big grin on his face and reaches out for her. It's really cute.

Unfortunately, we can't say the same thing for Santa! (Stay tuned for our next post)

'Tis the season

I hope everyone had a very Happy Turkey Day. Our day started out with my sweet husband letting me sleep in! (catching up on some much needed rest) While I was napping, he and Andrew were going back and forth between the Packers game and the Macy's parade. I woke up and spent the next 3 hours cooking for our big feast. I made my grandaddy's cornbread dressing, green beans, okinawa sweet potato casserole (which means it was purple!), pumpkin pie, and fudge. So yeah, it was a pretty busy day.

That afternoon we went over to Nick and Kim's house for a Thanksgiving feast with all of our friends. Mike smoked a turkey and fried another one. Kim made yummy mashed potatoes, corn, rolls, and a german chocolate cake. Needless to say, there was plenty to go around. The only thing missing...our families.

So, it's that time of year again...Christmas season and what better way to start off that season than by wearing matching outfits and posing for a family Christmas card on the beach. Julie was kind enough to go to the beach with us today and take our picture. I've attached a little preview of the Christmas card that you'll get in the mail pretty soon! Mele Kalikimaka!

Cruisin'

This week was full of fun and surprises for Andrew. One day he got a "Baby's 1st Thanksgiving" bib from his Grammy Pegs (which he's modeling for you) and the next day he got a Radio Flyer push wagon from her as well. It's so cute and he LOVES it! (you can tell by the pictures) He pushes that thing all over the house. Once he was pushing it down the hall and it started going a little faster than what he was used to. He had to run to keep up with it. As he was running he let out this scream which Drew describes as a roller coaster scream. He was having a blast! It was really funny.

He still likes to get into everything. Two days ago I followed him down the hall and watched him climb up into the laundry basket where he decided to start throwing clothes all over the floor. This is becoming one of his favorite past times.

He has started crawling up on his hands and knees more and more. I think it's because we have carpet. The wood floor made it too easy for him to slide around like a commando.

WALKING UPDATE: He has progressed to walking while holding only one of our hands. The first time he voluntarily let go with one hand happened the other day at Lowe's of all places. And later that night he stood alone in Nick and Kim's garage for about 30 seconds! (He's getting close)

Around the house

We've been in the house two weeks now and we're still not finished unpacking. It's pretty slow go with Andrew. I feel bad unpacking because I'd rather be playing with him. Of course, as you can see in some of these pictures he likes to "help." His favorite activity is following along behind me "unpacking" boxes full of paper. It's so funny to watch. He's so mythodical, pulling them out one by one. He also does that with the diapers in the changing box, the toys in his basket, and pretty much anything else that he can "unpack." Also, he's a bit of a climber. He loves to explore around the house climging over, under, on top of, or through anything he can. Sometimes he even gets stuck! So, although we're nowhere close to having all the boxes put away, we sure are having fun!

Boys will be boys!

When Drew came home we were able to take 4 days and stay at hotel in Waikiki. It was a nice little vacation for us to spend time as a family. We spent most of our time playing with Andrew and taking him to the pool. That kid loves to swim!

It was a really nice time of bonding for Drew and Andrew. They are the biggest buddies. Andrew loves his Daddy so much and it shows. Here are a few of the pictures that were taken those first few days.

First Halloween

Yes, I realize we're playing catch up. On November 10 I'm finally posting about our Halloween. It was such a busy day. Drew and I were 2 days into our new house. We spent the whole day going back and forth b/w the house and the storage unit trying to fit as many boxes as we could into the back of the explorer. We made it home just in time to feed Andrew his dinner (which you can see is still on his face) and stick him in his costume so we could go trick-or-treating on base at 6 pm. Needless to say Mom and Dad didn't really have time to get into costume. However Drew managed to steal a wig off of the head of our very pregnant friend, Kim and I wore my very flashy Auburn pj pants.

Since Andrew is only 10 months old and he can't very well walk up to a door and say "trick-or-treat" he was pretty much just along for the ride. Our friend McKenzie pushed him around in the stroller all night. He loves to ride, so he enjoyed himself. He does look half asleep in most of the pictures.

Overall, his first Halloween was a success and I must say that he is the CUTEST penguin that I've ever seen! Wouldn't you agree?

Happy Homecoming!

Hooray!! Drew's home! Thank you guys for all your prayers over the past 8 months. They were well worth it because Drew and his squadron made it home safely on October 25. Andrew and I got back to Hawaii the day before, so it was perfect timing.

It was so good to see Drew and he was SO excited to see Andrew. I've attached a few pictures of their reunion. You can easily see how happy Drew is to see his little man. Andrew took to him almost immediately and they've been inseparable ever since. One of Andrew's favorite words now is "da-da." I am so glad the transition was a smooth one for both of them.

Get the "latest" here!

Hello all! Welcome to our blog. We thought it would be nice to give you a one stop shop to catch up on all our happenings. We'll keep you up to date on our life in Hawaii and post pictures so you can watch Andrew grow. For those of you who are not regular bloggers, I'll send out an email when pictures have been added. This will keep you from having to download multiple pictures in one email. So, please enjoy and be sure to post your comments!