Our Christmas Day 2008

Santa did come! And wow! Owen must have been a very, very good boy this year!

O woke up a little later than his usual 6:45 AM....obviously, he is too young and didn't quite understand that Santa might have come...otherwise, I am certain he'd have been up way earlier! I know Ben and I always got an early start to Christmas day when we were kids! This was probably my last year to "sleep in" on Christmas Day.

Owen LOVED Tow-Mater. The best parts? The cell phone, GPS, and horn! Owen loves to go over and "honk" the horn so that Tow-Mater starts singin'.

Elmo and O spent some time getting to know one another. Owen even helped Elmo up when he fell down once, to which Elmo replied "you are my best friend." Buddies already!

I would start opening a gift for O, and then he would finish it off in...oh, say, over a 15 minutes or so span of time. His attention span is that of a....hmmm...one year old?!?

I got a really cool new lens for my camera from Grandpa Tex--isn't this neat? It is an extreme-wide angle! Can't wait to play with it some more!!! Going out with O and N tomorrow to get some one year (O) and 18-month (N) shots -- will see if I can't use this lens for some! yippee!!

O got a silver spoon from G.A. Julie. Thought it would be a fun picture....Owen literally has a silver spoon in his mouth--he wasn't born with it though...he got it for Christmas ;-)

O and Claude (American University's mascot) are already great friends, Uncle Trav!!

O tearing into a present!

What is in there?

Owen and his peeps on Christmas Day.

Taking Tow-Mater our for a spin. honk, honk.

Our Christmas Dinner....1st half of the table.

...2nd half of the table.

1st half w/Christmas crowns on!

...2nd half donning crowns.

For anyone who doesn't get where the crowns come from, read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_cracker.

Daddy Q is of the tradition of only those that end up with the "large" end of the cracker get the contents. Poor Uncle Ben...he had two small ends and, thus, no crown (3rd photo)...until Marissa shared (4th photo). The jokes were "funny" as usual! I wish I had saved a few to post.

Thanks for joining us, Hoyle Fam! You made it all the more fun!

Christmas Eve

Today was a full day! Owen and I ran out this morning to buy some meatloaf from Central Market for Grandpa Tex, then jogged over to Ikea, met Daddy Q for lunch, and then took a nap. O ran some errands with Daddy Q. and I finished my nap ;-) then started cooking our 4th annual Christmas Eve dinner of tamales, rice rojo, and black beans. Yummy!

Here is O waiting on Grandpa Tex, Paw Paw Mac, Grammie, and Santa (of course).
My sweet boy...

Daddy Q trying to "sell" Grandpa Tex on trying a mincemeat pie...no deal. Paw Paw Mac and Grammie tried one and liked it. Dad and I didn't "risk it for a biscuit" as Daddy Q said.

Our stockings are hung by the chimney (with care?)...

In hopes that St. Nickolaus soon will be HERE!!!!!

Owen's Second Haircut

Owen's hair started to stick out this way and that. Since the holidays are coming up, and his first birthday is right around the corner, I wanted to fix this issue with the fly-aways! Punkadoo is going to be in lots of pictures in the next two weeks!!

Lanie was in town, so she and I took O on Saturday morning for his second haircut. He did not want to sit in the race car--I guess he prefers the Hummer!

He was so mad after being in the car, that I resolved to holding him in the regular chair. He is holding onto me for dear life...
Here, he is trying to see the cartoons around the lady cutting his hair!
Worried about the clippers she is using, but keeping himself calm ;-)
Mommy's handsome Punkadoo!

Dinner Conversation

Popular Guy

Owen is one popular guy. We attended three holiday parties this weekend--only one of which we would have been invited to pre-Owen. Seriously, this dude gets some invites. The only bad part is that O's new bedtime that he set himself is 6:30 PM. His parties all interfered with bedtime, and this guy will not make up for it in the morning...he gets up at 6:45 no matter what time his little self hits the sack. Poor guy--he will probably be glad to get some sleep this week!

