Sigh.....Handsome.....

Kimball loves playing in the leaves in the yard so I thought I'd snap a few pictures. (Yes, there are a lot. But he's my baby and this is my blog).

 LOVE this expression!!

Funny Stuff

This boy seriously cracks me up! These few videos are various things, he finds the fake sneeze hilarious, his attempt at "scaring" me, and his little chipmunk laugh that he does constantly (just ignore the cottage cheese lunch). Funny and endearing to me, probably boring to everyone else.

Bonkers

 Kimball had a little run in with the edge of the wall. He cried for quite a while and I was scared it was going to crack open or give him a concussion. Poor baby! At least he got a sucker.

Kimball's First Birthday

Kimball's first birthday was on the 26th of October. I can't believe he's one year old! He's no longer my baby and it makes me so sad but I love to see him develop into his own person and I love the stage he's at right now. I made him a rubber duck cake and invited family to come celebrate. I assumed just the grandparents would come but Brad, Tim, and Kempton's families all came which was nice. I don't have time to put the pictures in order so here's Kimball being sung to, opening presents, and eating the head off the duck cake. 

His reactions to everything were very subdued. He didn't get excited about anything, mostly because there were so many other little cousins around he didn't quite know what to do. I made the cake out of a funfetti box cake and a butter cream frosting. I didn't love the frosting at all so I didn't think the cake tasted very good but at least Kimball ate it.

One tradition I decided to start was to give Kimball a book every year for his birthday includinge a note to him inside the front cover from his mom and dad. We hope this starts a love of reading and learning throughout his life.

He got a pirate ship toy from Grandma and Grandpa Pettingill, puff snacks from Brad, soap and wipes and snacks from Tim, clothes and a set of Disney books from Grandma and Grandpa Cox, a shirt from Ann, a toy phone from Steph, and a quiet book from Kempton and Bonnie. Lance and I got him a book and a set of three toy vehicles (hand me downs from Trish's kids). It was all so generous of everyone, thank you!

Rubber Duck Cake

I started with a greased, floured, and paper-toweled-bottom pan. I don't know why, Christine is the cake expert and I just know that she cuts out a paper towel the size of the cake pan and put its in the bottom of the pan. Probably so it doesn't stick. If that is the reason it works like a charm.

 Not a drop left to taste test the batter.

 The paper towels after the cake has been cooked.

The first cake.

 The frosting was a butter frosting, not my favorite.

 Here is the double layered cake body, with a single layered cake head.

Tada! All finished! I used orange wedge candies for the beak and placed 3 of them on the back for the tail, frosting over it. The eyes are jr mints.

In all, I would say not bad for my first attempt to make a cake aside from a plain 9x13 size.

Monster Mash 2012

Due to the busy past few weeks, I'm not going to put the following pictures in order. It would take too much time. 

So without further hesitation, our Halloween party was a blast! We decided to have John be in costume by the front door and scare the guests and direct them to the outside steps that lead to the second floor. We turned the whole upstairs into a spook alley. Yes, children cried and you know if they cried then it was a success. That's my goal: to make the kids cry. I decided that making a smorgasbord of foods was too much, there's sooo much time and prep work that goes into that. So this year I kept it simple with soda and a chip dip bar. Thanks to all who contributed chip dip! Thanks to Bonnie for running a few last minute errands for me! And thanks to all for coming, we enjoy your company so much and unfortunately, LOTS of people were out of town but we'll catch ya next year!!!

 Walker's (Bronco, cheerleader, and bronco fan)

 Baker's (gum ball, quarter, and machine)

 Dunbar's (50's and nerd)

 Scott & Heidi (cavemen)

 Croft's and all 8 kids (including baby Moses in the basket!)

 Joseph's crew

 Hardcastle's (pb & j) and youngest baby

 The hillbilly crew! Lance couldn't find his straw hat for his costume so he had a rubber mullet wig with a super long beard. It was kinda weird. Kimball had a billybob pacifier but he wouldn't keep it in for a picture, darn it! The tooth wax worked well for my missing tooth affect, I love that stuff but it's super hard to get off your fingers.

 Kempton and Bonnie (Little red riding hood, wolf, and the ugliest grandma I've ever seen)

 Steel's (zombies)

 May's (50's and witch)

 9th ward girls, woot!(I was SO excited to see them!)

 Miller's

 Tim's crew

Man, that is one ugly hillbilly!

Things to remember for next year:

• Keep the food simple
• Don't sweat the small stuff. It's dark anyway so people can't see it. Yeah, the mad scientist table? I don't think anyone even saw the experiment jars, flasks, test tubes, or rats. They were too busy being scared by John.
• The end-of-hall hanging was a flop, you can't see it in the dark
• Clowns are freaky by themselves but adding them to a spook alley is better. Find a way to work in some clowns and possibly some possessed dolls. That would be great in Kimball's room.

One Year

Kimball's one year stats:

• 21 pounds
• 30 inches
• head circumference not even on the chart

Everything is right on track, he's 50% for height and weight. His head is still quite small but growing in proportion to the rest of his body. He had to get 5 shots and I've never seen him quite so cranky as the following day. Poor baby, his legs are still bruised from the pokes but at least today he's happier. I was so excited to get him into a forward facing car seat not realizing that they changed the regulations again. He's supposed to be in a rear facing car seat until he's two! That's crazy!

The actual Halloween day was pretty uneventful. I took Kimball and went with Donna to visit Ann at work. It's a fun little tradition, they bring in all the employee's kids and grandkids and go trick or treating throughout the office. This is how Kimball looked the entire time we were there. Needless to say, this was the day following his shots so he was pretty out of it. I'm glad we went to visit Ann, I think it made her day to spend some time with Kimball since Sage and Sidnee weren't able to go.

Who Gave You Permission To Grow Up?

I can't believe you're one today. I love you more than I could ever express, happy birthday my sweet boy!!!

Journaling, Sort Of

• Very little time the past few weeks to blog. Lots of doctors appointments for me. Nobody can figure out what's wrong. All the blood and urine tests have been normal/negative for anything out of the ordinary. I finally broke down about it Sunday night and Lance gave me a blessing. I don't know what I would do without this gospel and the priesthood.
• Kimball's birthday is tomorrow!!!! WHAT?????? His top two teeth are cutting through so he's been in a lot of pain, poor guy.
• Lance has been in Las Vegas the last three days for work so I've been a single mother. But we managed and Lance had a great time, especially escaping this 40 degree cold weather.

Lots to blog about but so little time......maybe I'll catch up next week or the week after.