Happy Halloween!!!

A Star Wars Halloween

We had a fun time at Aunt MJ and Uncle Paul's house on Friday night and at Michael and Amanda's house on Saturday. We didn't trick-or-treat this year-but Kane had fun greeting kids at the door and watching Aunt Amanda hand out candy!

We're baaaack!

Watching Elmo with Maddie
Visiting with Hayden and Mia in Kansas City

With Daddy on the beach in Destin

Crawling around in the sand

School has started, and my free time is no more. Here are some fun pics from the end of the summer, including our vacation in Destin.

Family Pictures

With Aunt MJ-and her shirt

Grandma and Grandpa Manuel

Grandpa Hill and Linda

Grandma and Grandpa Meyer

Aunt Jessica and Brodie

(Brodie's 2nd time holding the baby-he's doing a good job) :)

All I can say is that I predict large dental bills-he just won't take that thumb out of his mouth!

Kane's Baptism

With Mom and Dad in the lobby

Aunt, Uncle, and God Parents

The Pastor, Stephanie, was great with Kane and delivered a compelling sermon about relationships and expectations

Standing for the baptism

Sleeping Angel

Last night Kane was baptized at Manchester United Methodist Church. Uncle Michael and Aunt Amanda stood with us as his God Parents. Our little Angel slept through the service until it was time for the "show." He wore a darling, white jumper and made sure to pass a lot of really smelly gas while Michael held him in the pew. Yep, you read that right-passing gas in the house of the lord.

We lucked out when we found that Saturday night is ice cream social night at the church so we all enjoyed some Ted Drewes after the service, including Kane-he threw a fit when it was gone. Yesterday was a great day and a beautiful evening-good job Dad with organizing Kane's Baptism! Thanks to all our family for attending!

Kane's 1st Birthday

Kane refusing to eat his cake...

...but he loves Gus's Pretzels-A true Hill!!!!

Riding one of his fun new toys

Opening presents

All the presents-we have a lot of toys in our house!

Kane's very own cake

With Mom and Dad

Kane celebrated a wonderful first birthday party surrounded by his family yesterday. He got a LOT of presents and has had fun playing with all his new toys today (our living room looks like a Fisher Price toy store :). He'll also be quite stylin' in Florida next week thanks to some snazzy new beach wear.

Even though he had his very own cake to plow his face into, he couldn't get over how the icing was sticking to his fingers and kept trying to shake it off. I don't think he even took one bite of that cake. Fine with Dad and I-we have plenty left over to eat for ourselves.

A big thanks to Great Aunt Mary Jane and Great Uncle Paul for hosting Kane's first party and to everyone who brought food and gifts! It was a memorable day-Kane is one lucky little boy!

Our Little Daredevil

He's getting smarter than we are.

New Summer Tricks

Alex giving Kane a hug

Playing with stacking cups

Fighting over the Little Mermaid chair

A "picnic," note Cooper giving Kane the stink-eye :)

The fire hat Kane wouldn't take off

I love how I thought I would have sooo much time to post when I wasn't working. HA! Here are the latest summer pics. Kane's first birthday party is in a few short days! He has reached a lot of new milestones. Last Friday he took his first steps-right to Grandpa Manuel-but isn't really interested in repeating that momentous event. He'd rather crawl.

Just this morning Kane started waving and saying bye-bye to Daddy when he goes to work. We believe he has done this before, but not with such clarity. Other words Kane has said, though not consistently-more, dog, and dot.

Kane is also giving hugs and kisses when asked, though he's been giving kisses for awhile now. He also loves playing peek-a-boo with the kitchen tablecloth. He's graduated from his high chair to a booster seat and we enjoy having him at the table with us when we have dinner at night. Kane eats whatever we eat now, and likes his new cup-which has a straw! A couple of weeks ago when out with Grandma Manuel he learned how to drink from a straw and he's perfecting that skill. Now we have to learn how to eat with a spoon.

A few weeks ago Kane got in to wearing the fireman hat he got when his car seat was installed by the fire department. He wouldn't take it off! That didn't last long. He won't wear it anymore. We also took a trip over to Aunt Amanda's last week for a "play date" with his daycare buddies. Mom got some great pics of Kane with his friends Alex and Cooper. Note the dirty look Cooper (bald baby) is giving Kane for stealing his "food" at the picnic. Cooper is king at giving the stink-eye. :)

We're having a great summer and looking forward to Kane's Birthday Party on Saturday and our trip to Destin in a little over a week. I'm sure I'll have great party and beach pics to share then!

Kane cracking up

One turn table and a micro-kid

Random Pictures

Being naked is one of Kane's favorite things. Note the sippy cup. We've been transitioning to sippy cups for the past couple of months. Mostly we only get a bottle in the morning and at night. Pretty soon we'll go down to night only, and then no more bottle! I'm not sure how I feel about that. It means he's not a "baby" baby anymore. :(

Eating Cheerios

Zoning out.

Hey! Feed me faster! I'm hungry over here!

Why my kid's first phrase is "Hi Buddha"....

...followed closely by "uh oh," said in a very gruff, cave-man like voice. Sounding more like "unccchhhh ouuuuuunnch" Not sure how that translates. Use your imagination.

The Magic House and "You might be a mom if.."

Look how big my kid is!!!

"Hmmm...Where did I leave the car again?"

Over 2 whole feet tall!

"Whoa-these blocks are MUCH bigger than the ones at home."

"Darn-I can't get this stuff out. I want to put it in my mouth!"

You might be a mom if...

There are more toys under the couch then in the toybox
You use furniture for barricades

You have ten extra fingers trying to "help" you type

You cry...a lot-at everything

Using a public restroom becomes a complex operation in need of serious planning

Nap time becomes your favorite time of the day
You haven't been out with your friends in a month

Poop, pee, boogers, vomit, and chewed up food no longer gross you out

Bedtime is 8:30pm

You wake up at 5am-on the weekend

You start apologizing when you curse

You weigh the same as you did before kids...but you're still a size bigger

You constantly try to figure out how to keep cell phones and remote controls out of someone's mouth

You can function without sleep-in fact, you don't really miss it anymore

:) The list goes on and on...

Father's Day with Grandma and Grandpa

We celebrated Father's Day a little late with Grandpa Manuel this year. We had a great time, though, playing with our favorite new toy (a little fire truck), getting a bath in the "big tub" for the first time, and sitting on the lazy susan to spin around. Too much fun! Kane loves all of his Grandma and Grandpas! He is so lucky to have so many people who love him and are a big part of his life.