November update

First, Happy Birthday to those born in November, Grandpa Jenson, Cousin Eric, Aunt Ann.

















We had a great Halloween. Mike carved a pumpkin for each of us. A baby pumpkin for Joseph...a traditional pumpkin for Mommy and a pirate pumpkin for Daddy. It was fun to stay home and carve pumpkins (and of course take pictures)! :)


I would say Joseph is learning something new every day. He is starting to copy us or create games with us on his own. Here is a list of all the new things Joseph is experiencing.

• He decided he no longer likes rice cereal and refuses to eat it. The same goes for any green veggie.
• He loves to eat crackers. I think he likes this because he gets to feed himself.
• He does not like to lie still while having his diaper changed.
• He knows how to scoot (kinda like an army crawl or low crawl) all over the floor. When I say all over the floor this means he scoots everywhere on the main floor. If the door is open he will even go out on the deck. He loves to explore.

• Jumping is a new favorite. Either in the Exersaucer or his Johnny Jumper he loves to jump! This activity can keep him busy for at least an hour.
• Bath time is now messy. He has learned to splash and this makes for a nice wet bathroom! (click picture to play video)




• He is a talker. He loves to have his voice heard. His favorite words are “A-da” and “dadadadada” and “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh”. His new sounds are “bababababa” and “vavavavava” and “Pluuuuuuuuuuuuuuu” with spit flying everywhere! We are still waiting for mamamama.
• He knows his name. If call him by name he will turn his head and pay attention to you.
• He does a little jig when Mike comes home from work. He gets so excited he can’t control his body and wiggles and jumps all over.
• He can now ride in a shopping cart. He thinks he’s on a carnival ride. His face is pure joy, with his mouth wide open and grinning, when you push him around.
• He knows how to wave bye-bye…kind of! He will do it 60% of the time. He is still getting the motion down.
• His nose is a new feature. He will scrunch up his nose and breath in and out of it really fast. He thinks he’s pretty funny when he does this.

• His favorite game is to say, “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” and have you repeat it back to him. If you do not pay attention to him he will just do it louder. This is especially fun in church! He is definitely Mike’s boy!
• He can now recognize objects. He is able to put his pacifier in his mouth all by himself. It is not always the right side up…but it’s in his mouth. The same goes for a bottle. Make sure not to show him this unless you are ready for him to eat.
• If you point at something and tell him to look he will try to look what you are point at.

As you can see he is learning and growing like crazy.

Mommy and Daddy have been busy too!
In the past month, we decorated for Joseph's first Christmas. Over our Thanksgiving break, Mike went into the woods and bought us home a beautiful Christmas tree. Mike and I had a lot of fun decorating it this year. It is a wonderful mix of decorations from both his and my childhood (his all have teeth marks in them). The rest of the decoration represent our eight years together. It was just a lot of fun to go through them and talk and remember !

We haven't had much snow so far, which might me for a lot of snow over spring......

For more pictures (only about 100) click on the link below:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=evu1dtf.271xeqfz&Uy=-5obh8m&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1

Click for more videos: http://www.dropshots.com/Begleyae

October Snow

These past couple of weeks we have kept busy with chopping wood and snow. Yep, it’s officially that time of year where wood and snow are a big part of our lives…at least for the next 6-7 months.

Mike has been busy every weekend collecting and splitting our wood (with an ax!). I’m pretty proud of him as this is not an easy task and he enjoys it. Our house normally needs 4-6 cords of wood (local Douglas Fur) per winter, but we are hoping to go on less this year. Mike and his dad did alot of work last spring to make the house more efficient - but Mike is cutting as though we need 6 cords anyway. We are happy because we haven't had to turn the furnace on yet (since last April)

Colorado weather is very funny. Today it’s 18 degrees outside, with about 7 inches of snow and 72 inside. Yesterday it was 74 outside. Crazy.

This weekend Joseph and I joined the guys (Mike and our neighbors) cutting down trees. It was a pretty good time. Joseph and I were not a lot of help, but we enjoyed our time together. While the guys cut down trees Joseph and I took a hike and enjoyed exporing the woods. It is a very beautiful area.


Since Joseph is officially 6-months, he needed some more shots. It was a bit more interesting this time. When we walked into the doctor’s office he immediately cried. He knew what was coming. Even worse, when I laid him down on the exam table to undress him he screamed. I’m amazed at how he remembers things at such a young age. We wore a good luck (Fighting Irish)T-shirt Grandma and Grandpa B sent him. It worked for health, but not for fear! My mom told me to give him a new toy for a distraction at his 9-month check up. We’ll see if this works. The doctor says he is healthy and growing fine. He is just over 16 pounds and 27inches tall. YIKES!!!

For more pictures of this week go to the link below:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=evu1dtf.5mkwsjbb&Uy=kfsk9o&Ux=0

A good week of firsts!!!

Happy Birthday to all those born in October: Grandpa Begley, Uncle Tom, Uncle Ray, Grandma Begley, Aunt Mary, and Aunt Becca! We hope you all have a wonderful day!!!

Oh my goodness, this week has been a week of growth for Joseph. He is now rolling over from his back to this stomach. He loves it. There are times he will role all the way across the room and then kick like crazy to scoot across the floor. He wants to be mobile so bad he can hardly stand it! Mike says he is like a Rocket with out fins - all thrust, no steer!!! But, this is a step in the right direction. In this picture, Joseph rolled over and then inched around 180 degrees and was scooting for Kenya’s foot. He loves his dogs.

Well since he is a boy, I figured it was about time he has his first experience with dirt. So I laid him in the dirt and let him go at it. Most of it was exploring, but he did get a good taste of some dirt and pine needles. Nothing like a good organic diet!

Joseph has also spoken his first word!!! "Dada." His daddy is so proud!

What's so great about it is, it's a series of "dada" that turns into, "dadadadadadadadadadada" that gets mixed with a bunch of high pitched screams and his mouth is over-exaggerated when he talks. It’s all really too cute.

I took a video of it and I'm hoping to have it uploaded soon.

For other pictures of Joseph’s please go to the following link:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=evu1dtf.7cawqiq7&Uy=v3s9sd&Ux=0

Oh my goodness, Anne is 30!!!

What a day. I am officially out of my 20s. I had a great day. Mike made me breakfast in bed to include and an egg sandwich, cinnamon French toast, orange juice, and coffee. This also included a bottle for Joseph and some eggs for Mike. We all enjoyed breakfast in bed together. It was a great memory – and a family first.

We also went on a hike today. Mike took us out to show us where he took his Elk, but also to share some of the beauty he discovered during his hiking (scouting). After walking through the area where he took his bull, Mike took us to a nice little field in a valley he enjoyed alone, but spoke to me about a lot. We took some pictures – it will be our ‘place’. Since Joseph, I have missed being a part of this, but today I was able to get back to why we live out here. Joseph was great. After 2 hours he told Daddy he had had enough and we headed back to the truck. He even fell asleep before we could get home...only a 10 minute drive! :) He always loved Daddy’s truck over Mommy’s car…

All in all it was a perfect day. Breakfast in bed, a wonderful hike, a couple of happy birthday songs sang over the phone, hanging around the house, fire wood split, the golden aspen leaves of fall, perfect weather, and spending time with my two favorite boys!

If you would like to see more pictures of today. Please go to the following link.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=evu1dtf.32wo3lq7&Uy=-2kixrg&Ux=0