Merry Chirstmas

With a birthday behind us, we were ready to prepare for CHRISTMAS!

We started by celebrating with all of Papa and Nana's side of the family.  There was lots of food and family, but Jack was most impressed with the airplanes Nana brought to entertain the kiddos.

Next, we went to go see Santa.  Jack was impressed with lots of things at Santa's Winter Wonderland, like a really BIG Christmas tree . . .

and Frosty

and riding in the 4 wheelers with Papa

but he wasn't as impressed with Santa himself.  Maybe next year, Santa.

GeeGee came to visit and read Christmas stories with us

and we learned about Baby Jesus, too.

We spent all of the month learning who comes on Christmas.  Baby Jesus, of course!  And Santa comes to bring presents on Christmas like the wise men brought presents to Baby Jesus.

Santa brought lots of fun toys.  Shhh! Don't wake up Baby Jesus!

 Toys!

Reading with Granddaddy

We had a wonderful month celebrating the birth of our Baby Boy and then Baby Jesus!  Merry Christmas!

Big boy!

I can't believe my Baby Boy is 2!  He has grown into such a big boy overnight it seems.  He is a chatterbox (imagine that) and all little boy.  He loves to play outside and shoot Boom-booms with his Daddy.  By far his favorite TV show/character is Curious George so when it came time to celebrate this little boy, there was no question about how we would celebrate.

Look who's TWO!

It's party time!

 Someone was not so sure about wearing his party hat.

 Party poppers are FUNNY!

Time for CAKE!

Don't try to get between a birthday boy and his cake.  He was ready to take a BIG bite!

After cake and ice cream we moved outside to PLAY with PRESENTS!

A new truck from Mommy and Daddy!

A new swingset from Papa & Nana! (bad Mommy managed not to get any pictures of them, though)

And no birthday party is complete without BUBBLES!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABY BOY!

Resolutions 2013

I've never really been in to  making New Years resolutions.  However, if I were going to make one for 2013, it would definitely be to be better about updating the blog.  So here it goes.  We'll start off 2013 by catching up on the end of 2012.

This Halloween we had a little LumberJack.  Jack was very excited to ask for "Tick or Teat" but once he got one piece of candy in his bucket, he was done for the night.  Until he ate that piece, that is.

 My little Jack-o-lantern.

 It glows, Mommy!

After a fun Halloween we went straight to Thanksgiving.  We started the day with lunch at GeeGee's house with Mimi and Granddaddy.  Too many cooks in the kitchen means that someone needs to play to keep folks out of the way!

After that, we went to see Papa and Nana so we could enjoy a little football.

and more playtime

and more snacks, of course!

We have so much to be thankful for this year!

It's the Great Pumpkin Village!

One great thing about working for the federal government is getting off on all the federal holidays, especially the ones that the rest of the world doesn't get off.  Since Daddy had to work on Columbus Day Jack and I had to find a fun way to amuse ourselves until he got home.

We decided to celebrate fall with a trip to the Pumpkin Village at the Dallas Arboretum.  Apparently the rest of Dallas that was off on Columbus Day decided to do the same thing, but we still had fun despite the crowds.

Follow me, there's lots to see!

How did pumpkins get up in a tree?

BIG!

COLORS!

TALL!

Funny shapes!

Climb!

They spit!

We're ready for the Great Pumpkin now!

Howdy, folks!

Of course, no October in Texas is complete without a trip to the State Fair.  We made our first family trip to the Fair as new Texans.  It was a cool, cloudy day but it made for great Fair weather.  Jack was totally fascinated by everything - the people, the lights, the sounds, the animals, the food (corny dogs were not really his thing but the frozen banana dipped in chocolate was a hit!), and Big Tex, of course!

 Every time we got within eyesight of Big Tex, Jack would start to point and say "Tex!"  If you didn't turn and look, he would turn your head for you.  Then, after you'd taken a good look, he'd say "BIG!"  In fact, he still does it whenever he sees pictures of Big Tex.  Clearly, he was impressed.

He was also a fan of the kids animal area.  He loved the giraffe.

Then we tried to take him over to the petting area where you could pet cows, goats, sheep, etc.  Let's just say he was NOT impressed by petting the cow's nose.  In fact, after that he spent the rest of the time in the petting zoo on Daddy's shoulders and he was not coming down for anything! Take my word on that.  He did have fun looking at all the animals from on high, though.

The dog agility show was a little more his speed.  He was impressed with the jumping and flips the dogs did.  He gave them lots of "woof, woof, yeah!"'s from the stands.

The car show was a big hit, too.  He "beep,beep"ed his way through the whole building.

Hang on, Big Tex, we'll be back to see you next year!

Where the Wild Things Are

Jack has become fascinated by animals lately.  To celebrate my birthday we took a family trip to the Ft. Worth Zoo.  It was a beautiful, not-too-hot September Saturday and we had a great time!

Jack spent 95% of the day on Daddy's shoulders.  You can see better that way. ;-)   And Daddy is such a good sport he didn't mind two little grubby toddler hands clutching his cheekbones all day.

Pete and Repeat, as my mother would say.

 LOOK!

Jack could watch the animals ALL day long.  Even though it was a warm day, almost all of them were out and moving.  We  even got up close and personal with a few of them.

Sic 'em!

 

Of course, after all that we needed a snack to keep us going so we tried some cotton candy.  Jack was a little skeptical at first, but he decided it was OK after all.

We even managed to squeeze in a family picture.  Don't ask me why we decided to do it in front of Boot Hill in the Wild West area.  I've been asking that question ever since we got home and I still haven't come up with a good answer.

Despite the sugar rush from the cotton candy, when we headed home this happened before we even left the parking lot.