Friday night--ready to party with Team Bryant and Team Love--Daddy Q's primary teams at work. O and Dillon where the only babies, so they got loads of attention--D more than O--its rough getting older, huh champ?

My new nickname for O is Rascal Q. This guy is into EVERYthing. Seriously. His two favs are the measuring cups--they are steel and make really beautiful music when they are ever so gently tapped together. And, the nice, sweet song that O made up to go with his new music is delightful. I do hope you read that with sarcasm--it is the loudest one-man-kitchen parade in town. I wouldn't trade it for the world, but man, this guy can make some noise. Saturday night, O went to the coolest Holiday party EVER!! Madeline really must have been good this year, because Frosty greeted the kiddos at the door with a lollipop. Then, they got to decorate these insanely cool gingerbread houses, and last--and most awesome--Santa showed up to give each kiddo a gift and to read them a story. Wow!!! Thanks for having us over Maddy! That was one awesome party! Jeff--if you send me the photo of them with Frosty, I would love to post it--it was cute--(Maddy is a kindergartner and has a special bond with O (see here). She wanted him in the pic with Frosty and her two other friends). Even though this was O's 3rd time with Santa, he wasn't all too excited to sit there sans mommy. So, now we have a 2nd photo of O, Santa, AND Me.

Last, but not least, we had a neighborhood playgroup potluck at the house tonight. O entertained an older crowd tonight (mostly 2 year olds). Fortunately, Mr. N showed up, so O had a close friend to make it less overwhelming. We had a great time, but as a hostess--I ended up with ZERO photos. The night ended with a hayride through the neighborhood for all of the kiddos. So fun!!!

On a side note, I was asked my Owen's Mimi to take their photos for Christmas cards. I think they turned out great--hope you all are happy with them! Mimi takes care of Owen on the days that I work, and the two girls babysit him if Daddy Q and I have a date. We are so grateful for this family!

Random walking note.

This shot below was taken on August 1st. This is one of the first times that O was able to pull himself up to standing.

Here he is on October 30th--these are the first few days that he was brave enough to take solo steps. And..he still looks like a baby to me.

Here he is in November 23rd--a full-blown walker. Three and a half months to get from pulling up to walking. I cannot beleive that. What an amazing accomplishment. Babies learn and do and master so much in such a short time. It really is astonishing. In this photo, he is still kinda babyish, but leaning closer to looking like a toddler.

Then, in the two first photos of this post (way up top)--seriously? My baby went from baby to toddler in like 3-4 weeks. What on earth?

Pray for Baby Bella

A former co-worker of mine had her baby girl last week at 24 weeks gestation. Please keep her and her parents in your thoughts and prayers.

They are blogging: http://delangefamilytx.blogspot.com/

Baby, Its Cold Outside

Cute as can be in his winter hat!!!

Up To No Good

Interested in the ornaments that Great-Great-Grandma Julia made.... These are the only ones that he goes to the tree to pull off.

Avoiding the diaper by running off around the house. Seriously. I was so upset (read "angry"), but then decided to take a photo and laugh it off. What else can you do with a very strong 11 month old? He can't reason with me?!?! Hints, please? When he is older he will regret this...its on the internet now, buddy!

Now, that's funny

The little guy has been doing some really fun / funny things this week. My chart of "accomplishments" from the pediatrician prepared me for some of these in theory, but the reality is oh so funny.

1. He points the remote to the t.v. and presses the button, and then waits for action. If nothing happens (i.e. he is using his Elmo remote), then he grunts, and moves closer to the t.v. and does it again. There is another guy in our household who can be seen doing the same thing when the sensor is down or the batteries low...like father like son.

