Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

B pulled the tree down again Tuesday night. T was able to catch it before it landed on him. G's Elmo ornament was broken this time. We didn't tell her. We should be able to glue it back together. So this is what we have resorted to. The Christmas tree in the pack and play. At least now I can wrap some presents without worrying about them being opened or eaten. Good times :)

Santa AKA Ho Ho & Yoda

In a previous post I mentioned how G sometimes called her stuffed Santa Yoda. Well, yesterday friend J came over to play and he was wearing a Yoda t-shirt. As soon as G saw it she said "Santa!" I am not really sure where we went wrong :) She does at least call Santa Ho Ho some times which is much better than Yoda! We definitely do not encourage the mix up ;)

We braved the mall yesterday and went to see Santa. Usually we would just see Santa at our ward Christmas party but he was unavailable this year. Sad day. I prepped G the whole day for our outing hoping she would at the very least sit on Santa's lap. After the Santa Cow at Chick-Fil-A about scared her to death I had already braced myself for the fact that we wouldn't get the perfect Santa picture with her this year and I was okay with that.

As the time to leave approached G kept telling us she was not going to sit with Santa. So we did what every desperate parent does; we bribed her with candy - chocolate to be exact. She got to hold it on the way but knew she could only eat it if she sat with Santa. When we got to the mall she changed her mind so we had to up the anty. Not only would she get to eat her candy but she would also get to pet the rabbits at the pet store conveniently located next to Santa in the mall if she sat with Santa.



She was not happy but she did it! She wouldn't talk to him or even look at him. In fact she wouldn't even look at us. Santa was very patient as we tried and tried to get her to look in our direction. I guess it was our punishment for making her sit with Santa. She got to eat her candy and pet the rabbits so all was well. Also, G was not letting go of her Ho Ho for the picture.

B was a little better. He just wasn't quite sure what was going on. He kept looking up at Santa as if he was thinking I see Mom, I see Dad, WHO is holding me? He wouldn't smile for us either but he at least looked somewhat in the direction of the camera.

Finally a picture with Santa where both kids are looking forward :) And G almost has a pleasant look on her face :) Next year will be better....for G anyway ;)

Sweet and Innocent

Definitely Sweet!

Maybe not so Innocent!

That's right, B pulled the tree down. It was inevitable really! As I mentioned before, he plays around it all the time. Luckily it didn't land on him. He sat down as it was falling and it landed right beside him and glass shattered all around him. It probably scared me more than him. He didn't even cry. Thankfully no sentimental ornaments were broken, just a few silver balls.

Handsome Little Man

This is my new favorite picture of B. We put gel in his hair and parted it for church last Sunday. He looks like a little missionary with his tie and white shirt!

In other missionary-related news, Uncle M is now in Mexico. He left the MTC on Dec. 10th. He got to call from the airport. He was pretty nervous but very excited to be out in the field.

The Most Wonderful Time of Year

We put our tree up the Saturday after Thanksgiving (it has just taken me a while to post the pictures). G had a lot of fun deciding where to put the ornaments. She did get a little direction so they didn't all end up on the same branch :) It was so cute when she found her Elmo ornament. She got so excited. Even after she put it on the tree she kept going back to it and talking about it.

B likes to play around the tree a little too much. It is very tempting for such a little guy. We haven't put any presents under the tree for fear they will be eaten. He also like to unplug the lights. Actually he likes to unplug anything he sees. Mostly it is night lights so we have to unplug them all when we get up and the plug them all back in when we go to bed.

G and B in their Christmas pajamas. It sure is hard to get a good picture with both of them looking at the camera :) This is the best I could do.

G watching the movie Elf. She loved it. She sat and watched the whole thing. She is just starting to learn who Santa and even though she sometimes calls him Yoda (thanks to T's love of Star Wars) she knows that he brings toys. At night when she is going to sleep we often hear her singing Jingle Bells and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. It should be fun Christmas morning.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we went up to Gilmer and then on to Paris to spend the day with friends and family. We were so busy with all the festivities that this was the only picture we got that day. At least it is a good one! You can see B's 2 bottom teeth. He has 1 on the top and another on the way.

B can talk ... sort of :)

This is how we find B just about every morning now - standing and smiling. This morning as soon as I opened the door he said "da da da" . Even though mom gets most of the kisses these days, dad gets the 'words'.

Cooties!

G has just discovered this Cootie game. She played with it while I was making dinner last night and again this morning while I was feeding B. She doesn't play it correctly but she has fun building and naming the cooties.
Green = G.
Blue = Dad.
Pink = Mom.
Although the Red one never got built it was B. (not shown in pictures b/c B was playing with it.)
She assigned the names to the colors and picked out their accessories.

