Happy Halloween!

The Bills Really Do Make You Want to Shout

Before the game...

After the game....

Right before half-time when the Bills took the lead....
I finally got to practice my clapping.

2nd half - penalties and fumbles.

Here is me imitating the Bills..... facemask!

Ha...no call from the refs.

Here is Grampa consoling me after the loss. It's no fun in the Dera house when the Bills lose. On the plus side, my dad lost a very big bet to Paul and Marci Baker, and he has to wear a Miami jersey to work on a day that their daughter has gym class. Baker told my dad that he is going to look nice in teal!

I think I'll stick to wearing red and blue.

Updating the Blog

I wanted to post some older pictures of me that my Grandma Deenie just got developed. She has been practicing her black and white photography for about a year now, and I am one of her favorite subjects. These pictures were taken about three months ago when I first started sitting up by myself.

Here I am in my famous "flying pose."

And one of my favorites....just chatting with my Great Grandfather.

So serious....

And here's a silly one from this morning when my Grampa G put me in the cupboard. My mom didn't have her camera, so she quick grabbed her cell phone and got this shot!

Touchdown!

Today, I got my very own "football playground." My dad ordered it for me as a special surprise, and then my Grampa "G" blew it up while he was babysitting so I could have some football fun.

I was all smiles as I practiced my football skills. Right now, my favorite move is the "grab and drool," but my dad said that we would work on my throwing arm and field goal kicking skills soon.

Soooo much fun!

Three Little Pumpkins

Happy Birthday, Tate!

On Thursday, my friend, Tate, celebrated his first birthday. The celebration continued into the weekend, and today, I got to go over to Tate's house for his big birthday bash. The party was great, and it was fun hanging out with all of my friends in Tate's toyland.

Here I am with Jack and Mark, practicing for our new band. Mark had the drumstick, Jack was just banging away, and I was....well, eating a ball.

Then Tate joined the band, and he and Jack showed us all of the skills they've been working on in music class. As you can see, I am playing with another ball. I don't think music is going to be my thing.

Tate's mom and dad planned an awesome party, and they even got Tate his very own cake. It was so cool watching Tate dig in. Turing 1 looks like a lot of fun!

I also loved playing in Tate's toyland. He sure has a ton of fun toys...I especially liked riding on his dump truck.






Happy Birthday, Tate! I had a great time at your party. Thanks so much for including me in your special day!

My New Ride

Even though my feet don't touch the pedals on my new bike, that didn't stop by from riding around today.

"Come on dad, is that as fast as you can push?"

To the Apple Festival

After waiting in traffic for what seemed like hours, we finally made it to Lafayette for this year's Apple Fest. The only reason we went was to eat, and my mom, dad, and Aunt Heather definitely ate!

After lunch, my mom and Aunt Heather waited in line to get apple fritters and apple dumplings. The lines were very long, so my dad and I took a time out on the sidelines.


I was so tired by the time the fritters arrived, I didn't even make a grab for one.

Yup, I'm pooped. Watching all this eating sure tired me out!

To the Zoo

It was a beautiful day in Syracuse today, so my mom and Jen took me to the zoo. Boy, was it a different experience than the last time I was there. First of all, I stayed awake the whole time...and I was really interested in looking at all of the animals.

After watching the elephants from afar, a trainer brought one of them over to say a quick hello. We couldn't believe how big the elephant was once it got close to us.


Mom was a little scared at first, but eventually we both got to pet the elephant. So cool!


On the left, is a picture of me from the last time I was at the zoo. We tried to duplicate it again today, but now that I'm 7 months-old, I just don't want to sit still!

After the watching the elephants, we went to see the tigers. It's probably hard to tell in this picture, but I got to touch a real paw from a tiger.

After seeing those huge nails, it's the closest I ever want to come to a tiger paw again! I think I'll stick to riding "fake" cats from now on.

Next, it was on to the penguins...definitely my favorite part of the zoo. I loved watching them swim all over. They even came over the glass so I could wave "hi" to them.

Watching the penguins was so much fun. I could have stayed there all day, but mom and Jen told me that we needed to go home so that I could nap.

"Bye, penguins...I'll see you next time I'm at the zoo."

Sports Sunday

My dad always says that Sundays are "sports days," and that's exactly what today was. We started off the day by going to my dad's fall ball game. It was great because my Uncle Ted decided to stop by too, so I got to spend some quality time with him.

Going to my dad's baseball game today was a lot different than my last time at a baseball field. Back in the spring, I pretty much slept the whole time in my stroller. Not anymore! Today I stood up in my stroller for over 20 minutes just watching all the guys play.

Of course, I did take some time out to feed myself a bottle. And since I already mastered that, I decided to get working on my next new trick.... tying my shoes.

Just kidding!

As if my blue hat wasn't big enough, my Uncle Ted gave me his hat to wear.

After having tons of fun at the game, I went home to rest up for the 4:00 football festivities.

I probably should have stayed asleep for the game because it wasn't good. So bad, in fact, that my mom doesn't even have any pictures to share. Oh well, there's always next week. At least the baseball team won :)

To the Pumpkin Patch We Go

Today we took a trip to the pumpkin farm to get ourselves some pumpkins. Before we left, my mom thought it would be a good idea to "get my in the spirit" by dressing me up in my pumpkin shirt and socks. But she didn't stop there...before I knew it, out came the pumpkin visor that my Grandma B bought for me.

The visor didn't last too long on my head - it seemed to fit much better when I put it in my mouth! Yum.

After my mom, dad, and Jen had a good laugh...and took a few pictures, I quickly drank my bottle so we could leave.

Here is my latest trick....I feed myself like a big boy!

When we got to the pumpkin patch, I was very excited and couldn't stop looking around.

I especially loved looking at and touching all of the orange pumpkins. As you can see, we got a whole wheelbarrow full.

Here I am with my mom and dad just before leaving the pumpkin patch and heading back down to the farm to join the other festivities.

There was face painting, hayrides, and a giant sandbox filled with corn kernels for the kids to play in. My dad said that I could enjoy those things next year when I am a little older. What fun!

I only posed for the camera for about a minute before I saw the cow and went for it.

I am really into grabbing EVERYTHING these days...and apparently, giant cows are no exception.

While we were standing in the LONG line for apple fritters, my dad was entertaining me. Although I didn't get to take part in any fritter eating, my parents said that it was well worth the wait.

Just before we were leaving, my mom and dad ran into their friends, Jenny and Matt, who have an 11-month-old, named Madeline. I really liked hanging out with Madeline, and I hope I can see her again soon!

After my day at the pumpkin farm, I was pretty tired. Here is a rare picture of me "just chillin" before we left. Thanks mom, dad, and Jen for an awesome day!