Tate at 11 months

(Warning, picture overload!)

We staring down the road at the one year birthday and I can't believe how fast the last year has gone. Our little Tate has really grown up and is learning and doing so many things. He's just a week or so over 11 months, so I figured I'd post about some of the fun things he's doing for the past month or so.

1. He loves to sit on the floor and play with his toys. The little farm that Santa gave him for Christmas is one of his favorites.


2. He has started to wave whenever someone goes bye-bye. It's so cute to see him wave his arm when he or somoene else goes. My favorite thing about him waving is that after his nap, when I go up to get him, we walk by the kids' bathroom upstairs and he can see himself in the mirror - immediately, he will start waving at the cute baby he can see (amazingly, the baby in the mirror waves right back!). It's so cute.

3. He is now crawling - look out world! He has been up on his knees forever and has even crawled a bit backwards, but on April 11, 2011, he finally go the the mechanics down of arms and legs and off he went. He really hasn't looked back since.



4. Now that he's crawling, I find him in all sorts of interesting places. This was just one of the places I found him - how he got himself underneath the buffet, I'll never know. But he was having a good old time!


5. He is obsessed with hats and glasses. Whenever he gets around anyone with a hat or with sunglasses, he's always trying to get a hold of them. Sometimes he succeeds and even gets to wear it himself!


Couldn't resist this one with the cute smile with the tongue!


6. He's discovered the baskets under the bench and that they hold all sorts of fun toys to play with. I didn't think he was strong enough to pull them out by himself, but he quickly proved me wrong on that. Luckily, he has a whole basket of baby toys under there and loves to crawl over there and pull every single toy out of the basket and play with it.


7. Tate has this new found fascination with the vinyl floor. He's constantly crawling over to it and just slapping it with his hand. One day he spent about 15 minutes doing it over and over and over. The joy of a new toy!


8. He still loves to kick the wall or doors or whatever else he can push against with his feet. The other day we had a close call with some metal words that we have hanging on the wall. I didn't think it was going to be a problem when he started kicking the wall, but apparently he did it hard enough that he knocked one of them off and was almost impaled by the L in laugh - that sure wouldn't have been funny! Luckily it just missed him and we've secured the words a bit more and have made sure to watch where he's kicking.

9. Now that he's crawling and getting into EVERYTHING, he leaves a path of destruction behind him. I pick up messes like this at least a dozen times a day, but that doesn't keep him for making another one the next time he's let loose on the floor. This lovely little mess was made after a mere 3-4 minutes - now that's talent!


10. Tate still loves his tongue. In fact, most of his big smile pictures usually have a tongue sticking out somewhere. I think it's darn cute and can't get enough of that cute little smile.


11. Jeremiah has been putting Tate up on his shoulders and aside from the squealing and smiles that are sure to follow, there's always a bit of hair-pulling for Jeremiah. As with most time you say "OW!" Tate just laughs and thinks it's so funny.


12. On nights when we bath after dinner, we usually will give Tate a teething biscuit after he's eaten his baby food. Why those nights do you ask, well, just take a look:


Still can't see it? Here's a close-up. Yeah that's right, it's on his face, in his nose, in his hair, and many other places you can't see. We pretty much strip him down and throw him right in the tub after he's done.


13. Tate has recently figured out that those wooden things in the kitchen open. And even better, there are fun things to pull out and play with. There are only a few cabinets that he can't get into, but that doesn't stop him from trying. He found the pot cabinet the other day and he had a blast getting them out and banging them on the floor.



14. Recently, Tate has discovered yet another fascination - doors! He loves to push it one way, then the other. The first time he did it, I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have been and he pushed it so hard it bounced off the door stop and hit him right in the face! Luckily, he didn't cry for long and went right back to pushing it again. Since then he's been a bit softer and I've paid a bit more attention, so we haven't had any repeat bonks in the face.


He loves toilets too, but that's one thing I don't let him touch. EEEWWWW!


