Texas Christmas 2011

Fred is growing like a weed -- so much so that he is racing through all of our baby clothes! This year we realized that he only had a couple of days left in November in which he could still wear his Santa suit. AND since we are shameless, here he is in early November -- never mind the high-water pants,,,


And this is what happens when his dad gets the camera. Me: "He can't see! Pull up the hat!" Him: "It's fine! It doesn't matter!"
Welcome to my life :)

And here is the actual Christmas tree. It looks ok from a distance, but it was one of those years when I was too exhausted to deal much with it, so I asked Saul to just throw some things on it and I would fix it later. Of course I never got around to fixing it, but we enjoyed it just the same.
Texas Santa, in cahoots with California Santa, found out Andreas was developing a love for the play kitchens, so of course this Santa, being Texan, brought a grill complete with hamburger and hotdog.


Does he know it's fake? Yes. Does that keep him from biting it? No.
Two more of the handsome men that were enjoying the festivities
Fred got the Bumble stocking this year and this gave us the added bonus of keeping it out of Andreas's reach all season. Note the Mexican nutcracker on the mantle -- that is one of our favorite pieces.

November Photo Shoot

Before I had to go back to work after my maternity leave we decided to try and attempt a professional photo session. For some reason Andreas had trouble performing for the cameras (usually he is the master!) but Fred did well and we were able to get a few good shots out of each of them. My two little men are the cutest brothers in town!

Thanksgiving 2011

This year we had quite a crew with Erika and Brandon coming into town right before Thanksgiving, and then Grandma Z, Mom and Dad, Veronica, Rachel, and Alex coming to see us to celebrate the holiday. We had lots of good food (if I do say so myself) and lots of fun visiting with everyone and holding the babies.




Here's cute little Trent -- luckily both of the babies did quite a good bit of sleeping in so that we were able to eat to our hearts' content!

Fred with Great Grandma Z

We also had a little birthday party for Alex, Dad, and Tiffany. Here is the cake:
We loved having everyone and hope that next year will be even bigger and better!

Fred's Blessing Day

Fred was blessed on the same day and right before Trent on November 20, 2011. It was so great to have Erika, Brandon, Roz, Mom, Dad, Sam, Tiffany, Zoe, and Trent there to be with us! It was a bit of a windy day, but beautiful weather and we felt so blessed to have our little happy bundle.

Fred's 2 - 5 Month Pictures

Time has really flown by, and Fred has been in and out of so many fun stages already that I haven't had time to blog about all of them yet. But here are his monthly pictures so you see his progression. He is a very happy baby and started smiling at a very early age. We love him to pieces and can't wait for all of the adventures that lie ahead!

5 Months - February



4 Months - January

3 Months - December


2 Months - November 8


1 Month - October

2011 Nature

We had a few interesting nature sightings over the past few months. The first was this bird in our yard. It looked like some kind of sandpiper to me, but according to my bird books it looks like a common snipe. We didn't even know those existed, but it appeared to like our lawn!


We also have a lot of beautiful red flowers in our yard, so we get quite a few hummingbirds and butterflies. Here is one, not sure what kind, but it is always fun to get to see them close up.