2. O "reads" to himself. Earlier tonight, he was "reading" his Elmo book and when he changed the page, he would pause, and then "read" with inflection in his voice and say something that sounds like "Elmo" every once in a while. ...the book was upside down...oh well. He also got a new book from Great Aunt Dona that he "reads"--"Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?". Becuase he gets impatient with this one when I read all of the words, often I only say the color and name of the animal and then we turn the page (like flashcards). So, when he "reads" to himself, he only grunts a short blurb and then... on to the next page.

3. He initiates a game of chase by coming over to me (or his dad) and getting in your face, and then scampering off and falling down to be tickled.

4. He squeezes your head with all of his might. He started doing this at Thanksgiving with Paw Paw Mc and has made even more a game of it. I have no idea where this came from or why he does it, but he takes your head in between both of his hands, screws up his face, and squeezes like no tomorrow and then laughs. ???

5. Any time he has a cup or bowl in his hand, even if it is empty he lifts it to his mouth and "drinks" out of it with a big "Sllluuuurrrpppp....ahhh". If it is full of bathwater...he takes a big gulp and then smiles.

6. He now dials his pretend cell phone and then puts it up to my ear to talk...hmmmm. I guess that means that daddy and O may watch t.v., but mom and O spend lots of time on the phone ;-)

Playing Dress Up

Yesterday, Mom E and Mr. N came over so that Mom E could try on a few shirts in hope of finding something in my or Mom M's closet suitable for a holiday party. We pulled out lots of fun shirts, necklaces, and earrings. As soon as the necklaces came out, the boys gravitated toward us and had fun sticking their hands in the box of beads and pulling out a strand. N copied his mom, and tried one on. O copied N. And I snapped a photo.

So cute!

Eleven Months Old--I Cannot Beleive It!

Here is my independent, let me do it myself, eleven month old scale photo!! Thought we would do something in the photo to memorialize this baby's new attitude. Gerber? No thanks...that requires mom or dad feeding me. Bottle? Hand that on over. You want my shirt off? Alright....I'll pull it off and hand it to ya just give me a sec. Hold your hand when I walk? Phhh.....

Seriously....this cannot be normal.

Anyhow, Punkadoo is 11 months going on 11 years. He weighs 20 lbs and 9 ounces and is 29 1/4" long. And....here's what he is up to:

* Owen learned to walk this month. Just today, he figured out how to stand up from sitting/laying/falling on the ground. Yesterday...he had to pull up on something.

* He eats anything he can feed himself. He'll take it from us if its yummy enough....but, it better be good.

* He says "mama", "dada", "bye bye", "hi" and is working on ball, bottle, and duck.

* He found his tongue and likes to feel it?!?

* To initiate conversation, he looks at someone and goes "unnnh" and then smiles REAL big and lays his head on my shoulder.

* He dribbles a soccer ball while carrying one or two more in his hands.

* He sleeps ALOT. O goes to bed early (sometime between 6:00 - 7:00 is pretty normal), sleeps through the night and gets up around 6:45 the next morning. AND....he takes good naps. Boy, does he take after mommy and Grammie in this department.

* He has six teeth. He has both the top and bottom two, but the extra ones are on opposite sides of his mouth (top one is on one side of the two and the bottom on the other). Its pretty funny.

* He loves his Baby Einstein videos, so we watch a few a week. I have memorized the order of Baby Sounds...his favourite.

* He outgrew his 6-12 month clothes in just one week. Last week they fit, this week they don't. Good thing winter clothes are on sale right now!

That's all I have right now...time to get to bed so that I can get up with the little guy in the morning.

Happy Eleven Months, Baby O.

Santa

Today, Erin, Megan, Valerie and I took our little toddlers to see Santa. The first Santa was "reserved" for a special event. We waited (playing, eating, and strolling) for a couple of hours for him, and then decided to head to another Santa...

