Visits, Visits, Visits!

We have been enjoying a time of lots and lots of visiting. Jed seems to really enjoy seeing everyone and is such a super traveler that we just keep going. And this weekend, we got to have people visit us. Let's start with our trip to St. Louis the first weekend of October. Chris' friend from work had free tickets, so we decided to go see the Cardinals play the Rangers and then hang out with his old roommate Tony, his wife Kristen, and their daughter Bella. It was a great time -- except we wished we had picked a different game (1-0 after 11 innings.) At least the Cardinals won. Kristen was gracious enough to watch Jed for us while we went and he and Bella had a lot of fun together -- as you will see. They may look like they're about the same age and they do share the same birthday, but Bella is exactly one year older.

Here's our staged shot with both families. . . minus their two dogs. Jed had a lot of fun playing with the dogs and kissing them.Bella had a Cozy Coupe just like Jed's and he was climbing in and out of it a lot. Kristen said he managed to tip it over on himself several times. Bella had never done that. I think it says something about gender difference, but it might just say something about Jed's daredevil nature.
Here's proof that Jed takes after his Dada. There are plenty of little girls Jed's age whose Moms are trying to set up with Jed, but he's going for the older woman.
Bella showing Jed the proper way to travel in the Coupe. Thanks, Bella!
Doo Doo Doo Doooo!!
And now on to the visit from Aunt Valerie, Uncle Paul, and Joshua. Joshua and Jed are only a month apart and had a blast together all weekend. (Valerie, Paul, Chris, and I didn't have too shabby of a time ourselves.) Joshua learned a lot about musical instruments while he was at our house -- like how to tune and hold a guitar, how to play a recorder, etc. He also got to hear a lot of Jed's original songs. Jed got to learn a lot about talking. Joshua is very prolific. It seemed to really encourage Jed to try out his word-making abilities when he heard Joshua saying things and our responses to him. It seems like after their visit, Jed is working on new words all the time. They also learned to share toys, clothes, and even Mommy's laps. This is good practice for the soon-to-be Big Brother!

Here is Joshua trying on Jed's new hat. Way cool, man!
Jed's facial expression whenever anyone puts an instrument into his hands. . .
We took the boys to the park in the morning (trying to beat the high 80s heat) so that we could take pictures. We wanted some for Christmas and tank tops and shorts didn't seem like good attire for Christmas cards. Here is how the boys traveled to the park:
After we got there, we tried to get some pictures of both boys together -- this proved very difficult with two boys about 1 1/2 years old. So, instead, here's a couple of pics of them separately.
They don't look too much alike, but I think they both have Twidell eyes and cheekbones. Other than that, they favor their Fathers.
Here's one of my favorite pictures of the Nelson family. It was pretty easy getting some good pictures of them because they're just a good looking bunch.
And here's what happens when you try to get two 1-yr-olds to take pictures for more than two minutes. Since there's no audio, I'll fill you in. It went something like this "AAAAHHHHHHGGGG!!!!"
And here's my other favorite Nelson Family Photo.
Chris did a great job of keeping Jed occupied while I was taking pictures. Here's a game of velocaraptor or something like that.
And here's my favorite picture of the whole day. I just love seeing my two favorite guys together.
Here's the best family shot that we got. Jed really wasn't into it anymore by this point, but that's okay.
And here we are walking. Jed has started enjoying holding our hands and walking -- as long as we are going in a direction that he wants to travel.
The boys decided it would be fun to try to push each other in the wagon. They didn't get very far . . .

Another difference between the cousins. They both tried the slide, but check out the difference in approach and facial expression:

Jed: "Alright, let's tackle this!"
Joshua: "What do you want me to do?"
They both liked climbing up the steps, though.
Here is Joshua's best impersonation of Aunt Emily. He had a lot of fun carrying around a football in his shirt.
And here's what happened when Jed taught Joshua how to climb onto the coffee table. You're welcome, Valerie! They had a great time jumping and dancing and then 'jumping' off into their parents' arms.
All in all, we've had a great couple of weeks. In a few more weeks, you'll get to see our trip to Grandma and Papa Twidell's house. If you think of it, pray for Jed -- just as he's getting over his ear trouble, his stomach has started giving him fits. One of these days, he'll be fully healed and then, look out world!!!