And it was the BEST 5 minutes of my life.  (Yes, the following catastrophe happened in under 5 minutes)
View the complete pudding album here

From Mommy:
I needed something to occupy Preston for a few minutes so that I could get a few things done, so I thought I would let him finger paint with chocolate pudding.  I gave him a plate with one tablespoon of pudding on it; logically my child would paint little pictures and daintily lick his fingers in delight.  HA!  It took a few seconds for him to decide that chocolate pudding was not only squishy and fun to touch, but it was also one of the most delicious things he had ever tasted!  Within a few seconds there was pudding everywhere.  Needless to say I got nothing done, because I was laughing hysterically and snapping pictures like a crazy woman.  

Christmas is AWESOME, if not a little exhausting.  We had 4 Christmases in 3 days with lots of food, family, presents, and short naps.  I could get used to all of the attention! 
I got a lot of fun presents from Santa and from family.  Some of my favorites were a ball popping train from Grandma and Grandpa, a sled from Gigi and Grandpa, and a the High Seas Symphony instrument set from Santa! 
Being away for 3 days makes it tough to blog, so I'll catch you up.  On saturday, Christmas Eve, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for traditional fondue dinner.  We stayed overnight there.  Mom says that Santa always knows where to find me, so I wasn't worried.  He came through with a ton of presents in the morning and a full stocking!  Tia Debs was there, too.  We opened presents, and had breakfast before we packed up and moved on to Gigi and Grandpa's house.  There I opened MORE presents, ate Christmas dinner (prime rib roast), and stayed the night.  We had breakfast and then headed to Mema and Poppop L's house for lunch.  Then we finally wrapped up our Christmas festivities with dinner and Mema and Poppop K's house.  Phew!  We were all exhausted when we finally got home.  Luckily this week Mom and Dad are off of work, so they can "relax" a little bit.  And by "relax' I mean not relax at all, because I have a LOT of things to do, and they all require supervision.

Mommy is having some trouble with pictures, so we'll post a few tomorrow!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

This has been a BIG year for us, as John and I started our adventure as parents.  We are having a BLAST, and are so blessed to have our cutie-pie baby boy in our lives.  It is amazing to us to see how far he has come: from a tiny newborn to an almost walking, babbling, eating, dog-book loving, cat tormenting, big boy!  He has blossomed into a thoughtful, yet stubborn guy, and although it is bitter sweet to watch him grow up so fast, we are so excited to see what happens next!  Preston turns 1 in a few short weeks.

We want to wish you all a joyful Christmas, and a blessed New Year.  

Love, 
John and Carrie

Mom and Dad let me have my own drawer in the kitchen.  It's full of fun goodies like funnels, a scale, a flashlight, and a box of straws.  Most of the time I like to open and close the drawer and then move on to other cabinets, but sometimes I pull things out of it.  Tonight I got the box of straws.  Mom and Dad know me pretty well, so they taped the box closed. I guess they don't know be THAT well, because a little piece of tape isn't going to stop me.  I got that box open, and I threw the straws everywhere!  Jack thought it was a fun game, too.  I waved a straw around and he tried to get it out of my hands;  apparently straws are his favorite toy, too.  I'm glad we have something in common.  See the whole album here

Can you believe that I am 11 months old today!?  Mom thought it would be nice to document all of the things that are going on in my life to day.  Like a snapshot in time, so here we go:

Today I climbed to the top of the stairs... twice... with no help!  Mommy followed behind me the whole way, but she never had to rescue me.  And the best part is that I did it NAKED!  
Daddy and I played a new game to day.  I crawl onto a blanket, and then Daddy pulls me and the blanket all over the house.  It's like riding a magic carpet!

Mom and Dad had a busy weekend with the Bach Choir, so they called for some back-up.  All 4 of my Grandparents came to the rescue!   Gigi and Grandpa N stayed for the weekend, and I saw Grandma and Grandpa K on Saturday night and on Sunday for church. 

On Saturday I wore overalls that used to be Uncle Ted’s!  They probably wouldn’t fit him anymore.  Grandma made them over 30 years ago!  

I learned a new game.  Daddy calls it “fishing.”  Here is how I play it.

And finally, I finally decided that I am a big boy, so I can sit in the big boy seat in the car.  I guess Mom will have to use the carseat!  

Just kidding!  Daddy let me sit there for a few minutes so he could get a picture.  Safety comes first in this family.  But I am getting so big that I barely fit in my baby car seat.   We’re probably going to have to retire it soon.  

