Christmas Tree

Oliver helped me with the tree this year while Clayton put the lights on the house outside (which look great by the way). The lights to the tree are connected to a light switch and Oliver loves climbing up this step ladder (which unfortunately has made a home right where you see it) to turn on and off the lights.

Oliver actually took this picture of the tree while laying on the ground...I think he did pretty well. I continued my tradition of making a kid-safe ornament for our tree this year again. I made candy cane ornaments which are cute, but not my favorite. The balls I made last year didn't make their way to the tree because I really didn't love them. The Rudolph ornaments I made the first year are still my favorite kid-safe ornament. My absolute favorite ornaments are my stainless steel Restoration Hardware ornaments I got the first year we were married. I love them! I have three of each kind (ice skates, stars, snow flakes, etc.) and although I have checked, they have never had the same ones since. I really wish I would have purchased enough for my entire tree that year. Oh well, maybe someday I'll find more!

Fall clean-up

We cleaned up an additional 14 bags of leaves today. Our Maple really has a lot of leaves. Oliver had fun jumping in the piles of leaves even though it was so cold. He thought it was funny to turn his hat around so he could barely see.

Who doesn't love Cheerios?

Oliver does. He especially loves that you can use them to make an edible necklace for boys to wear! :)

If this is any indication...

...it's gonna be a long winter. The snow fell for a good two-hours then the rain melted it within minutes.

Taken from my back porch

Thanksgiving in Oklahoma

For Thanksgiving this year we spent a couple of days in Oklahoma with Clayton's family. We drove up on Wednesday night and it took some finagling, but we managed to keep Oliver awake the entire time. Oliver watched Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer on the way and now all he wants to talk about is the abominable snow monster. Francie was amazing, despite having worked the day before, she managed to have almost everything ready by the time we arrived, which left hardly anything for Thursday morning. I did enjoy making a Waldorf salad beside her while she made the cornbread dressing. Everything turned out delicious and the company was even better! Thanks for inviting us!


Clayton's sister's family arrived on Thursday morning. Oliver was really excited to see Ace and the two of them had a fun time coloring on this huge box left over from Grandma & Grandpa's brand new TV. Thanks for sharing your art supplies Ace!

Ace working on his Batman masterpiece

Oliver with his masterpiece

Grandma, Oliver & Ace pretending to take a nap post meal.

hanging with Grandma

gingerbread house decorating....turned out to be a disaster since we didn't let the house set up for long enough and the roof kept falling off.

Friday, we made our way to Turner Falls in the Arbuckle Mountains with the intention of seeing some of Clayton's Dad's family. Unfortunately, we didn't make the connection, but we were able to see some pretty "views" as Oliver calls them.

We hiked up through this old castle and up the mountain to see this:

Turner Falls from above

I liked the sun rays in this picture

the sun made this one not turn out so well

Ace & Steven hiking back down

Daddy & Oliver on the way back down

I think Ace was loving this!

Afterwards, we walked over to the bottom of the falls. It was a really pretty afternoon!

We took our time getting over there, and when we got there Steven had already hiked up to a cave above the falls. I was so jealous! I really wanted to go, but I figured better not endanger myself and the baby, so I refrained.

From the bottom. People swim in the pool at the bottom during the summer. It really is quite majestic looking.

Then Clayton decided to hike up with Steven so I could live vicariously through him. Here they are at what I thought was the top.



Oliver and Ace were hilarious! They kept yelling Daddy-O (what Oliver calls his Daddy) while their Daddys were up on the mountain.

Then they went even higher. I guess the super zoom on my new camera is the ONE good thing about it.

Oliver & Ace

And some nice girl agreed to take a picture of the family. She took two with my camera, unfortunately, Oliver wouldn't cooperate for either. This is the better of the two.

After leaving, we stopped for Mexican food and then we drove through this amazing light display. They had tons of these huge light displays and most of them were in motion. Oliver loved it!

With a full belly, and three days without naps, there would have been no way I could have kept Oliver awake this time. He was sleeping within 10 minutes of leaving the lights. He slept the duration of the way home, continued to sleep as I carried him in, woke briefly while I was putting his diaper on and said "hmmm..it looks like we are in Texas", went back to sleep after I put him in his PJ's and slept until the next morning. I was AMAZED! You may recall from earlier posts, that this kid is NOT an easy sleeper. The environment generally must be perfect for him to sleep and car sleeping is totally out of the question. What a great memory to end our Thanksgiving trip!

Giving Thanks

Despite my recent blogging hiatus, I couldn't let Thanksgiving pass without acknowledging how grateful I am for these two:

And for this one who will be joining us sometime before June 28th.

Oliver is incredibly excited to become a big brother and he loves to pat and kiss my tummy while talking to the baby. This is a very exciting time for our family. Unfortunately, the fatigue with this pregnancy has been overwhelming. Hopefully, I'll feel more normal soon as I approach the end of my first trimester and I'll be able to resume my normal picture taking and blogging.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and family!

November Photos

 

check out this loot

Does a three year old really need this much candy?? I think not. Oliver agreed to giving more than half of it away to Clayton's co-workers. He got to keep one each of whatever he wanted.

...now I wonder, how long do I have to keep it up in the cupboard before I throw it away? :)

Just pick ups on Halloween

Our Halloween started out with a trip to the Dallas Arboretum for trick or treating at the Story Book Playhouses. When we arrived, the traffic was backed clear up the block and the parking was full. We were directed to an off site parking lot with a free shuttle. Bonus! We got to ride in one of these big coaches to the Arboretum and Oliver LOVED it!

I finally convinced Oliver to come inside this house designed of pumpkins (by holding him) and he said "Oh, that is not so bad".

Oliver & Daddy playing in the maze

A little candy break on the bench in the City Green Storybook Playhouse

My too cute UPS man! His costume was a hit, he got lots of comments and compliments from other parents!

off for some trick or treating on his own...we weren't far behind!

check out the video of Oliver dancing to some live music to see the spectacular view of White Rock Lake

Oliver would say" UPS, trick or treat" at each table. Everyone got a kick out of that.

How gorgeous is this setting?

After we left the Arboretum, we headed to lunch and then had just enough time to work on our pumpkins before the big night. Unfortunately, Oliver fell and broke one of his fingernails really low, so he wasn't too much into the carving thing. Fortunately, I had picked up these cute Mr. Potato head pumpkin decorations and he built his pumpkin with these instead.

getting ready to decorate

with his skeleton

carving Mommy's pumpkin

gotta dig!

And finally, here is my little UPS guy making his scary face after he was all trick or treated out. We went a long way and had a great time, but he was literally done by the time we arrived home! :) Everyone wanted to know where their package was, but we were only accepting pick ups today!