Rolling Hot

Poachers beware, here comes Baby Warden Halverson.






You better not have two fishing poles in the water.

Home Improvement

Last weekend some things really got done around here. Andrew's dad came to put in the storage above our garage and do the chicken coop and the clothesline. The chickens will have to wait since their list was longer than their 2 days, so the coop didn't get done. But, as you can see the new clothesline is fabulous, and I am so excited to be hanging out Bryce's dipes again.









Also, it's been a while but we had Ron Bryan (Andrew's friend's dad) come down and do a sidewalk and an extension of our back patio for a pergola to go in there some day.

And last but not least Andrew got me a new faucet for the kitchen to replace the Frankenfaucet that was there when we moved in. It is way better!

Love my daddy

Lately Bryce has decided that daddy going to work in the morning is dumb, and if he can get him to stay he'd be really excited.






Sometimes he just really likes daddy.

More good times with Kilian

Our matching outfits (Mine is too small and cousin Kilian's is a little big), but aren't we cute?


Dewar's Candy/Ice cream shop

Sharing my rocket man toy


We've been doing lots with cousin Kilian here, all things considered. We try and be realistic with our plans, since the alignment of the universe and the baby's food/poop/bath/sleepytime schedules for a almost 9 month old and 7 week old is a feat in itself.








Today we went to an almond orchard which will remain nameless because we parked on the side of the road and just walked right in.

Cousin Kilian

My cousin Amber finally came out to visit us again, it's been a really long time (since our wedding), and brought her 6 week old little guy. So, since we are first cousins maybe they'd be second cousins? Who knows... Either way they're having a good time, although we have to remind Bryce to touch Kilian nicely, and not poke his eyes out.

Kitchen Ninja

There's a ninja in my kitchen. He came in with the groceries and decided to get right to it with his kitchen playtime.








Wait it's not a ninja, it's our boy.











Here's Bryce checking out daddy's vacuuming skills. Not sure if he likes it or not.

This post is going to be a departure from our usual fare, so if you came here looking for pictures of Bryce, you are out of luck, but check back shortly because he never ceases to amaze.

Those of you who got our Christmas letter have seen what a year it has been for us. We have:

Lived in 4 different places.

Had a baby and moved him all over.

Left old jobs for new ones (both of us).

Moved away from good friends and closer to new ones.

Bought a house.

Lost a beloved grandparent (both of us).

Gained at least 5 new family members.

Learned how to live with less.

Been tested, and very often failed.

All this to say, I am reminded of the constancy of Christ in our year of general chaos. It is by grace alone that we stand (when we are able to stand at all).

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

--Edward Mote, 1797

My Sweet Boy

Bryce got me some flowers and ice cream for Valentine's day. Or maybe it was a sorry for being a crazed munchkin all afternoon and getting into everything he possibly could get into. Either way, I like it (the flowers not the crazed munchkin part). First, he got food all over himself while he was eating, but I did let him feed himself, so that's fair I suppose. He is shaping up to be a regular St. Francis of Assisi, as I found him hand-feeding Kahuna a noodle. Takes after his father.

In the 30 sec. when I was trying to clean up the food he had all over creation, he got into the pantry and grabbed the cat food, only the flip the dish over when I surprised him, filling the pantry floor with tasty morsels. Then he spit yams up on the living room floor and as a grand finale, he single handedly demolished the kitchen. What a day.


It's not easy to make the kitchen look like this:






The flowers that made it better:

Fun with Nana

My mom came up for a few days to visit Bryce (and maybe us, although we are not nearly as exciting). It was perfect timing since she got to help us record him walking. For those of you who have tried to record a baby in his initial stages of walking with only 2 people, you will know that it can get a little dicey, and usually you end up putting the camera on a chair in hopes that you catch him just as he walks by it, like a scientist trying to film the elusive snow leopard. As you can see in the previous post, we were much more successful with 3 people. You may now insert a "how many people does it take to work a video capture?" here.




Fun with hats


Fun with my new stuffed elephant that Nana Bekky made.

Here He Is

Sorry for the video quality, it's better on Facebook if you are really interested.

A Few More

For good measure.














He's about to eat my face, which is his way of giving kisses I think. Or saying he's hungry, but I'm going to go with giving kisses on this one.

Peeker

My son likes to participate in doing the laundry with me. Usually this means more gets unfolded than folded, since he is only interested in playing with the already folded stuff.

8 Months Old

I think Andrew would like me to mention that he will be excited when we hit the 1 year old mark and don't have to take pictures of Bryce every month. But until then, we are sticking to it, since he changes so much and he is our first go at this mommy and daddy thing. I think Andrew's feeling on the whole photo op has changed quite a bit since our subject has gotten bigger and is now all over the place. Not that he ever was a sit and be docile kind of baby, but now that he can really get around, he is a busy boy all day, every day.




View of Bryce if you were a bug. Love it.






We were at the park for this shoot. Good in theory, bad in amount of grass consumed between shots.







Bryce is riding on Andrew's shoulders here if the sky in the background is confusing you.