Miss E cried, so Valerie sat on Santa's knee with Miss E in her lap. Mr. N followed suit, but Erin didn't join in ;-) After a nap, Mr. P took a turn -- he wasn't the happiest we've ever seen him. Last, but not least, was O's turn. He was about to be upset, but then Santa started to gently bounce him on his knee and the elf played with a puppet, and O laid back on Santa and relaxed. He isn't my usual, happy, Owen, but I think it makes a cute 1st Christmas photo!

In England he visited Father Christmas and that photo turned out a lot like Miss E and Valerie's! Had to share, cause I think this is too funny!!

O and I were wondering around the mall while Grandma Chips and Daddy Q worked in Owen's great-grandma's flat. There is no Thanksgiving in England...so, it didn't seem funny there to pose with Father Christmas before turkey day. We had time to kill, so I thought, "why not?".

I walked up to the Elves' Booth to confirm Santa (aka, Father Christmas) was in. They said, yes, he is in there (pointing to a 2-story tree that resembles a tee-pee). Hmmm...a Tree-Pee?!?

I paid four pounds ninety-five pence so that Owen could go inside the "tree-pee" and see Father Christmas. We strolled around the "tree-pee" and waited at a silver door. After a bit, the door slid open and another elf appeared to greet Owen. We entered this disco-ish atmosphere, and then looked to the left -- ahh...there was Father Christmas himself. Wow...what an overwhelming experience for the senses.

Needless to say, O wasn't letting go of me....he was in a "tree-pee" with an elf and big guy in a red suit with disco lights...of course he wasn't chancing having to stay there ;-)

So, since we had already paid, I sat next to FC (no make-up and all) and we took the photo. What a crazy experience. I do have to share that Daddy Q and Grandma Chips had never seen such a production...so, this isn't the norm for England...just a crazy demonstration this mall decided to have.
Memories ....

Be Thankful for Each Day

Today, our pastor passed away. Rev. Kathleen Baskin-Ball touched me every single time I heard her preach....she was amazing. We only joined the church in February of this year, and I am so glad to have been able to sit in her congregation, even for such a short time. The Dallas Morning News posted a couple of articles about her...click here to view them.

Not only was she an unbelievable pastor, but she was a mom to 4-year old Skylar. Today, I hugged my little boy tighter than usual and reminded myself to be very thankful for every single day that I have with him and my husband. Each day truly is a gift and Kathleen's passing reminds me to be truly, humbly, thankful for those we have.

Thanksgiving in Tennessee

A week ago today, Owen and I traveled back to America from England to enjoy Thanksgiving with my family in Tennessee. My brother and his wife came to Grandma's from Michigan. Owen's Grammie and Paw Paw Mc drove from College Station, and Owen and I flew for 9 hours, and then rode with Great Grandma ("GG") and Aunt Dona, who graciously picked us up in Atlanta) to Tennessee! Wow! Here are some photos from this part of our vacation!!

O has his T-giving bib on and is looking for some food! He couldn't keep himself out of the kitchen Thursday -- I think he was afraid we may eat without him...this boy LOVES to eat.

Waiting for turkey? or Paw Paw Mc? Hard to say, 'cause he enjoys them both so much!

Yummy! O ate some of EVERYthing that was served. He meal included turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes (his fav), green beans (made him choke and were removed), mashed potato and gravy, AND cranberry salad. I couldn't believe he ate the cranberry salad. This boy does not have a timid palate!

....last, but not least, he shared Pumpkin Pie with Paw Paw Mc. Yummy!

When it was all being cleared away I think he was a little sad...

There were 13 people at our Thanksgiving, but I only snapped a pic of him playing with Uncle Ben. Can't beleive I didn't keep the camera out...what was I thinking?!?!

Clapping with GG!

On Friday, we took Owen down to this really neat train for some playtime and photos.

All Aboard! Conductor Owen is ready to depart and checking the tracks for obstruction!

Out of my way...

So proud.

Cuteness sitting at the foot of Santa!

We had a great time while in Tennessee! Thank you, GG, for having us and for all of the great food!!!