Christmastime in Charleston

The Santa at the SC Aquarium really freaked Alice out!

We had a grand time at the Toogoodoo Tree Farm choosing our tree and taking a train ride around the farm. Alice had a blast on the toys that the family keeps around for the visiting kids!

Alice is Walking!

Alice started walking last week! She just decided it was time...she still has that wobbly unsteady gait with the hands high up in the air, it is just soo cute.

We took these photos about a month ago when Alice first discovered that she

could climb up into her rocking chair on her own.

Look at how Proud she is of herself!

I just Love that she has that little book

upside-down in her hands!

She sat and rocked, and rocked, and rocked !

I know, I know...I haven't been keeping up regularly with the blog. I hate that I haven't because so many really neat things have been going on here. Alice is such a smart little girl...it just amazes me to see her develop into a little peson with her own ideas and opinions. One evening after bath time I was getting her ready for bed and she was holding onto the bottle of lotion that I had just finished applying and said her version of balloon (which sound more like baaoon) So I of course said "no sweetie, that's not a balloon, that is lotion." At which point she said balloon again, a little more forcefully...I looked at the lotion and sure enough there were 3 balloons on the front of the bottle! She can say up, down, mom, dad, dog, ball, balloon, rock/rock, book, hot, fish, some kind of version of please which I can only identify because she signs please at the same time, of course "no", ho ho ho in honor of Christmas and some others that we have only heard once or twice like truck and tickle. She has remained very cautious about walking and has weaned down from requiring both hands held to just needing a pinky finger in her right hand...she likes to keep the left one free to pick stuff up with. She has walked stretches as long as 10 feet without any help, but she still likes us close. She is changing so much...less my little Baby, more my little Toddler.

Koi Pond

While touring the historic homes in St Augustine we came across Alice's favorite sight seeing...Fish.

St Augustine

Alice and I took a trip to St Augustine last weekend to visit with Jackie and Dave Scott who had traveled from Granbury, TX.
We took a sunset boat cruise and had a great time seeing all the sights from a new angle and learning a little history.

"Fish or Treat"

The South Carolina Aquarium has a cool little event for the kiddos for Halloween. We met a few of Alice's friends for some fishy fun and another opportunity for some costume wearing. We were missing a duck, a bunny and a pirate in this photo. And for those of you wondering about the little one on the left...Neve was the costume contest winner in her Starbucks Latte with whipped and chipped topping.
Alice was a flower in her pink and yellow tutu and green leggings...I just think she was so adorable!

Unfortunately Alice was not feeling so well on Halloween day and spiked a fever prompting a doctor's office visit. No biggie, just a fever and was feeling much better after a nap and some Tylenol...we went out for a brief tour around the neighborhood later that night and then later regretted that decision. We ended up keeping our germies away from Neve's (the Latte) Halloween party on Saturday...bummer we had to miss it!

I thought it was so awesome that even the big tank scuba divers got in on the costumes too!

Gardening

Alice enjoyed helping Mommy and Grandma out in the garden, look at that dirty bummy and the cool little Alice-sized shovel!

Carving Pumpkins

Alice helped me clean out our pumpkin prior to carving it, she had a good time playing with the goo inside but it was difficult to keep her from putting the goo in her mouth...yuck!

Pumpkin Patch

Right across the street from our neighborhood is a church that sells pumpkins every fall. I remember when I was in college coming out to the pumpkins to take pictures with our friends. Never thought I would be living across the street and taking photos of my 1 year old little girl here!

Alice had the best time crawling over and through the pumpkins...from the itty bitties to the ones that outweigh her by 20 lbs....

Childrens festival

Robert took a slide with Alice at the festival in Mt Pleasant. Alice also got a chance to jump in an Alice sized jump castle...which was fun to watch! And we also got to check out the cool firetruck...

My Poor Little Gamecock Fan

This is my sweet little fan before the game....




...during the game...

....and after the game.

The Tigers don't look too much better right now either. We are a sad football house right now!

We visited our neighborhood bar for some Oktoberfest delights. We enjoyed some German brews and bratwurts while listening to some traditional German music. Alice got wild and danced on the tables with her kazoo!

Children's Festival

In late September the Children's Museum had a festival complete with pony rides, face painting, parade, balloon animals, races and crafts. Alice had fun checking out the pony and playing with the sidewalk chalk. We had lots of fun watching Alice explore!

Additional birthday photos

Here are some additional photos from Alice's party...
Snuggling with MaMa


Hanging out with Granny Leigh

Piggy back ride with PaPa

Our "Little Bug" turns ONE!

Alice had a big time at her birthday party! She did a fantastic job at smashing that cake. Grandma put together a lovely angel food cake garnished with strawberries and cool whip. Alice picked her way around the cake eating the strawberries first and then diving into the center for the whipped topping. Her onesie was a green handprint of hers with a little lady bug on it...a darling little memento.

I have to preface all of the food photos with the statement that I always think that my friend Lauren is so funny for posting pictures of the food whenever they have a party or gathering...So Lauren, this is for you,take a gander of KK's yummy salsa! Oh and also take a look at the adorable ladybug strawberries Cassy put together for the party!

Alice was getting full towards the end and began sharing her cake with Daddy and Eva (my friend Cassy's oldest). We stripped Alice down and bathed her in the sink after cake, the bottom right hand photo is the remnants of her cake.

All of the kids had fun playing out back in the playhouse. Pictured are 2 of Cassy's girls Eva (the oldest) and I think that is Mya in the window (one of the twins), Holly (Ashley's) is holding onto the shutters.
Here is Alice playing with the Andrus girls.
We had a great turnout...All of the grandparents, Aunt Ashley with Cousin Holly, Uncle Michael Taylor, Ida and Kara Leeth, the Andruses, the Nixons, along with Finn, Ellis Anne, Peyton, Neve and Michael all from Alice's playgroup (with their awesome parents too, of course).
This is Alice on her new wheelybug. If you hadn't noticed, we had a bug themed party...