15. He now has two teeth on top to go along with his two teeth on the bottom. The only problem is that the teeth on top are not in the center - like the lower ones are. It sure makes him look like a little vampire!

16. With all the crawling and playing with things, I've noticed the last couple days that Tate has spent quite some time on his knees. The first few times ended with a big "timber," but since then he's become more steady and is now a pro at it.


Every time I see him up on his knees, it makes him look so big. And it's a good reminder that walking is just right around the corner.



Yes, our little one sure is growing! Only 11 months and he is learning and doing so much. We sure love him and can't imagine how we ever got along without him!

Cheerleading

These last few months Hailey has been in a cheerleading class. She has been LOVING every minute of it! For the last month of so, we have been anxiously waiting for the cheer program to roll around. Unlike dance or gymnastics, parents aren't allowed to watch the practices. Mostly because of the lack of space in the cheerleading room and also because their cheers have been a surprise. Well, last Friday, it was finally time for the program!

She was so excited to finally perform for everyone.


Do a quick "high v" before the program starts!


"Fight, fight, fight!"


In addition to their cheers, they also did a couple of dances.


She was so darling, she just looked so grown up out there.


Here are a couple of video clips to see her in action.





At the end of the performance, they called each of the girls up to get a certificate and a treat bag. Of course there were pom poms in there for each girl.


We made sure to be there early enough to sit right on the front row. It was great to be right in front of her. Tate spent most of the time playing with Nana and Papa.


Here's a quick picture of the little girls group. They are all ages 5-8, so Hailey was one of the youngest. But to be honest, she did better than some of the older girls in her group.


Nana and Papa even drove all the way down to see her performance.


And of course one of our family.


We were so proud of our little cheerleader! It was so much fun to watch her get excited and perform. Way to go Hailey!

Hailey The Babysitter

Ever since Nana and Papa have been babysitting Libby, Hailey has been dying to babysit her too. She has begged and begged me to get Libby down here so that she could watch her. Since it's a bit far for them to come, we compromised and promised Hailey we would get her to Nana's on a day when she could help out there. After conflicting schedules with preschool, work, and other things, we finally got her up there last Friday with Libs.

She was so darling. When we first arrived, Libby was napping and Hailey kept asking every 2 minutes if she was awake yet - she just couldn't wait to babysit.

After she woke up and Hailey held her for a few minutes, we had lunch. Then it was time for Hailey's first official babysitting job - to feed Libby her bottle. She was in heaven and enjoyed every minute of it.


I think poor Libs didn't know what was going on, but she graciously let Hailey feed her the entire thing.


I had to run my Dad to the airport, so Nana braved staying with two babies and one over-eager babysitter while I was gone. From what I heard, they all had a great time! Apparently Libby was enthralled with Hailey the whole time I was gone - that's not surprising since Hailey is very entertaining with her personality and all of her energy.


It was a fun time for all of us. And Hailey's now telling me that she needs to babysit Libby more often. She is so great with Tate and she was so darling with Libby, it was fun to see her interact with her and take such great care of her.

Way to go Hailey, you make a wonderful babysitter!

Easter 2011

Holidays are so much fun when you have kids. In fact, I think I have more fun now than I ever did when I was little. They get so excited and are so fun to watch. Easter was really fun this year, the kids could hardly wait for it to get here. After a fun Saturday at Nana and Papa's house, we were geared up for Easter the next day. Zach was up early and had a really hard time waiting for his sister to wake up! Once we had everyone up and ready to go, downstairs they headed to see what the Easter bunny had left them. I usually follow behind, but this year I went first and had the camera ready to capture their expressions - they were so darling!


Tate absolutely loved the little airplane, boat, and weebles toys the Easter bunny left him. He wasn't as excited about the diapers and wet ones, but that's ok, they've already been well used!


The kids loved looking through their Easter baskets at all the candy and prizes they got.


So many fun things to see, eat, and play with!


Some of the favorite toys for Zach were the bike bell he asked for and the Hot Wheels Car Wash.


