Christopher Helps Put Up Our Christmas Tree

Well, we decided to set up a 'fake' Christmas tree this year. After last year's experience (where all the needles fell off the tree when we tried to take it down - what a mess) we decided that since we'd be gone for a week to Fort Wayne, a fake one might be better.

So Christopher helped us put up the tree:

At first, he ate snacks while he watched Daddy and Mommy 'bend' all the branches and put them on the 'trunk.'















Then he decided he thought he could help bend the branches too...but they were kind of prickly, so he didn't like that very much.
















But the lights were a different story...he LOVED those.















"Don't worry, Mommy, I'll get some more lights for you."















Christopher calls them "pretty."
















Christopher helping put the lights on the tree. (Or rather, trying to pull them back off.)






















"Mmm, can I eat this Ronald McDonald ornament?"















"Okay, I'll just put him on the tree."
















"We're all done? But I was having fun!"
















"But okay, I'll just play with the camera instead. Hi, Daddy! Can you give that to me please?"















Christopher is walking all around now. He loves the "circles" in our house and at Nana's. He just walks and walks and walks through all the rooms in a continuous circle. He's pretty good at laps. He'll walk about three laps, then stop and play with something, then back to walking laps. He keeps us all on our toes now.

It also seems that walking brought the talking. Here is a list of Christopher's words:

dada, Daddy, mama, Nana, Babu, Papa, doggie, tree, teeth, bottle (or 'bobble'), down, Isaiah (or 'zayah'), poopy, dirty, this (or 'dis'), bye-bye, all done...and maybe a couple others I can't remember right now. And he understands so much more. He'll go to whatever room we tell him in our house. Yesterday, I said I "Mommy needs shoes" when we were getting ready to run some errands, and Christopher went over and pulled my shoes out of the closet and put them by my feet. It's amazing how fast he's growing and learning. Every day I understand a little more what my parents meant when they always said "time flies and each year seems to go by a little faster." How true!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. The Tolan side of the family all congregated in Johnson City for the weekend - it was great to have almost everyone here. (We missed you Steph, Brad, Christin, Dave and boys).

Thursday morning, we participated in a 5K race called "the Turkey Trot." It was a beautiful morning to be outside, and we all 'enjoyed' our time. Some ran, some jogged, some walked, and some did a combination, but we all finished, ages 1 - 50+. Good job, everyone!

Here's the crowd at the beginning of the race. I think there were almost 2000 people participating.
















Andy, Rachel and Christopher before the race.
















Toward the end, we decided to let Christopher out of his stroller so he could walk for awhile.
He was proud to pose for the camera...















...but only until he realized other people were still walking and passing him. "Come on, Daddy. Hurry up!"






















Christopher running to catch up to the man in front of him.






















As people passed by us, they cheered for Chritopher and many said 'yeah!' Christopher quickly picked up on that, so there he was, trotting along, hands in the air with a huge grin on his face repeating "yeah, yeah, yeah!" over and over again. We had a good laugh.

















Christopher at the end of the race, wearing "his" medals and drinking his water. Great job, Son! We're so proud of you!!






















After the race, we all got home and found Grandma was really sick. She ended up in the hospital from Thursday - Monday, with pneumonia. We all took turns visiting her, and Friday night, we all went up and ordered pizza in the lounge so she could join us and see everybody together. It wasn't quite how she wanted to spend her time with the whole family together, but we still had fun and we're thankful she's home now.

The gang, eating Thanksgiving dinner together at Daddy and Mama's house. (They're in the process of remodeling.)















Other side of the table.















We spent the weekend, eating and playing games. Christopher enjoyed having so many people to play with besides Daddy and Mommy. He got a little spoiled.

Christopher likes to watch football with Daddy. "Uh oh...Manning just threw an interception!"
(Notice the 'matching' outfits. I got Christopher dressed, and Andy realized he had a similar shirt, so he ran to put it on. =) )















"Yeah! The colts finally scored!"















Watching the game.















"Oh, hi, Mommy!"
















Christopher also got his first bath in the 'big boy' tub this past week. We got rid of the baby bathtub, and he loved having more room. He splashed and 'swam' all around the tub.
















Ah, photoshop. Cute now, but he'll thank me later for adding a blue diaper to the picture!















We also learned that Christopher is now old enough to help with chores. He's pretty good at unloading the dishwasher (on to the floor) or loading the plastic containers in to it from the cupboard. He also enjoys helping me sweep.















We're no longer safe, as walking finally "clicked" for Christopher...he's all over the place now and loving it. There are many more big messes to clean up these days. And he's FAST too!

This afternoon, Christopher said his first sentence. As Andy finished eating lunch and headed toward the door, Christopher looked at him and clear as day said, "Bye, Daddy." It was really cute. What a smart kid!

