The baby boy is finally here!

We would like to introduce you to the newest member of our family....Olliver Edan Pettit!
Olliver was born on November 28th. He weighed in at 5 pounds and 14 ounces. He was 19.5 inches long and very adorable. He has his mama's head shape, and nose and his daddy's eyes and mouth. We are still waiting to see if his hair is going to turn reddish brown. It really looks like it right now, but you never know. It has been a real adjustment with Annikan, but he really loves his little brother. Although Olliver has his days and nights mixed up, things are going well. He had his tounge clipped yesterday, it was still connected and would fork if he tried to stick it out. He now is latching on well. He is up to 6 pounds! We have photos next week! Hopefully Annikan will cooperate.
Love to all.

Chris' Last Race of the Year.

TURKEY LURKEY 2006
Chris ran in his first Turkey Lurkey 5k Trail/Road Race this year. He came in with a time of 19.21. Not too shabby for not running for over a week prior! It was a really cold and damp day. This landed him a first place medal for his age group and a 6th overall finish. There were over 200 runners this year, up about 50 from last year. The race was 2 miles of trails in Winona Lake and a 1 mile stretch of pavement. Unfortunatly, this is Chris' last race of the year. Another bummer...There is no Frigid 5 on New Year's Day. Chris and Joey were both looking forward to improving their times from last year!

The Leaves!

While Chris was raking leaves Annikan was having a great time. Here are a few photos of him enjoying all of Daddy's hard work.

FALL FUN!

Annikan has had a lot of fun this fall despite the rain. It has been so wet here, and a bit cold. We went to an Octoberfest in Lake Geneva the first weekend in October. It was really fun. We stayed at Joey and Annisa's house. Annikan really enjoys playing with Alea and Jonas, reguardless of the amount of fighting they do. Chris and Annikan also ran in a Beat Breast Cancer 5k Run in Chris' old home town of Albion the next weekend. It was cold as you can tell by the photo but they did well. They came in first in Chris' age group with a time of 19.21. Not too shabby pushing a 30 plus pound stroller! They beat the next runner in their age group by almost 2 minutes. Meanwhile, I am growing like a champ(Anni is kissing the baby). The newest little boy in our family is due in about 6 weeks! Hope everyone is enjoying the fall colors!

The Zoo

This year we purchased a Pass to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo. We have gotten a lot of use out of it already. Annikan loves to go. Each time he has a new favorite. It is really funny because he will just want to stay at the same exhibit for hours. He really likes the praire dogs, the leopard and the fish aquariums. One of the aquariums has fish and the other has sharks. He always says "sharks get me, get me" then when they go past he laughs and says "get me". It is really funny. Last time we went a little boy told him that the sharks couldn't get him because they were in a tank and he tried to kick the little boy and told him "GET". Funny, but not appropriate. He also likes to ride the rides. I attached a photo of his favorite. Hope everyone is doing well.

Summer Fun

Here are a few pictures of what Annikan has been up to this summer! The first one is of Annikan in the sprinkler. The next is of him fingerpainting. He got a new bike seat and helmet. He loves it. He says "I want bike", then says "my helmet?". It is so cute. He also likes to have his picture taken and will say " I want picture" and then, of course not understanding the camera isn't always at the ready will squat down by something and put on his cheese smile. He is really starting to string a lot of words together. It is really amazing how quickly he is coming up with new sentences. He likes to ask Lucy (our cat) "Eat? Yes?" then tell me that she needs food, or try to fill her bowl by himself. It doesn't matter if she is in near her food, or out in the yard. Last night he was running around the house with his blanket wrapped around his shoulders like a cape. We said look at Anni the amazing super hero. Then we realized that he has no idea what a superhero is or that he had on a cape. He has yet to watch any television. They have it on when he is at day care, about 10-15 hours a week, but they say he never watches it. He is too busy playing on the slide or basketball. His new love is the hot wheel cars they have. I have yet to buy him any. He makes a big enough mess without all those cars to pick up, plus it gives him something to look forward to at daycare.
His hair is getting so long, we are going for the surfer look. He is getting a tan, which is cute. We are thinking of trimming his hair, not cut it, or take any off the bang. We don't want him to look like he has a mullet, just long and shaggy all over. From the photos you can tell my dark haired boy is no longer dark haired. He is a full fledge blonde. Chris had blonde hair, like Annikan's, until he was about 4 then it turned browinsh red. His eyes are blueish, greyish green, with a hint of brown. They are beautiful. Chris and I are just so amazed at how beautiful he is. I know we are of course bias, but just look at him!
Well, enough for now, enjoy your summer!

Sweaty Boy

Welcome Summer!

Annikan is really enjoying the hot weather. His hair gets all crazy curly and he loves water. We spray him with the hose or let him go down his slip and slide. He hasn't quite figured out the slide part but he slips a lot. Grandpa also purchased a sprinkler that shoots balls out the top and he loves that. He gets cold so fast though. His lips turn purple from the cold water and he starts to quiver. It is the cutest thing. He likes to come over and bundle up in a towel for a few minutes, then he is right back at it. He is starting to get a tan, we are very happy he didn't get his daddy's white boy complexion. He is going to brown up like his mama. We use SPF 50 but he is still getting a little brown. His hair is getting more and more blonde everyday we are in the sun. Chris was really white blonde until he was about 4 so I guess we will have to wait and see what his true color will be. We haven't gotten his hair cut yet so he is looking a little beachy. Hope everyone is enjoying the sun.

