Our First Christmas in Kansas...

We had a wonderful Christmas in Kansas. Ammon was very enthusiastic about unwrapping his Christmas presents. There was one gift that we could have done without though. On Christmas Eve, Ammon started telling us, "NO!" to everything we asked him. The terrible twos have begun.. a little too early I might add.

Enjoy the photos!

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Our Family Christmas Photo

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Ammon loved to pull off ornaments from the Christmas tree...
He kept his mommy busy each time he decided that it needed to be rearranged!

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Ammon loved to sit on Santa's lap, although he was a little relucant to take the candy cane that he offered him. His mommy & daddy told him not to take candy from strangers. Ammon thought, "How much stranger could this guy get?"

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HO HO HO! Santa climbing down the chimney...

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Ammon loved his new "ball" chair... Now he can kick back and watch football with daddy and his Papas!

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Ammon is loading his dump truck with balls and is preparing to transport them.

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He also loves to sit in his truck and be pushed around the room.

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Air Ammon!

We sure enjoyed Halloween. Watching Ammon go trick-or-treating was a real treat. Ammon loved helping daddy carve his pumpkin. He loved pulling out all the seeds and kept trying to eat them. Here's a picture of him standing infront of his first jack-o-lattern.

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Ammon loved trick-or-treating! We had to pull him away, because it started to get a little too cold outside. He was not ready to come back in and made sure that we all knew it.

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Ammon loves candy! We had to hide his candy pumpkin, because

he kept finding it and crying for 'mama' to give him some more.

Ammon is his mommy's only weakness and he seems to know it too. Hee hee!

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This is a picture of Ammon and some of his friends from Lona's home day care. They were sitting together in their cubbies laughing so I grabbed the camera & took a quick photo.

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Lona's dad and stepmom came to visit the week of Thanksgiving. The kids LOVED spending time with Ammon's grandpa. Here is a picture of them playing ball together.

By the time they left, everyone was calling him "grandpa" & wanted to give him a hug goodbye. They are still asking when their 'grandpa' is coming back to visit them.

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Ammon loved spending time with his Grandma and Grandpa Patterson. His Aunt JoAnna also came to visit with her new baby Jessie (3 weeks old). It was wonderful to have a newborn in our house again. It's hard to believe that Ammon was that small once.

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Here's a picture with Ammon and Mommy.

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Thanksgiving weekend we met Lona's mom and stepdad in San Antonio, Texas. We all visited Sea World. Ammon loved spending time with his grandma and Papa Mort and with his Uncle Clayton and Collin too.

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Ammon watched a 4-D movie with his daddy and Uncles. Here's a picture of him with 'the boys'.

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Ammon and Grandma both loved watching Shamu! I think Ammon enjoyed the attention that he received from everyone even more...

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Ammon was exhausted by the end of the day and just wanted to kick back and cuddle with his papa. Who needs mama when his papa was there?

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We received our first big snow storm today. Ammon was excited to experience snow, but soon realized that it wasn't all he had hoped for. He came back inside screaming because his hands were so COLD.

Lions and Pumpkins and Ponies...Oh My

It's true... children bring the magic into holidays. We are so excited to take Ammon trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. We only wish that you all could see him in person. He'd be sure to bring a smile to your face. He does to ours each and every day.

Ammon is excited for Halloween! Here's a picture of him in his costume:

Isn't he the cutest little 'Lion King'?

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We visited a Pumpkin Patch last week:


Ammon searched for the perfect pumpkin, then finally found it



He picks it up...


And brings it to 'Mama'


Then shows it to his friends...


This pumpkin was almost bigger than Ammon. He was quite impressed by it...


Ammon took the pumpkin home and finger painted it.

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Ammon took his first pony ride with Mommy... He's excited to visit Grandma Sue and her animals next year!


This pony was just his size!

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Ammon loves bathtime. He has learned to turn on the water and helps himself to baths. It can be pretty scary! He loves to play with his bath toys too. We couldn't help but take a few picture of him enjoying himself.

The Energizer Baby...