Two Monkies and a Camera

WOW! Have the last two weeks ever been busy! Christopher is now walking more and more by himself, and pinballs around his playroom like a perpetual motion machine. We've got lots of great pictures and stories to show you, but until Rachel gets a free minute, please enjoy another video from my camera phone. I got lots of time to play with Christopher over the break, and this video is from he and I playing with his stuffed monkey.

And He's Off!

Christopher was staying at Babu and Nana's this morning while Daddy and Mommy were at work. When I went to pick him up, he had a surprise for me:



And here comes trouble!! Good job, Christopher. We're proud of you!

Special Prayer Request

We would like to petition for your prayers for some friends of ours. A couple we went to college with, Mark and Jessica Williams, had a baby boy born at 31 weeks on September 10 this year. This Wednesday, Nov 7, was his due date, and he's still in the hospital. Today is 2 months! They have a little girl, Leah, who is 2. The hospital is an hour away, and I know they are all exhausted. Michael Gex Williams is doing better, but still unable to swallow. Please pray that God will resolve this issue quickly so these tired people can go home and start being a family together. Thank you for your prayers.

For Gramma

"What? Gramma misses me a lot right now? Sorry, Gramma."
















"I know how to make you happy. I'll smile for you and show you my kitchen."
















"This is my clock and my book. I like to turn the pages."
















"Huh? Still sad?"
















"SMILE!!!!"
















"I love you, Gramma."
















"Ok, mommy, enough pictures. I want the camera."






















"Hehehe...I got Mommy."
















"Ok, two more picture just for you, Gramma. See? I'm a monkey. I like to eat bananas."
















"Are you smiling, Gramma? I love you and I miss you too. Sleep well and dream of a monkey."















xoxoxo
Love,
Christopher

"Fake Thanksgiving"

Andy surprised me with a lot of beautiful flowers on my birthday. There were also 29 little cards telling me all the things he loves about me/us. *sigh* Ahhh. =)






















That evening, Daddy, Mama and Anna came over for cake, ice cream and presents. It was fun.

This past week, Christopher discovered that he could stack cans. Before, he just enjoyed rolling them around the room, but now he likes the towers.

One...two...















...sheer determination as he goes for three...and...















...got it! (His shirt reads: "I tried to be good, but I got bored." I'm sure that will only become more true.)















Wow-four! Good job, buddy.
















Cooking like Mommy.















Friday was Silas' birthday and Daddy and Mama were out of town. We had him over for dinner, then Anna and a friend stopped by for cake and presents. They made him a Winnie the Pooh cake - holding a candle as his honey pot.






















(L to R) Laura and Christopher, Silas, Rachel, Anna Leigh, Lizbeth, Dave and Andy behind the camera.















Afterward, the boys headed out to the woods to try their hands at fire by friction. They did end up with a coal - but were so surprised and tired that by the time they grabbed the rest of the stuff to start the fire, it was out. But success at last!

For the past 3 years, we've kept a tradition that was randomly started with Dave and Lizbeth Whipple to have a thanksgiving feast together before we each headed off to spend the holidays with our families. It all started on a fall day when we were hanging out and stopped by the grocery store to buy some things for supper. Andy and Lizbeth were all excited to cook and suddenly were planning a "fake thanksgiving" feast. Dave and I weren't feeling well and didn't want to cook anything that wasn't very simple, but they assured us they would do everything and we could sit and play video games. (That was the year Andy and Lizbeth made about 10 lbs of mashed potatoes and temporarily broke my kitchen aid which is now fixed.) And that's exactly what happened - Andy and Lizbeth cooked while Dave and Rachel played video games. And that is what has happened every year since then. A funny and fun tradition. So, this last weekend, Dave and Lizbeth drove down from KY to share "fake thanksgiving" with us.

Andy and Lizbeth made delicious food - and Dave, Rachel and Christopher watched and then we all ate...mmm...yum.















After church Sunday, we went to Winged Deer Park to play frisbee golf and then fly Andy's gigantor kite.

Dave holding the kite on the ground while Andy straps on the controls and Lizbeth looks on.















The wind was great and Andy had a blast being drug across the field (yes, that's actually fun for him.) =)






















Dave take a turn being drug.






















Christopher rode on Mommy's back while we played frisbee golf (challenging) and ended up falling asleep. It was cold down by the river where we flew the kite, so we wrapped him and the carrier in a good-old Maasai blanket.





















We ended our fun weekend with more delicious food at our favorite..."Cootie Brown's."






















And finally, sadly, Andy, Christopher and I sat on our couch, ate snacks, and watched the Colts lose their first game this season. =( Oh well...go Colts!