Merry Christmas!

To avoid last Tuesday's storms in KC, we left around 8 on Monday night and stayed at Jared and Lisa's house in Des Moines. It was also a nice way to break up the 5 hour drive. Thanks for letting us stay with you!

The sun was so bright we had to get Gus shades to block out the sun. He didn't love them, but they sure did look cute!

He liked the tissue, wrapping paper, bows and ribbons of his gifts. Here he is opening gifts at the McCollom house.

The Tinkerbell costume was a hit with Kennedy.

Kennedy and Gus after they opened presents on Christmas Day morning.

Uncle Nick and Gus.

Steph, Owen, Abby, baby Jack, Gus and Lisa. Baby Jack sure is adorable! Steph, Will, Owen and Jack sure are a cute little family.

The Spratts made a Hawkeye snowman outside the Dillavou house. Gus and Josh posed beside it before the warm weather melted it.

Gus love the tags more than his presents this year!

Gus got some really cool stuff from his God father, Jared. A sweatsuit, hawkeye sweatshirt and romper, and a book. Thanks!

Cade showed us his muscles at the OP in Clear Lake on Friday night.

Cade and Avery.

Gus before he opened his stocking from Gpa and Gma Pat and Paulette.

Gus and his stocking. He loved the candy cane the most.

He was quite messy after his candycane!

Ty and Gus are pretty good buds! They had fun at the Dillavou Christmas together.

Cade showing Gus how to play with some toys.

Josi was such a good helper with Gus. She practically took care of him all day at the Dillavou Christmas. I don't have a picture of it, but Brea helped out a bunch too.

Mommy and Gus, opening his presents.

The perfect package, bow and all.

Look at that chubby little man! Reading his new book from Gma Paulette and so excited about it that he just had to put his hands in his mouth.

Josi, Rian and Brea.



The Dillavou cousins. L to R: Rian, Cade, Josilin, Andi, Shae, Gus, Kacy, Avery, Brea, and Ty.

While we were in Iowa, our friend Shannan came over and checked on Buster, as well as collected our mail. Thank you so much! Here she is with Gussie last night when she came over to drop off our keys. Gus wanted her to help him play with his new toys.

Buster opened his stocking last night and Santa had brought him a few new cat nip toys! He had fun playing with them all night.

Here is a picture with Gus and his new toys, not to mention the gigantic box of diapers, a car seat, a table and chairs, spoons, sippy cup, 2 sleepers, 3 jumpers, 4 onsies, 2 shirts, 4 pants, 2 jeans, cords, 2 sweatshirts, a sweater, hat/gloves, 2 long-sleeved tshirts, socks, candy... and probably more that I can't remember. And that's just what Gus got! THANKS EVERYONE! You were all waaay too generous, and we are so very grateful.

On Saturday night we stopped by Gma and Gpa Sue and Randy's to say goodbye and thank you. Gus also got his first taste of an orange, and surprisingly loved it!

A happy family! Here we are at the Dillavou Christmas.

I honestly had over 70 pictures that I liked on my camera, but decided only to post 30. Probably too many, but we had such a fun time seeing everyone over the holidays that we wanted to share as many memories as possible with you.

We are going to Saint Louis for the New Year so I am sure to have many more pics for you at the end of the week! In the meantime, have a safe and wonderful New Year's Eve. Love and miss you all.

Videos

A usual, I am having difficulties uploading videos into blogger, so I have posted several short video clips into my facebook account if anyone is interested. Enjoy my standing little man!

It's Freezing!

Tired after a long day of playing hard with daddy.

His favorite snack: slobbery fingers.


Reaching for the camera, as usual.

Playing with the ads.

Showing daddy what he wants from Santa.

Even though they lost, rootin' on the Chiefs.

Lovin his new carseat!

These arm rests are so cool (and so are my socks)!

So I know Gus isn't really saying it yet, but he started saying 'mmmmmmaaa' yesterday and it melts my heart every time! He honestly doesn't realize it yet, but it sounds like he is saying mama! Oh I love my little man. He is getting so independent. He is very interested in standing this weekend, as well as putting a few consonants together with vowels "m-a" and "k-a" is what we have gotten from his rambling so far. He also has a nasty cough but seems to just be frustrated with it, not in pain.

He is getting very excited for Christmas, as is mommy and daddy. We can't wait to come back to Iowa in a few days and see you all! We are not, however, excited to deal with Iowa's snow and below zero weather; we have had a little bit of the cold and ice and snow here in KC the last few days, but nothing like Iowa has had.