I (finally!) got my 6th tooth!  Yay!  Both Mom and Miss Erin let out sighs of relief.  I've been a cranky clinging guy for the last 2 days.  It's amazing what a tooth breaking through the gum can do for ones overall mood.  

We got our pictures with Santa back.  I was looking to see if I could spot any reindeer flying through the sky.

From Mommy:

I like to write things here so that I don't forget them.  I had a list of things I wanted to write about, and of course I can't find the list, and I can only remember one of the things.  But it's an important one.  We got to Skype with my brother, sister-in-law, and baby niece over the weekend.  Preston was watching the screen, and he pointed right at Liora when we asked him where the baby was.  He was really focused on her image!  It was a cute and special moment for us.  

Today we went to visit Phil, Holly, and Baby Gavin for lunch, before we headed over to LVC for Christmas at the Valley.  Gavin is getting really big, and we like to stare at each other.   He smiles and laughs now, too.  We took lunch (a turkey pot pie), and we played with some of Gavin’s toys.  Phil and Holly gave me my first official Christmas present: my very own cell phone!  I love it.  I knew right away that I needed to push the buttons.  Word must have traveled fast, because on the way home a ton of people called me!  Jack called to find out when we were coming home; he and Susie were getting hungry.   And the zoo called to tell me that a Giraffe was missing (I think they meant Sophie, but she’s in Mom’s car, so I told them she was fine).  Then the book police called to tell me that the Dog Book was missing.  We put out an ABB (All Books Buletin) and filed a Missing Book Report.  I was really concerned about that, because the Dog Book is my favorite.   When we got home all was intact, so I guess I was just getting prank calls.  I wonder how they got my number?   I bet it was the crazy kitties trying to play a trick on me!!  

While we were at Phil and Holly's, Daddy got a video of me taking some of my first steps.  It's over there ------->

Besides the excitement of having my own phone now, we had an exciting time at the concert.  Mom and I spent a lot of it in the stairwell.  Who scheduled a concert at naptime?  I eventually fell asleep for a little bit, so Mom could enjoy some of the concert, but I woke up again towards the end, so she gave up and we played in the church lobby until the end.  That’s when the real excitement started.   At the end of the concert Mom and Dad go to the front to sing with the choir.  Every year the alumni are invited to sing along to ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas.’  Since Mom and Dad are both alumni, and leaving me in the seat wasn’t an option, I got to go with them!  Dr. Mecham even gave me a shout out when he saw me.  He announced to everyone that I was a the future of LVC.  As my very serious self I stared at the audience during the whole performance.  What’s with the guy flapping his hands at the choir?

Next came the BEST part of my day.  We headed over to the reception after the concert for some drinks and cookies.  Mommy had punch, but Daddy had EGG NOG!  I got to have a taste of the Nog (no worries it was the benign, non-alcoholic store-bought kind).  It was SO good.  It tasted like a milk and cookies.   Mom kept taking pictures of me, she thought something was funny.   I couldn’t figure her out,  what do you think?

We finally came home for dinner.  Jack snickered at me – he’s such a practical joker, and I went to bed to dream of another fun week of school.

Today we went shopping for my first Christmas Tree at "The Christmas Tree store."  It was the big field of trees near Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Grandpa brought a saw so that we could chop the trees down, and take them home to set them up in our house.  
It's my first Christmas, so that's means that this is all new to me.  I'm slowly starting to figure it out, but it's pretty complicated.  On Thursday I mentioned that I met this guy Santa, and I told him what I wanted for Christmas.  Apparently he comes to our house, with flying reindeer on Christmas eve, and leaves a bunch of toys.  That's where this Christmas tree comes in.  He leaves the toys UNDER the tree.  I wonder what he would do if we didn't have a tree?  I guess it's a good thing we took care of that detail early.  Anyway, that's just one part of Christmas.  It's really about celebrating the birth of Jesus our Savior.  Phew, I have so much to learn.  
We are taking it one step at a time, and today was tree day.  Mom, Grandma, and I walked home through a field, and we stayed at Grandma's house for a while.  Lorna came over to hang out!
When we got home I was cranky from a busy day and a short afternoon nap, so I didn't participate much in the decorating of the tree.  I did however, taste a candy cane, and a sleigh bell.  
Our tree looks beautiful, and so does the rest of the house.  I think I am going to like Christmas.