Hunting Adventure

A good lesson was learned this past weekend on my hunting trip. Apparently if a mouse builds a nest in a four-wheeler right next to the exhaust pipe and you ride around for a little while it catches on fire. Thursday afternoon my father-in-law and I were going to put out some corn in a field when I happend to see smoke coming out from undernieth his seat. When he pulled the seat off, the rush of air made it burst into flames. Another lesson learned, when a four-wheeler catches on fire, unless you have a fire truck right there you aren't going to stop it.
After a few feeble attemps to put out the flames, we rode out together on my wheeler to get help. Luckily for us it had rained the night before which we think saved the whole forest.






Here is my piglet. She was in a small group of pigs all the same size, but they were lighter in color so my mind thought she was bigger than she was. The meat will be good and tender though:)

7months

B is 7 months old (as of the 12th) and it is amazing how he has changed just in the last month. Here are a list of B's new accomplishments:

*He has 2 teeth. G didn't get her fist tooth until the week before her 1st birthday so we are in uncharted territory here. We almost forgot we needed to be brushing them :) I haven't been able to get a good picture showing both his teeth. I will post one as soon as I do.

*He can get to the sitting position by himself.
*He can pull up to standing by himself. He can even take a couple steps while holding on. He still needs to work on his balance but he is getting there!
*He can climb over and in things. (See pictures for proof.)

Yes, he made the big mess, and yes, he climbed over the big mess to get to the shelf.

He sat there for the longest time just playing with toys.

One of B's favorite things to play with. Why do all kids love door stops?

Paris (TX that is...)

Wed. last week (the 5th) we drove up to Gilmer so T could go hunting in Paris Thurs. - Sat. There is a hunting post to come but I will give him that honor - just beware there will probably be some gross pictures. On Sat. we drove up to have lunch and just hang out. The weather was GREAT!

T took B and G for some 4-wheeler rides. They both really liked it. G kept saying "Slow, dad, slow." (He wasn't even going very fast.)

FISH?

We tried to feed the fish but I guess they just weren't hungry. (G said they were sleeping.)

G going to the other side with Nana to see if there were any fish. (There weren't any.)

I love how she is swinging her arm in this one. Very determined.

Just waiting.

Smiley boy. He didn't care that there weren't any fish :)

B's NEW TRICK

Yep, he learned how to pull up while we were there. He was on his knees at the couch for quite a while and you could see the wheels turning. YAY for B! He is growing up!

The Zoo in November

We love the Zoo. We especially love the Zoo when the weather is a little cooler. T's school district took a day off because of the election and needing some schools for voting locations so we decided to take the kids to the Zoo!. The weather was a little overcast and a lot cooler than the last time we went!! Also, it wasn't very crowded so it was a very nice visit!

Petting the goats. She kept going back to the entrance and changing out her brush. She just couldn't decide which was best I guess :) I am sure the goats didn't mind.

Watching the monkeys. (You can't see the monkeys in the picture but they were there. )


Carousel ride. She was so proud holding on by herself but as soon as it started going she wanted me to put my arm around her back. It is nice to still be needed sometimes :)

Prairie dog house with Dad.

She was very impressed with how big this orangutan hand was. She wanted us all to put our hand in.

Our happy little guy. He did so good at the zoo. He was so patient waiting for lunch!

And he just couldn't take it anymore :)

Happy!

A little grumpy :)

I have never been able to get a good picture of this guy (or girl - not sure which). He (or she) is so HUGE!

OUCH!!

T was using a table saw and the board kicked back on him, scrapping his hand pretty bad and hitting his hip. He was pretty lucky not to get hurt too bad. His students got a little lesson in what not to do.

Trick or Treat

FINALLY! The last Halloween post! Sorry if you are getting tired of Tinkerbell and Peter Pan but I just had to document all of our Halloween activities and they are just so cute :)

Ready to go!!

Ok so we had about 5 minutes to drive to go Trick or Treating in a friends neighborhood and G just couldn't make it :) When we got there we let her sleep a few more minutes and the she was ready to go.

I think G got the hang of it a little better this year. After every house she would say "Next door?"

She definitely got plenty of candy!!

B didn't get any candy but he didn't really care. He just watched and learned for next year. He was a good sport as we trecked all over the neighborhood.

Halloween Playgroup

Halloween morning we went to Playgroup at church. There were lots of kids and it was lots of fun. The kids got to make some crafts, sing, listen to stories, have snacks and of course get some candy. Even some of the moms dressed up! It was a lot of fun!!

G made a jack-o-lantern and a witch. She was loving getting to use the scissors. She was having a hard time putting them down as you can see in the pictures.

B checking out the jack-o-lanterns. He was so good to just find things to play with while I was helping G with the other activities.

He also found a treat bucket. Luckily he didn't try to eat any candy just a pencil!

This picture makes me smile. Doesn't it look like he could just stand up and start walking? He does this all the time. It is so funny!

Just a close up of B trying to "stand". His hair looks really light in this picture but I think it is just the lighting.