And congrats to Will and Steph on baby Jack, born on Friday night. We are so excited to meet Owen's new little brother!

Gus and his desk

We can't remember where Gus got this little desk, probably from a niece or grandma, but Gussie loves it. Today he keeps trying to stand from sitting in it. He is getting so old! I can't believe everything he can do. In the next few months, he'll probably be walking. Oh, where did my baby go?!?!?!

YMCA Pictures

Arica, Pat, Bri, Wes, Jason, Jessica, Josh and Traci.

Here are some pics from the YMCA night last Friday. These are a few of the other sports directors and their wives.

Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...

Winterwonderland... AKA: Our Backyard.

The front. Notice the roads have not been cleared. One downfall of living in a place where it snows only a few times a year.


Josh actually had to shovel this morning before he left for work! This snow is crazy, maybe up to 5 inches, and for us, that's significant. If I were teaching this week, I would have not had class today anyway, as KCKCC is closing early.

Gus is tucked away in his crib (dreaming of dancing sugar plums) for a long winters nap, so I thought I'd blog a little. Love you all!

UPDATE: I am having trouble uploading videos here, UGHHH!, so I uploaded three new, longer ones into my facebook account if anyone is interested!

Thanks for Coming to KC to watch me!

"Thank you so very much Grandma and Grandpa Dillavou for traveling all the way to Kansas City to watch me on Friday night so that mommy and daddy could go out for the YMCA Christmas party! They had so much fun!," said Gus, as he spit carrots out his nose and wiped boogers on his sleeve...

This weekend Pat and Paulette came to KC and watched Gus on Friday night. Saturday they continued their Christmas shopping at Legends shopping center, and we picked out a carseat for Christmas (next year will be more fun for Gus, this year it is economical!). On Sunday they left early in the morning so as to miss the cold weather and possible storms. We went to church on Sunday and then just hung out and relaxed the rest of the day. On Sunday in KC it was in the 60s when we got up and the single digits when we went to bed- talk about a weather roller coaster.

This week I have no teaching, only a few grades to submit, and then Fall 2008 is officially over. I will be making Christmas cookies and pretzels this week, and spending lots of quality time with Gussie. We got our video recorder figured out, and I have uploaded the clips to our computer, but I am having trouble uploading them into blogger. It may be our internet connection, which I want to upgrade so I don't have to deal with this anymore! I will keep trying to upload videos though, and will take lots of pics this week.

Love and miss you all! Stay warm out there!

It's snowing in Kansas City!

It is snowing in KS! A few schools have let out (not mine of course!) and the roads are pretty slick. Those of you in northern Iowa would laugh at us for letting out school, as most areas have only gotten 1/2 an inch of snow so far, but some will have up to 3 inches by the time it is over at 5 pm. And here in Kansas City that is big news. Up until now, it really hasn't been that cold. Last night Josh was talking to his mom and she was telling him about the horrible weather in Clear Lake, and he checked the weather channel and at 9 pm last night, we were still at 57 degrees! Today is a different story, it may even get into the single digits tonight.

I didn't want to take the slick side roads to our daycare providers house this afternoon, so Gus got his first glimpse of college life. It is finals week so I only had a few students stop by the classroom to drop off their take-home final. Gus was a good boy and only got fussy when it was time to put him back in his carseat. As always, he was a hit. My students thought he was adorable (of course, grades haven't been turned in yet so what are they supposed to say, right?!?!).

Christmas shopping... check!

Gus was adorable in the tub tonight.

Trying to eat a ribbon from a present.

Our little man seems to be slimming down a little. He is going to be tall and slender like his daddy.

This is the cute little inquisitive head tilt that Gus started doing last week. I was glad to get a picture of it.

Almost makes me wish I had blue eyes.

Gus trying to eat the camera strap. He always looks at it and tries to reach for and/or put it in his mouth when I take his photograph.

Smiling by the tree.

Riding the Horsey (daddy).

We are done Christmas shopping. Josh, Gus and I shopped all day Saturday and some of Sunday and we are officially finished. I am all shopped out. Officially. And, there were tons of people out and about doing what we were doing; I can hardly imagine how busy it will get over the next two weeks.

This week is finals for my classes, and then I am off until January. Yippeee! I love the holidays. I hear we may even get some snow here in Kansas that will stick around for a few days... maybe Tuesday or Wednesday. Although it means potentially bad weather and crazy drivers, snow is also a reminiscent reminder of Iowa winters.... ahhhh...

I have a few videos from tonight that I will upload later on this week; I am exhausted and ready for bed. Hope you all have a good week!