Everything Else this Fall

Here are a few more fun happenings from this fall. 

Clinging to the last of comfortable weather, we went on a few walks ... which always made Graham sleepy.

Posing by the mama, daddy and Graham pumpkins.

Where's Graham? :)

Happy guy!

Millie and me. 

Just playing a little.

 Jump!

 Just hanging out.

We met up with Grandma and Grandpa at a Bison game!

 
 And we picked up a treat to deliver to dad while he was working at the brewery.

Visiting dad on his Saturday taproom shift.

Hanging out at a fall bonfire.

Working on standing with dad.

  Playing at grandma's

Driving naked (shirtless anyway).

Next up are pictures from Thanksgiving!

8 Months Old

On November 10, Graham turned 8 months old and that meant another exciting photo shoot.

I've known these shots would get more challenging as he got older, and this 8 month shoot officially brought us into a new realm. He spent a lot more time lunging towards the camera than propped up smiling for it....by next month it might be a video shoot instead!

But we still managed to snap fast enough to capture a few of the smiles.

 

When we weren't lunging for the camera we played with our toys. 

And celebrated small victories. 

It wasn't all fun and games. 

But you gotta love this face. 

Followed quickly by this one.

And this one.

In the spirit of capturing time and milestones, we did a few that show off his new skill: Standing up (with help).

 Proud of himself.

Show off...

 Sigh...

The wedding quilt and chair pics went pretty horribly by the end. If I'm being honest, I had reached new levels of sweating by this point and my patience was expired.

Proof of the disaster...

Graham was more interested in rolling over and sitting up. It's a small miracle he didn't roll off the bed.

And to wrap it up, he thought his name on his blanket was just plain stupid this time around.

But let's conclude with this happy face instead.  

Milestones and happenings this month include:

• First airplane ride to Phoenix for Uncle Derek and Aunt Tina's wedding. First time in a restaurant high chair (the details I love to track...)
• Likes to bang two toys or blocks together. 
• Drinks water from a sippy cup and a regular cup (sippy is just much cleaner). 
• Received flu shot. 
• Pivots while sitting, lunges forward to reach for toys. 
• First fruit - pears and mangos. 
• Loves meeting new people and being in on the action. 
• Got a double ear infection and bronchialitis.
• Waking up once or twice per night. 
• Met uncle Paul, Aunt Debora and cousin Len when they visited from Germany. 
• Responds to his name (most of the time...)
• Dressed up as a s'more for Halloween. 
• Flaps his arms when he gets excited. Also loves to jump (especially when in your lap). 
• Started to stand with help and is getting more and more sturdy. Likes to pull up with help. 
• Started saying 'dada'.

First Halloween

For Halloween, Graham was ... drum roll please ... a s'more!

I just couldn't resist adding marshmallow and chocolate to his already adorable graham cracker-ness. Along with my mom and sister-in-law, we crafted his costume based on this tutorial then tweaked it a little to make it work for us. Soon enough, he'll have a stronger opinion on what his costume should be, so I had to take advantage of this year. He was a good sport wearing his little sandwich board s'more board all around town!

We celebrated with a party at daycare.

And Graham is so lucky that both his grandmas and Auntie Chelsey came to visit him and see him in his costume.

One with mama.

After the daycare party, Graham and I headed back out to my office for trick-or-treating. Another cute back drop for pictures so we were sure to snap a few.

From there we met up with dad and headed to our friends' for pizza and trick-or-treating. Pizza for mom and dad. Trick-or-treating for the big kids. Hanging out as just the marshmallow portion of his costume for Graham. All in all, I think he had a very enjoyable first Halloween and I can't wait to see him roll his eyes at this costume when he's older!

Meeting Len

At the end of October, Graham got to meet his cousin, Len!

Len came all the way from Germany and the cousins had a great time, along with the adults, touring the brewery, going out for pizza, getting family pictures taken, and just hanging out. Here are a few pics of what we were up to that weekend.

Laying eyes on each other for the first time (Len is almost 4 months; Graham is almost 8). 

On Saturday we toured the brewery so here is the whole group. June, Jeanette, Dave, Chris, Barb, Charlie, Ben and Monica all came up for the weekend to meet Len and see Paul and Debora while they were here from Germany. 

 Had to do a "silly" one too.

Charlie thought the forklift was pretty cool.

Checking out the canning line.

Family picture in the taproom.

Kind of a great photo opp for everyone. 

Johnsons

Paul and Len.

Hoota is a fan. 

Cheers!

Back at grandma's the boys enjoyed just hanging out together. 

Playing with grandma. 

And eating some lunch. 

Len took a nap. 

Then played some more.

When the evenings got late, the boys went to bed on grandma's bed. 

We all enjoyed getting to spend time with Len. He looks like his daddy!

On Sunday we had some family pictures taken. Just a couple highlights of the boys...

Graham saw that Len needed a kiss ... and a choke hold.

Then back at Grandma Ange's, Graham got in some quality time with uncle Eric.

More fun cousin time.

And Grandma got in some reading on a topic she's pretty excited about--retirement! 

Later Grandpa and Jan came to our house to see the boys together.

All in all it was a great weekend getting to meet Len and spend time with family. We hope to see Len again on a trip to Germany next June. How the boys will have changed by then!