We went over to Aunt Jill’s and Uncle Dennis’s house to trick-or-treat in their neighborhood, but to be truthful, Alex got most of his candy from his family members. That was nice though because it allowed Jill to take these cute pictures.

Alex did eventually make his way to a couple of the neighbors’ houses, but one of them thought he was a bunny. A bunny? I thought it was fairly obvious that he was a dog. Don’t you?

Happy Halloween!  We hope yours was fun and safe!

Until now.

Sorry for the long absence, folks. We’ve been recklessly busy the last few months, and while we always had the blog in the back of our minds, we’ve never been able to sit down and get some stories hammered out.

Until now.

Over the next couple of days, we’ll try our darnedest to get you caught up on where we’ve been this summer/fall. I think when we last left you, Alex had just celebrated his first birthday as well as some other firsts. As you can guess, we’ve got more firsts to pile on top of those other firsts, for a virtual fist full of firsts.

So sit back and relax, and maybe sift through the archives a bit to get caught up on where we’ve been. Hopefully we’ll have a couple of stories for you this week to get you caught up.

Until then…

I’ll bet you’re just wondering how a kids face can get to looking like that, huh?

Much to Daddy’s delight, Alex really seemed to enjoy the event.  There were lots of people for Alex to look at and try to talk to.  He even tried to take a drink of a beer that was being passed down the aisle from the vendor, and he would done it too if it hadn’t been for those meddling parents!  He dined on his first of what will likely be many ballpark hot dogs and even got to have a little taste of peanuts right out of the shell.

 

Unfortunately for the family, the Reds did not oblige us with a win – they rarely do anymore.  We weren’t able to stay for the whole game, and we missed the three home runs that the Reds hit in last 3 innings, but we still had a great time and Alex is already looking forward to his next outing to the park.

We’re trying a new way of doing pictures today as the old way was quite tedious.  If you see pictures that you like, you should be able to download them by following this link (http://picasaweb.google.com/jluckhau/ZooTrip?authkey=NA5xyUri91U):

That was because the big day came on Saturday when people came from all over to see the boy wonder for his birthday.  The weather was beautiful, which was fortuitous because so many people wanted to see Alex that there wasn’t nearly enough room inside the house for everyone.  Some of the highlights for the day:

• Alex got to swim in his very own swimming pool for the first time.  He loved it!  Splashing is fun, but not as fun as dunking one’s own head into the water!
• Daddy tried out his new grill and managed to cook about 15 too many hamburgers and 15 more hot dogs than necessary.  There was just too much space on the grill that had to be filled.
• Mommy made an excellent cake shaped like Curious George.  It was quite delicious.
• The entertainment for the day, besides watching Alex do his thing, was Cornhole and Bocce Ball.  It’s amazing how long people can stand around throwing things at other things and still think they are having fun.
• Alex made it all afternoon without needing a nap, and he stayed in a great mood the whole time.  The kid is such a ham.  I wonder where he gets that from?

Click on the picture below to see a slide show of pictures from the day.  If you were there, it was great to see you!  If you couldn’t make it, we missed you and hope to get to see you soon.  There, that should cover it!

One of Mommy’s techniques for calming Alex down is using the tried and true method of reading him a bedtime story.  Sometimes though, it backfires and just gets him wound up even more.  That’s what happened this night as Mommy read Alex The Grouchy Ladybug.  I heard the giggles all the way downstairs and had to get it on tape.  Excuse the video quality, but I didn’t want them to know that I was filming them. 

For instance, Alex’s grandparents have gotten him a new wagon and swing at their house.  He seems to enjoy both of them greatly, as you can see from these photos.

But most of all, he likes spending time with his grandparents whenever he gets a chance!

More updates on what’s going on with Mommy and Daddy will be coming up.

Alex loves to stand now. He gets quite upset at times when we won’t help him get up.  We keep telling him that he needs to learn to crawl before he can walk.  He tells us not to waste our time with such old, tired clichés.  He’s not even talking yet and already he’s smarting off to his parents.  Usually when he gets up into the standing position, he looks a lot like Elvis, or at least a young Forrest Gump teaching Elvis how to dance. 

He’s also trying to walk a lot now.  He’s working his way around furniture slowly, and invariably the second you take your hand out of catching mode, he falls to the ground.  But if he isn’t willing to crawl first, then he’s going to have to take his lumps going the hard way.

One other note about the video, you’ll notice that Alex’s ultra-hip mom is already teaching the young lad some classic 70s disco tunes.  It won’t be long before he’s wearing white leisure suits and strutting down the street like John Travolta.

First we went to Grandmother and Granddad Peters house on Christmas Eve.  As you can see, Alex was incredibly excited:

And why shouldn’t he be excited?  He was the center of attention all day, but all of that attention can take a lot out of a boy.

 

Eventually we were able to get around to the fun stuff and Alex got to open his first present.  He opened the presents like an old pro.  Of course, he was more interested in the paper than what was in the box.

Yep, Alex had a great time celebrating his first Christmas at the Peters’ house.

  

Christmas Day started out at home with Mommy and Daddy.  Alex had lots of presents to open, but that can be a lot of hard work, so a nap midway through was definitely in order.

  

After Alex got through all of the presents that Santa brought him at home, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Luckhaupt’s house and opened even more presents (not pictured).  We did take time for a nice family picture though.

After a long day of playing with his all of his cousins, Alex was pooped.  And so, he settled in for a long winter’s nap.

Alex says that this was his best Christmas ever!  We hope you all had a safe and happy Christmas as well!