Christmas

We came to Burley for Christmas this year. Zach was so excited to finally get to play with all the shiny boxes under the tree that we've been telling him not to touch for a few weeks. His grandparents and uncle were also very excited to have him there. Little kids make Christmas fun. Or more fun, anyway.

His Grandma and Grandpa Pearson gave him a John Deere tractor and he loved it. He "drove" it around all day. A farm boy, just like his daddy.

We also got a TON of snow in Burley. Duane and his dad spent half of Christmas day digging out his dad's pickup, their driveway, and then rescuing a bunch of other people that'd gotten stuck. It pays to have a nice big loader. (Side note: When Duane and I got married, a tractor was a tractor. But I've soon learned that they've all got different names like, loaders, excavaters, backhoes, harvesters, etc.) Even though they all look pretty much the same to me!

What can I say other than Cute?

The other day we laid Zach Attack down for his nap, but he didn't go to sleep. Duane was out in the front room with me playing his guitar and I don't remember what I was doing, but we could hear Zach in there playing and babbling, just doinking around, so after about half an hour I asked Duane to get Zach out of his bed. Duane went in and serenaded Z, and this was the result. My favorite part is when he starts shaking his little arm. He's so funny, anytime he hears music, he shakes his little booty. The arm shaking is a recent acquisition, by the way.

I know I posted earlier about his talking, but Zach is such a jabber monster! He walks around jibbering in his own little language and he'll have actual conversations with us, even though we can't understand a word. He does say words, though. His list includes: bye bye, dada, mama, uh-oh (as you'll see. He's just started to throw things on purpose and say "uh oh" and it's so adorable), thank you, more, amen, door, star, no (of course), and yeah yeah and yay. I'm drawing a blank, but I think that's all. He gets more fun every day. Sigh. What a proud little mommy I am.

Let It Snow Baby!

Daddy squished a snowball and handed it to Zach Attack

Again, this isn't Zach's first snowfall, but last year he was a little lump that we carted around in his carseat, most of the time covered with a blanket. So yesterday we bundled him up and walked out our front door with him to watch him explore the fluffy whiteness. I love to see the curious expression on his face as he's trying to figure out new things and I wasn't disappointed this time to see it on his face, followed by smiles as he decided he liked the new white stuff.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

This isn't Zach's first Christmas, but it's the first time he's been interactive enough to figure out that something different and special is going on. We put up our tree shortly after Thanksgiving, (and can I just say that I LOVE Christmas!) He had fun with the tree after it was put up, and he's done pretty well listening not to touch it, though he's broken one ornament and he likes to pull the bows off of the presents. The other night Daddy said, "Zach get away from the tree please," and Zach went around saying "Away! Away!" the rest of the night. Ah, a new word. It's cute. He's so fun. And Zach plays a game with us. He knows he's not supposed to touch the tree or the presents, so he'll reach his little hand out and glance over at us to make sure we can see him, and we say "no no," and he'll smirk and pull his hand away only to reach it back out. He's teasing us already! Little Stinker!

Zachary is Walking!

The Saturday after Zach's birthday, he took his tentative first step at Grandma Bills' house toward her sitting in her chair. And it was all flat-footed from there! He'd test distances out, taking no more than two or three steps between things, but yesterday I'd turn my head and he was walking from the couch to the dining table or from the piano to the cedar chest at mom's house! And he walked (with my help) all the way out to the car yesterday. Hooray! No more carrying him! (or at least not as much :) He was getting so heavy!

Here he goes!

Jabberwocky!

As Lewis Carroll puts it in his poem,

"Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe."

It reminds me uncannily of Zachary's endearing speech. He talks in sentences and with voice inflections, using his hands to emphasize certain points, but it's in his his own little language. And I absolutely LOVE it!
AND...
Success!! After many trials and errors, we were able to victoriously record Zach's jargon. Every time we would try before, he'd be in the middle of jabbering and as soon as he'd see the camera, he'd stop, which always drove me nuts because it's so stinkin' adorable! But hoodalalee and hooray, we got it.