Family Picnic

This past Sunday we had our first family picnic. We made sandwiches, and had salads. Annikan ate his cheese and ran around looking at the ducks and the water. Center Lake was nice, not warm enough for the hood rats but warm enough for a few families to gather for picnics and grill outs. There was a family playing soccer and Annikan kept saying "ball, ball". He chased the geese by the water and like to run through the sand. The play area was much busier and he enjoyed climbing up and going down both the slides. We went for a walk in the biblical gardens and took a few photos. It seems that was the popular thing to do that day. There were two photographers there and about 3 other families all waiting for the good photo spots. It was a fund day. Annikan really enjoyed it. We plan to go on more when baseball is over.

Spring Has Arrived!

Annikan is loving the outdoors. Last year he was still too small to enjoy the sun. This year, however, is going to be quite different. He doesn't want to come in at all. He would rather be outside all the time. We have to fight him to come in, usually bribe him, in order to eat dinner or go to bed. He doesn't understand when I say it's too cold, or raining.....He wants to go anyway. He used his sidewalk chalk for the first time and loved it. He mostly likes to watch me color and to carry around his chalk getting himself covered in the stuff (blue chalk stains clothes by the way). The other day he had blue on one of his eyelids and it reminded me of Granny. He wouldn't set still for a photo, unfortunately because that would have been a good one.
He does smile when we ask him to, briefly, as you can see in the above photo. He is becoming more and more independent, and rotten.

During Spring Break Last week we spent a couple days in Lake Geneva, WI with Craig and Stacy Kay. It was a quick but fun trip. We plan to go back when it is warmer. Tuesday, On the way up, we stoped in China Town and then hit the mall in Gurnee Mills. We also stopped at the Outlets in Kenosha. It was a long day, but we took a walk down by the lake that afternoon. It was pretty even though it was cold. Wednesday, we got up leasurely and ate chocolate chip pancakes! YUM! It's one of Craig's favorites. We looked at a lot of the shops up town and got some candy at Kilwin's. We went out for a late dinner with Joey at Houlihan's, after helping Joey get their new washing machine downstairs, Craig and Stacy got to go for a walk. Thursday, we left early and stopped for more candy and, of course, Starbuck's for the trip home. It was a packed few days but we enjoyed ourselves. Annikan is now even more in love with Stacy Kay. Look out Craig!

This past week we were fortunate to spend some great quality time with some friends of ours. We haven't seen them together for a couple years. It was so rejuvinating being surrounded by in depth conversation. Annikan really took a liking to Ryan. He even was trying to say his name. I know what he is saying only because he would repeat it when I would say Ryan. Mattie was in love with Ryan and Nathalie both. It was good to hear some tips on how they trained Cloony. We were wishing Ryan would stay longer to train Mattie for us! This past weekend we got together with a mutual friend Nelson for dinner on Saturday. We had grandpa watch Annikan and Chris and I went out with them for the evening. It was the longest I have been away from Annikan. It was a great night, good food, good friends and great conversation! It really helped to put a few things into perspective. Thanks Ryan, Nathalie and Nelson for a wonderful evening and a renewed sense of reality.

Annikan is becoming very independent. Anytime we want to do something, he says me. This morning it was his hat. I would put it on and he would take it off. Then he would say me and try to put it on. He does the same thing with his socks. I attached a photo of how he puts his hat on. It is funny because he puts his socks on the same way, just lays them on his feet. Sorry about the quality of the photo. He kept running away from me so I used the digital zoom.

This was the first weekend in about 6 weeks that Chris had time off. It was great spending time as a family. Annikan did a lot of cooking for us and of course, we played a lot of basketball. He is so funny; when he gets tired he just wants Chris and I to play and he will watch. He gets upset if we stop. Chris and Annikan got to watch a little NCAA action this weekend. Annikan will watch so intently and then say ball or go, go. We don't let him watch TV for developmental reasons, but Chris thinks that sports are the exception.

I have created this spot to keep our friends and family up to date on everything that is going on in our lives. Most specifically to keep everyone current with Annikan's newest developments. Baseball season officially started for Chris Monday. They practiced in the morning and in the evening from 6-9pm. That made it rough on us. We only got to see him for about an hour everyday this week. Annikan has already started being souly dependent on me, again. Somehow it seems worse than when he was nursing.
Annikan's new passion is basketball. We tried to attend most of the home games for our old high school. One of our closest friends, Justin Woodcox, is the JV Head Coach for Tippecanoe Valley, so we wanted to support him. Annikan was so fascinated with the game. He would watch both games and not get upset unless he couldn't see the ball. It is so funny to see him play at home. With no real coaching from us he dribbles the ball (grandpa helped with that area) and can make a basket on his own. It is so funny to watch him because he treats almost every shot as if it were a foul shot. He dribbles, then sets up and bends his little knees and then shoots. It is the funniest thing.
This photo is from the other night, he kept missing the basket and getting really upset. He, of course, wouldn't stand still for a photo.