Ollie Is 10 Months! Plus CHRISTMAS :)

*Disclaimer* I write this blog about Ollie being 9 months old, but wrote it after he turned 10 months.

Ollie began crawling at 9 months! I got his first crawl on video (which I actually have because I emailed it to my mom!) He was so cute. He was on my floor and really wanted a toy.  Usually his arms would work but his legs wouldn't follow.  THIS time (very shaky) his legs moved too!  Arms and legs in tandem moved his little body to to the desired toy!  I was so excited!  Since he began crawling, he wants nothing to do with his walker because now he can move around at his leisure.  He is definitely getting into more things, but I don't mind because he is so happy he can move.

Here is Oliver's 10 month picture

Some of the mommy/baby friends we have met in Tucson had a baby Christmas party breakfast!  It was so fun!  The girl that hosted it just remodeled a beautiful old home downtown and we LOVED getting a tour of it.  Oliver (the new-found-crawler) loved exploring it too!

We had a breakfast potluck and played together for awhile.  Then we had a white elephant gift exchange.

All the babies playing!

Gifts for the White Elephant Gift Exchange.

Ollie's gift is so fitting that it made me laugh.

He got a tooth fairy pillow.... Momma and Dadda are both in the dental field!

Dave has a some singing friends in Tucson and they all arranged a time to go caroling at Winterhaven (a home community that is required to decorate for Christmas and gets pretty much the whole town coming to see the lights).  Ollie and I went to watch (since we don't sing :).

The singing group.

We went to Thatcher with Dave's family for Christmas.  I went to visit my friend Katie for a night and she has 3 dogs.  I believe Oliver fell in love with dogs at this visit.  He would stare out the window at them.  When they came inside he was so fascinated with them.  I always say "Look Ollie, Doggy!  WOOF WOOF"  So when he hears or sees  dog he goes "Ffff" "Fff"  (Probably saying the end part of wooF).  He seriously loves the letter F.  He loves Fans and now calls them Fff Fff.  He has grandpa Lundin wrapped around his little finger.  Everytime Grandpa walks in the room Oliver begs him to pick him up and as soon as he does Ollie points at the fan and says Ff Ffff.  Grandpa then picks him up and lets him touch the fan and moves the blades.

Ollie getting a buzz from daddy in Thatcher.  He did really good!

Anyway, Christmas.  We had a good time.  We ate a LOT of food. We played ultimate frisbee and kickball twice and volleyball (it's fun to get out there and do active things). We celebrated Ollie's first Christmas :).  I didn't think at his age that he needed very many gifts. I got him awesome bubbles, and Grandma Hatch got him a cute hand sewed pillow, and Grandma Lundin got him a little push walker.  Simple and sweet.  The Hatches got a ping pong table and they spent all morning setting it up.  IT was a fun gift!  We played and played on it.  I ALSO GOT TO TALK TO LIZZY!  That is the best Christmas gift.  We got to all 'google hangout' with her.  She was so cute and fun to talk to.  At the end we all said a prayer together as a family and we were all in tears.  Mom asked Dad to say the prayer, but he was too emotional, so Cameron said it.  Next Christmas we will have Jared AND Liz out!  We also had some fun activities, like making sugar cookies and playing ultimate frisbee, kickball, and volleyball.  I'm such an old lady.  We were at volleyball and Dave and I planned to take turns playing and watching Ollie. Dave played first and then after awhile he asked if I wanted to go in because he had been playing awhile.  I said ok, and went in and not even the 2nd serve I fell on my knees to hit a low ball and RRRRIIIIIIPPPPP--I felt like my quadriceps ripped apart!  I was like, "Dave switch, SWITCH!!"...as I limped off the court.  And that was all the volleyball I got to play. haha.  I'm just stiff... I used to be able to do that move no problem!  Does that mean I'm getting old?

Ollie's first Christmas!  His pillowcase and bubbles.  (but he was more interested in my capri sun from my stocking).

We decided to stay in Thatcher for New Years Eve too.  Everyone kept asking me what I was planning for it, so I felt to pressure to get a party put together.  Dave's aunt Lisa and Cindy and their families came.  I organized a big Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Salad/Burrito meal.  Then I divided everyone in 3 teams and had them compete against each other doing minute to win it challenges.  I had prizes for the winning team.  Then we had a ping pong tournament.  Dave made up a double elimination bracket on a white board.  I think everyone really enjoyed it.  My big shocker came when I battled against Kathy (my mother-in-law).  I thought "oh this will be easy, I should get her out in no time".  Well OBVIOUSLY I hadn't seen her play before!  I had to get serious real quick.  We rallied a lot and everyone was watching in suspense.  In the end I had the winning point, but I will have to play her again in the future.  (Everyone said I should have let the mother-in-law win, sorry Kathy, I'm too competitive.  In the end, it was Dave's Uncle Luke and Luke's son Jake (they own a ping pong table and get more practice than the rest of us).  Luke won! I had Jones Cream Soda in bottles for the prize, it people were really motivated to win it! 

Cafe Rio Food Set Up...Mmmm

PING PONG BRACKET--Double Elimination

Finale at like 1 AM.  Luke and Jake (Dave's cousin and uncle)

New Year Kiss

Back at home we felt the need to making goodies and deliver it to some of our friends we have made here in Tucson.  We have been so blessed to meet some amazing people, and wanted to give this as a Christmas/Goodbye gift.  We made homemade kettle corn, sticky buns, caramels, divinity, and chocolate chip cookies.  It was a lot of work, and our kitchen was very crowded for awhile, but eventually we got them all delivered.

Little Ollie snacking on his first candy cane

Dave went and interviewed at a dental school in West Virginia and felt pretty good about it. They asked a few tough questions, which made him feel a wee bit nervous. But he felt pretty confident.  I guess we'll see what happens! Well that's all I can think of for now on our goings the month of Dec!