Alex- Mission in life accomplished!!!

Yippee! I can finally pull up on stuff and walk!

This is his new silly face. Julia made the exact same face when she was his age. It's really horrid looking but very funny.

That's right, I'm still standing up!

This is what life's all about!

Do NOT try and stop me!

All Alex has ever wanted to do is stand up and walk, and move move move! Even when he was a tiny infant he wanted you to stand him up. Finally, a couple of weeks ago, he learned to pull up and now he can't be stopped! He holds onto things and walks all over the living room as fast as he can. If there's nothing for him to hold onto, he crawls as fast as he can and gets right back up. He is already very confident and steady, can squat down to pick things up, and is trying to stand without holding onto anything. He's not even 9 months old yet! I guess he will be an early walker. It's time for some serious babyproofing but we're still in denial about it so we just have to pick him up and move him away from stuff 5000 times a day. Anyway, he LOVES his newfound freedom and skills and is quite a happy boy. He also has 5 teeth now (and is not a good teether) and is starting to eat some big boy snacks and food. He is so cute and funny and is growing before our eyes. I can't believe he will be 1 so soon! He is our sweet chunk of a little boy and we love him sooooo much!

Bowling with Juju

Playing air hockey with Daddy (she's pretty good!)

Dang, that's a heavy ball!

This is what she wanted to do after 10 minutes of bowling.

It took so long for her ball to roll to the pins, we had time to run to the bathroom or get snacks while we waited.

Last weekend, Matt and I decided to take Julia bowling since she had never been before and so we could spend some time alone with her. Alex went to Grammy's and we headed to the bowling alley. She thought it was really cool for about 10 minutes and then was bored and whiny. But we got through 2 games and then she played some air hockey with Matt. Matt and I especially enjoyed it because we hadn't been bowling in years and decided we will go more often!

Chuck E. Cheese and other random stuff

Juju trying to play ski-ball, notice where the ball is! More than a few balls went flying all over the place.

Julia has taken it upon herself to try and get Alex to look at the camera anytime we take a picture of them now. We've got a lot of these pictures with her hand squeezing his face, trying to turn his head!

I love this one! They're having so much fun together!

More fun on the rides

AJ is pooped!

Alex has realized that he can press his face against the side of the playpen. It's hilarious every time!

Juju on her new bike at the nature walk

More bike riding

There's not too much out of the ordinary going on with us, just taking each day as it comes and dealing with it the best we can! Julia was very glad to go back to school (after the first couple of days) and Alex is growing like a weed! He is starting to pull up and stand against things. He is also waving, and talking up a storm! He still has sleeping issues but seems fine other than that. It is hard to believe he is already so big, holding his own bottle and trying to be a little "man"! His first birthday will be here before we know it.

Anyway, we decided to surprise Julia with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese the day before she went back to school. When we pulled in the parking lot and she realized where we were, she screamed like the little girl in Little Miss Sunshine! It was very cute. We all had a blast! Even Alex rode a couple of baby rides and he thought they were pretty cool. It was a really nice family day!

Visit with Great Gramma

Gramma very excited about a blanket we gave her. She got a nice one from Aunt L. too.

Gramma wearing her new sweater from Aunt Linda and Uncle Paul. She really liked it!

Matt and the kids

Gramma sporting her new shoes from Aunt L. She made a huge deal about these shoes and how much she liked them!

Sarah Ammie and Julia Ammie

3 Generations of crazy stubborn Dukes!

Alex's favorite part of the visit.

There are so many pictures from the whole visit that I had to separate some of these. We went to visit my Gramma (Great Gramma to the kids) during our trip and the pics are too good not to post. We took her our Christmas presents and also the ones from Aunt Linda and Uncle Paul. She was very glad to see us and seemed to love all the presents. It is always great to see her!

Christmas visit to North Georgia

All of the cousins! This is as close as you get to a good picture with all 6 of them. I really don't know what we'll do with 2 more babies, there will never be a good picture of all of them! But this is charming anyway.

I take after my Nana and my Daddy! (with the coffee)

The girls were holding hands on their own before they got Nick. They are so cute together!

Some cousin silliness

Best cousin friends and future firefighters!

Look at their beautiful home made pizza!!! They were quite proud.

The fam

The kids with Nana and Pop first thing in the morning!

This picture is so sweet! The boys actually gave each other a kiss!

What a cutie!

After a well needed bath

Chillin' on some huge stuffed animals!

Bradley either pretending to give AJ a push, or that he's super man!

"Let us out! We promise we'll be good!"

The kids on the nasty trampoline we had growing up! But Pop cleaned the debris off and they loved it. Angie and I weren't there when this happened, not sure if it would have if we had been there! Just kidding Pop and Matt, y'all did a great job!

And the Christmas blogs continue! A couple of days after Christmas, we headed to North Georgia to visit my family. Julia was ecstatic about seeing all of her cousins, especially RayRay! They really enjoyed each other this trip and got along better than they ever have.

We started the trip off from warm, sunny Bainbridge and were shocked when we got to Monroe and it was raining and freezing! It's not like we came from the other side of the world! Anyway, first we went to cousin Thomas' 3rd birthday party which was at the fire station for a few minutes and then when back to his house for cake and ice cream. The girls enjoyed the fire trucks more than any of the other kids, they are at a great age for that stuff. Later that night, we went back to Nana and Pop's house to open presents and spent the night there. The next morning, we went to Aunt Angie's to spend the day and the girls had an absolute blast. They didn't even want us around most of the day so it was nice for Angie and I to get to hang out with just Bradley and Alex. They really liked each other, Bradley was super sweet and interested in Alex and hopefully one day they'll be as close as Juju and RayRay are! We spent another night and the next 2 days at Nana and Pop's just hanging out and relaxing. Like always, everyone was super hospitiable and accomodating to us and we were very sad to leave. What's the saying, "I left my heart in North GA?" Okay, that's very dorky but I do miss it.

Christmas Day

AJ with some of his new toys

Juju with her special doll from Aunt Linda

Playing with new toys

The Santa loot, it didn't all fit into one picture. Also, notice the furniture- our Christmas present to ourselves!

Cookies and milk for Santa. Totally out of order of course.

Bub with his new baseball rattle

Cuties in their Christmas pjs

Juju helping Alex with one of his new toys. She loves to play with him and is gentle most of the time.

The new bike!

Cruisin' along

Christmas was extra fun this year because Julia really understood the whole Santa Clause thing for the first time and her excitement was contagious! Also, it was Alex's first Christmas so that was extra special. It seemed like we got the kids TONS of presents but of course, we when looked at them wrapped and sat the Santa ones out, it didn't seem like much. But they both loved everything. Julia's main present was a new bike. Her old one was way too small. We had a really nice, relaxed day at home and Juju and Matt took the new bike for a ride that afternoon while Alex was sleeping. It was a very fun Christmas!