DOG!!

Here is the dog we got Zachary for his birthday. He LOVES it! From the minute he saw it in the store, to the day we gave it to him (aka yesterday) he giggled every time he saw it and his face would just light up. The dog is super soft and about four times as big as he is but Zach loves to tackle it and then snuggle. It makes a good friend for the little guy.

Zach's First Birthday Party!!

Yesterday we had Zach's birthday party even though he doesn't turn one officially until October 10th. It was a combined birthday party with Zach's cousins whose birthdays are really close to his and it was so much fun. It was a Halloween Costume Dress Up Party so all the kids (and the older kids too-ahem, like Duane and me) got dressed up. First I did Halloween pictures of all the kids in their costumes, and we played pin-the-face-on-the-pumpkin and spoon tag where the kids had to make it to the other end of the room without spilling the candy pumpkins in their spoons, and we decorated cupcakes. Then it was time for cake and candles. We placed Zach and his cousin Skyler (both turning one) in their high chairs and gave them their cupcakes with a candle in them and immediately Zachary reached out and touched the flame...and we all know what happened next. It scared him, and he began to cry. But we lit it again and this time he smiled and liked the flickering flame. We helped him blow it out and then he dug in. After cupcakes, they opened presents. It was a super fun party!








What a fearsome little lion!!

Okay, okay, adorable
is more like it!

Zach decided Skyler wasn't eating his cupcake fast enough!

Zach in his cute new hat with the gloves still pinned on.

I love Paris in the Fall (or Rexburg, anyway)

This morning we had our family pictures taken and they'd turned out so adorably cute! We went out to the Blue Heron Inn which, before a few days ago, I hadn't even known existed even though I've lived in this area for most of my life. It's just a quaint little bed and breakfast between Rexburg and Rigby and the fall colors were gorgeous! I was so happy that it was such a stunningly beautiful day.

Tissue, Anyone?

The other night we were at my mom's house and (I don't remember how it got started) Duane started saying "Achoo!" and Zach thought it was hilarious! He giggled like crazy every time Daddy pretended to sneeze.

Our Little Dancer

Zachary loves to dance!! Whenever he hears music, and even when he doesn't, he'll start bobbing his little head back and forth, and when he's standing up he'll bounce up and down. He usually copies whenever anyone does it, but sometimes when he's wrapped up with his toys or preoccupied in some other way he'll just break out with some head banging. For some reason it happens frequently when he's eating. I wonder if it's because I sing to him while he eats. In any case its the cutest thing ever. So ignore me in the background and enjoy watching him bust a move! P.S. He only dances in the beginning, so you don't have to watch the whole thing if you don't want to :)

Zachary and the Beast

My mom got a new kitten (and it's fuzzy and tiny and adorable) and Zach has found a new comerade. He and this kitty follow each other around and Zach will plunge himself onto and snuggle into the little furball, and in turn the kitty follows Zach around batting at his feet and pretending to be fearsome. It's so cute.

Photo Shoot

Okay, this one is from way back in May. I got a spiffy new camera with which to do the pictures at Heber and Erin's sealing and to hopefully start doing some photography...and we decided to do a mini photo shoot to try it out!

Zachary's First Haircut!

Hello! So many of our friends and family have blogs, and I loved being able to see all of their pictures and hearing how they were doing, so I thought it would be fun to start one for our little family too! These pictures are from a few weeks back...but I need start somewhere right? Zach's hair was getting so long, so we gave him a haircut. He handled it pretty well at first, but eventually Duane had to hold him in a head lock to get the sides! It was funny actuallly. Poor kid. Zachary is ten months old now; he's cruising around furniture and walking with help. He has six teeth and he waves and claps and dances (video to come--hopefully); he says "da da" and "ma ma" and various other crazy noises too. He gets more fun every day.