Hailey of course loved the play cash register she's been dying to have. Every trip to Target was so hard as she had to leave it behind. Thank goodness the Easter bunny knew exactly what to bring her.


After going through their baskets and toys, it was time for the egg hunt. The Easter bunny is so good about hiding eggs. It took them a good 15 minutes to find their 12 - the Easter bunny is getting tricky and hiding them in really crazy locations!


Tate crawled around picking up all of his eggs which the Easter bunny had conveniently left on the floor for him to reach.


He loved grabbing two of them and just banging them together - ah, the simple joys of a baby!


We had a wonderful Easter this year. We hope you all had as much fun as we did.


Happy Easter from the Hawks Family!

Easter Egg Hunt at Nana and Papa's

For the Easter weekend, my brother and his wife were down from Oregon to visit. We were so excited to see them, so we went up to Nana and Papa's house on Saturday for dinner and to visit with them. Since it was close to Easter, we decided to do a last minute easter egg hunt for the kids in the backyard.

Here they are all ready to go.


Tate wasn't so sure what was going on. He kept wanting to just play with his easter basket instead of anything else. One thing we did figure out though, he does not like the grass!


Hailey ran around giggling as she searched for her eggs - she was so cute.


Zach, just kept being so surprised when he found one. I think I heard, look Mommy, I found another one all 14 times he found his eggs. He was darling.


Jeremiah, bless his heart, helped Tate find all 14 of his eggs and then even posed for a picture with the kids. I love this one because Tate is looking into Zach's basket - plotting on how to get those eggs! :)


After everyone found their share of eggs, it was into the kitchen to empty them.


Yummy candy!


Tate scored big time when he found a dollar bill in one of his eggs. The rest of the kids were extremely jealous!


An easter egg hunt and having Afton and Bubby down for a visit - it was a wonderful day!

Our Visitor

A couple weeks ago, I was cooking dinner and the kids were helping me. Hailey was setting the table and Zach was playing with Tate. As I was standing at the stove, I saw Hailey stop and look out the sliding glass door. She called Zach over and pointed out at something in the backyard. I didn't think much of it, so I continued cooking dinner. Here's how the next conversation went:

Zach: Mom, there's a skunk in our yard.
Me: Very funny Zach.
Zach: There's really a skunk back there.
Me: Zach, that's not very funny, you shouldn't joke about a skunk in the yard.
Zach: Mom, I'm not joking, there's really a skunk back there.
Hailey: Mom, Zach isn't joking, we really see a skunk.

At that point, I ran to the door and sure enough, here's what we saw:


A very big skunk walking across our backyard wall.



I stood there stunned for a few minutes and after getting a hold of myself, grabbed this picture (just in case no one believe us - just like I didn't believe Zach the first few times). We continued to watch it and it disappeared behind our shed and out of view.

A minute or two later, Jeremiah got home and heard at least 3 versions of how we saw the skunk in our backyard. I was glad I snapped the picture, because he looked skeptical during all 3 stories. After dinner (which was very long and crazy due to the amount of questions we got about skunks, where they came from, what they do, and if they will hurt you), I sent Jeremiah outside to see if he could see it behind the shed. After looking and throwing a few rocks, we determined it wasn't there. So he proceeded to actually go back behind the shed to see if it happened to be hiding (I was mentally trying to determine if we had any tomato juice in the house!). When he got behind the shed, he saw that the dirt underneath the fence on the side of the yard had been dug up (and the same was true with the other side fence) and that the skunk had probably just gone under both fences and had just walked along our backyard on his way who knows where. Well, we quickly put some wood, rocks, and anything else we could find to block the holes, hoping we wouldn't have a repeat visit.

We haven't seen our little "visitor" since, but the doesn't keep the kids from mentioning it every once in a while when they look outside. And the best part is listening to them tell the story to anyone who hasn't heard it - I swear the skunk gets bigger and bigger every time Zach tells it! Yes, I think that was one visitor I don't EVER want back!