Our Journey So Far . . .: November 2011

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Where's Garrett?

This is how I found Garrett when I peeked in on him before I headed to bed the other night. And I had to take a picture. Normally his head is waaay over on the right side of the picture but I guess he was busy playing in bed and just fell asleep while hiding or something.

Can you see him? Hint: Look for the socks.

Side note: WOW! The flash on our camera is bright. You'd never know the room was dark when I took these pictures.

Let the Countdown Begin...

...the countdown to CHRISTMAS of course! :)

Since Russ was on break the week of Thanksgiving we took advantage of his downtime and put up our Christmas tree and decorations the Saturday after Thanksgiving (We would have done it the day after Thanksgiving but that was Disney on Ice day--and I was not going to attempt the decorating on my own!) While Garrett napped, Russ put up the tree and put the lights on. It's really better for our sanity that we did the more difficult parts ourselves and saved the fun stuff for the kiddo. He loved helping with ornaments this year. It's so fun to see how his perception of Christmas changes as he grows. He's been requesting his Bible as a bedtime story lately so we've been focusing on the Christmas story. He knows that baby Jesus was born and that the kings came and brought Him presents. He knows there was a big star. We're working on the rest of the story. I'm excited to have him help bake a birthday cake for Jesus this year too. Now that our house is decorated, all we need to do is make it nice and clean for my family to visit soon. Hooray! Happy December, everyone!!

A "before" picture of my men (well, two of them) with our un-adorned tree.

This is how I roll, Momma.

Nolan spent the first 10 minutes of the decorating festivities bouncing and trying to catch the jingle bells.

"I do it!!!"

Getting a boost from Daddy.

Me and my Nolan

Lucy was all kinds of nervous when we were opening boxes and unpacking stuff. She always thinks that means we're going away and leaving her at the pet hotel again.

This one is blurry, but he was so serious about helping to get the star out of the box.

And the star is on!

Nolan was worn out from watching everyone else work.

The completed tree.

Garrett is playing with a crocheted/knitted nativity set that I got in the Philippines when Russ's parents lived over there. You'll see what he's doing in the next pictures.

This is baby Jesus. Do you see that pearl on his neck? That was put there by Garrett. Because...

...Can you see what he's doing?...

...there's a bead...

..."Kings give baby Jesus presents." So he ripped out some beads from one of the poor King's baskets and put it on the manger with baby Jesus. It does make sense and is kind of sweet. I wish we all were so quick to give our gifts to Him. :)

Disney on Ice!

One of Garrett's absolute favorite shows these days is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. When Russ found out that Disney on Ice was coming to a venue near us, he knew Garrett would love it. And he was right! They had a Daddy-Garrett Adventure and saw Mickey and a bunch of his friends all skating around and singing their best songs. Garrett especially loved the Lion King part and when Captain Hook was scared of the big "tick-tock" alligator. If you ever want to hear a 2 year old talk as fast as humanly possible, ask him about Mickey Mouse and he'll go hyper-speed for you. :) Good memories were definitely made in that arena. Well done, Daddy, well done.

A little pre-show entertainment...browsing in the gift shop.

Mickey Mouse!! He is SO ready for the show to start.

The Peter Pan segment

The Lion King segment

PS: The last two pictures I love because you can see just how focused he is on what's happening on the ice. He's completely wrapped up in the moment...love it! :)

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Brothers @ 3 Months

I thought it'd be fun to post Garrett's 3 month picture next to Nolan's like I did for his 1st month. It's funny how very similar they seem and yet how very different they are too. :) I love my boys!!

Garrett in 2009 and Nolan in 2011

And again...Garrett at 3 months and Nolan at 3 months

3 Months Old!

Yesterday was 3 months from the day Nolan was born...yikes! He's growing up and becoming more interactive every day. He wants so badly to sit up on his own and is *THISclose* to rolling over. He's a happy baby most days, just not today. I think he's going through Grammy-withdrawal or something, maybe that's why he won't nap???? Here are some pics of Nolan with Airborne Bear...and a couple of big brother too. He couldn't go to school today because he's running a temp so he had to help take pictures. I promise you he's sicker than he appears. (Lucky for you, I wiped his nose before taking his picture!)

He's making such a Garrett-face here!

Gotcha!!!

At this point he was distracted...

...and this is why!!

Early Thanksgiving in Houston

Since Mr. Nolan has decided NOT to nap unless being held today, I will attempt to blog one-handed. :) I've tried cleaning and unpacking and it hasn't worked yet. So here we go!

We went down to Houston over the weekend to see Russ's parents and siblings for an early Thanksgiving together. Russ's brother, Phillip, will be deploying to Afghanistan soon so it was extra-special for everyone to have him there. (If you think of it, please pray for his safety and the success of his unit!) We had a wonderful time just hanging out and talking but we kept pretty busy too! Nancy (aka Grammy) took me shopping for my birthday, we went to an honest-to-goodness Texas barbecue joint with a band playing and people dancing, we went to church together, and I got to experience my first dim sum lunch. Between all that, we also enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving meal! Thanks for the lovely weekend, Wells family--and it was nice to meet Cherokee, Phillip's girlfriend, too. :)