Ammon's vocabulary is expanding almost daily. He says several words now which include: mama or Lona (whichever name he wants to call her at the moment), dada, Ammon, ball, dog, cat, duck, down, and baba. He also shakes his head "NO" when he doesn't want to do something.

If you haven't noticed by the choice in vocabulary words, Ammon is quite the animal lover. Anytime he hears a dog barking he says, "dog" and turns his head in all directions trying to find it. If he can't see it, he continues to say "dog" until you explain where the dog is and why he can't see it.

Ammon loves balls of all shapes and sizes. We now try to avoid the toy section at the stores, because he gets overly excited if he sees a ball. We took him to Walmart last week and he told me to put him "down" when he saw a bin full of balls. Lona, being the softy that she is, had to buy it for him. He carried it all over the store and wouldn't let us put it back.

Ammon also loves to pop bubbles. He does a bubble dance... and starts swinging his arms and hands in the air. He also stomps all over the floor trying to step on them. It's quite a funny site.

Ammon is quite the little artist. He loves to color pictures with his friends. It's a constant challenge trying to keep the crayons out of his mouth though.

Here's a picture of Ammon with his friends from Lona's Home Daycare.

Ammon insists on feeding himself with a spoon or fork now. I don't know if you noticed the spagetti noodle on the top of his head, but he flung it there while attemping to use his fork. What a messy boy!

Our prince asleep. If only we could think of him as resting instead of recharging...

We took a trip to Kansas City and took Ammon to play in the fountains. He loved it!

This is a picture of Ammon & Daddy in Crown Center.

We've really enjoyed the wonderful weather here this month. Ammon has been able to be outdoors a lot. We hoping that the winter is mild so he can continue to enjoy being outdoors.

One Going on Twenty...

This has been a fun month for Ammon. We have lots to share with you... We hope these photos bring a smile to your face, because they do to ours.

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This is Ammon's girlfriend, Peyton.

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Ammon's received his first kiss! She just leaned over and smacked him one. You can see the smile on Ammon's face. He tried to give her one back a little while later, but he was a little more awkward with his kisses.

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Ammon on one of his horses. This was given to him by his Great Aunt Lori and cousin Daylin Brown. He loves to ride like a cowboy.


He can't wait to really ride the range with his Great Grandma Sue and Aunties someday. He'll be herding cattle in no time.

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Yipee ki yay!


He's also learning to be a gentleman and tips his hat to the ladies.

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Lounging in his new pool.


He LOVES water... It's kind of scary sometimes.

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This is why Ammon always gets us kicked out of public pools.


Isn't that one adorable bootie?

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Ammon is trying to show us why he is a force to reckon with.


He's already starting to flex his muscles.

Summer Days

Another month has come and gone. Life seems to be more adventurous as "our baby" progresses more and more into a "little boy." I am slowly learning to mellow out about things. In fact, I let Ammon play in the dirt for the first time this past week... not for long, but I allowed him to do it.

He is starting to show more personality (and stubborness) with each passing day.

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Ammon is now 13 months old. Nathan and I still don't know where the past year went. He has grown too fast! He started walking recently and tries to run everywhere he goes...

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Ammon seems to melt the hearts of everyone who sees him. Everytime we look at this picture it melts ours.

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Ammon loves to be outdoors. He enjoys watering the garden with daddy and picking the vegetables that are ripe. He always has the biggest grin on his face when he brings me the tomatoes and always insists on sitting in his chair to eat one of them.

He is the only baby I know that loves tomatoes. When I told my mom about it, she said that he must take after his "Grandma Mort."

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Which brings us to Ammon's next love... playing with water!

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Ammon in the bathtub. He has lots of bath toys, but prefers the "rubby ducky" most of all.

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This rocking horse was given to Lona by her Great Grandmother. She painted it shortly after finding out that she was pregnant.

It is one of Lona's most prized possessions... and seems to be one of Ammon's as well.

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Ammon is a CONSTRUCTION "boy" in training. He reminds me a lot of my younger brother Ed.

Ammon loves to hammer anything and EVERYTHING. I've been trying to teach him not to hit others with his hammer and he slowly learning the concept.


He's definitely all boy! He loves playing in water, balls, tools, and being outside. We have our hands full with this boy.