The Tappe Christmas Tree

So this past weekend, my sister was in town. She stopped by for a couple of days during her move from the west coast to the east coast. Now instead of our Malibu barbie, she's our NYC barbie! Anyway, she won't be visiting for Thanksgiving because of her new job, and that's when we normally put up the Tappe family Christmas tree. So this year, we decided to start celebrating Christmas a little early. It was a really fun time. We put on Kenny and Dolly (our christmas music tradition), drank egg nog, put up the tree, and took lots of pictures. Ben had a ball, especially since mom and dad found more singing animals in their Christmas stuff! He is just mesmerized by those things. Now instead of wanting to lug three around the house, he wants five... all singing at once mind you. We get to hear, "what a wonderful world", "don't worry be happy", "love machine", "sleigh ride" and "grandma got runover by a reindeer" simultaneously. It drives us nuts, but Ben absolutely loves it. Even with all five going, when one stops, he knows which one, and he points at it so that we'll restart it.

So here are some pictures from the Tappe Family Tree night. The first of many Christmas memories for 2009! Can't wait for more. I love this time of year!

One Year Pictures

So we couldn't let Ben's 1st birthday pass without taking him to get his picture made. He did so well... as alway! The pictures turned out great! Take a look.

And He's Off!

For months now, Ben has been cruising along furniture. For weeks, he's been standing up on his own. And for the past few days, he's ventured off taking one or two steps, but today was a big day! Ben officially walked! First 3 steps, then 5 steps, then at one point he took 11 steps! I couldn't believe it. At first we had to bribe him with goldfish or candy, but towards the end of the night, he was doing it himself. It won't be long before he's running away from us and we long for the crawling days. But for now, we are thrilled! Another memorable milestone in our parenting journey! We got 5 or 6 steps on video.