Anyone home?

Yes, we are still here! I can't believe it's been a month since my last post. Please forgive me. :) What a month! I will catch on posting in the next few nights, but a quick outline... Mike graduated {Yipee!!}, JMU football was in the playoffs {Gooooo Dukes}, there were many Christmas celebrations, AND WE ARE BUYING A HOUSE!!!! more details to follow.

The Arboretum

Early Christmas at the Swinson's

Due to some awesome Thanksgiving weekend sales, we got our Christmas present early this year. Since we have been married, Mike and I buy a family gift together...something we "need". We buy one present for each other {something small}. We bought our first digital camera, a computer, a matress and now this camera upgrade. I know that it may be stretching the need category, but our eyes have been on this prize for a couple of years now. We were excited when a great D60 package was on sale at Costco last week. We've been playing around with the camera all weekend...hopefully you see an improvement in our photograhs soon :)

My beautiful TEETHING boy

Henry is usually a happy little guy. He's being a cheeseball here. Recently, he's been going through another round of teething though. We've actually had a pretty rough 24 hours. I think Henry woke every 20 minuted last night. He was not very happy at church today and would have nursed all day if I had let him {it makes his gums feel better}. Then tonight it took a lot longer than usual to get him to sleep. Poor little guy. For all our sake, I hope this molar comes in quickly! In this picture, you can see his rosey cheeks and the drip of drool on the end of his chin :)

Henry has had his fingers and hands in his mouth all weekend. Anything for a little relief!

Look at those eyes! How could I ever be frustrated with him :)

A shiner and some crazy bedhead

Henry got his first black eye on Thanksgiving morning. The night before, he leaned on a box and it popped up and hit him in the face. He got a tiny little cut and a small bruise. He liked to show it off, it made him feel tough :)

Colors and Forts

I have loved the fall colors this year. Through most of the month of October, it looked like the colors weren't going to be anything special. Then all the sudden around the beginning of November we got the show. There have been some very brilliant reds and yellows. I love it! This bradford pear tree is outside of our front door. No matter the season, it's always so pretty.

Henry has been enjoying playing with all the fallen leaves and sticks. He is such a boy! Whenever we are outside, he always has to be carrying a stick.

Mike and Henry enjoy their play time together. Lately, they have been building forts together. Henry gets so excited. As soon as the blankets are placed, Henry shreeks and starts to crawl through.

Silly Morning

Henry was being particularly cute and silly yesterday morning. He was excited about his new water bottle that we got over the weekend.

Henry, the Green...Lizard?

I've never seen a 1 year old so excited about a Halloween costume! From the day Emily tried this on him at her house {it was Caleb's costume}, he's been crazy about wearing this around the house. Henry was a very cute...dinosaur? We never really knew what to call him. I referred to him as an aggressive green reptile.

He had a lot of fun with his friends at the ward Halloween party. He was especially intrigued by this adorable little witch,

Henry's getting ready to go to the OCP fall fest. He had a good time dancing and hanging out with friends.

It was very dark out and I didn't do a very good job aiming for this picture. I thought it was still blog-worthy :)

Pumpkin Carving '08

Ashley Anderson Photography

Ashley has created a beautiful photography blog. She came down this week for a quick visit and some pictures. Check out the great photos of my sister's family. I'm excited to see what she got of Henry. I'll post some as soon as I have them.

Building a Tower

Henry has started to stack everything. He really likes to stack cups. Here he is helping Daddy build a tower. Make sure you turn your volume up for this video, Henry has the greatest chipmunk chuckle :)

Never in a million years...

...would I have thought this would ever happen! Henry was eating his lunch today and I was sitting beside him at the table working on the laptop. All the sudden I heard some strange breathing and I look over and Henry was OUT! He had probably been asleep for a minute or so. I was able to transfer him to his bed without him even waking up. It was too cute :)

Pox Party

Everyone keep your fingers crossed for us. We invited a little girl with chicken pox to come over and play tomorrow morning :) This little cutie is my sister. I had some complaints about my previous picture and was forced to change it.

Henry's First Birthday Party...three months later!

I finally remembered to get pictures of Henry's party from my sister...so here they are.

We had a picnic at a local park with family and a few friends. The weather was great and the park is really nice.

We hid some small toys for a small hunt for the kids.

Here we are singing Happy Birthday to him. Henry thought all the attention was pretty cool. He also really liked the turtle that he found during the hunt...he said it tastes like chicken.

Henry had just really eating solid foods a few week before. I wasn't sure what he was going to do with this cupcake.

He thought this seemed like a good idea :)

And maybe some of this...

Look at these tummy rolls. I guess 11 months of breastmilk did a body good!

At no point did Henry eat any of the cupcake. He still prefers the turtle.

Some of the dads were working on their putt.

Henry was mostly a spectator during the opening of the presents. Caleb was very eager to help!

Grace was a little frustrated that she wasn't getting in on the action.

I'm sporting Henry's cute towel that his Abuelita Swinson made for him.

This was Henry's favorite toy. He had seen it at Pufferbellies and wouldn't put it down. It is made of wood and actually makes a pleasant sound!

Mike gave Caleb this safari hat. He took Rody {another present for Henry that he loves} on a hunt looking for animals. Too cute.