crazy hair!!

Giving you a smile this holiday! Merry Christmas!!

Happy Turkey Day!

There is so much to update on!!! I have multiple new posts, so keep scrolling down if you want to read all 3!

Thanksgiving...was....rough.

Don't get me wrong, we had a great time seeing family and eating all the yummy food. But considering Jadeyn had been away from home for 1/2 week already and she was exhausted from not great naps or little cat naps in the car, she was not the happiest baby to be around. She started off good. She napped about 1 1/2 hours in the car in Jimmy's grandparents driveway while he sat in the backseat with her. Sweet daddy. Once she woke up...hmm (or daddy woke her up), she let everyone hold her and play with her for about 2 hours. After that, she had enough and started getting fussy. But we had only visited one family...uh oh! We drove across town to see my dad's side of the family and she was sweet for about 3o minutes. I guess I shouldn't imply that she wasn't sweet. She just cried. A lot. We tried feeding her. Didn't help. Giving her a nap. Helped some, but then woke up and was still fussy. It was pretty obvious she needed to sleep and keep on sleeping. She went to bed that night at about 5:30 and slept until 7:30 the next day. That girl was tired!

Friday, Jimmy and I got up to the black friday shopping thing. We've done it the last 2 years and have loved it. This year, we decided to get up super early (4:30) and really do the big time shopping. HATED IT. Never again. I'll stick to getting up at 6. Once 5:45 rolled around, we were good and had a lot of fun. We stopped first at Target and were way too overwhelmed, drove on to Wal-Mart, bought a few items (600 tc sheets - yay!!) and ended up at Mardel where we got most of our gifts.

Later that morning, we drove on to Arkansas where my mom's side celebrates. Jadeyn did so much better and never fussed all day! It was a much smaller group (which helped I think). She's now caught up on all her sleep and back to being her pleasant self again.
We loved seeing all our family! Bring on Christmas!

Branson post up next

I'm probably one of the most pessimistic people when it comes to vacationing in Branson, Missouri. We went there as a family when we were younger and yes, I had fun, but it's never been my top vacation destination. This year was different though. Considering we're down to one job and an additional person in our house, we have to vacation a little differently than in years past. We decided to go to Branson the week before Thanksgiving for a 4 day trip...and (SHOCKER) we had a blast!! We didn't have an agenda, but we easily filled our days full of activities. Branson is beautiful at christmastime. Jimmy really wanted to go to Silver Dollar City because he had heard it's the prettiest place over the holidays. He heard right! It was gorgeous. There were lights everywhere. We went as soon as we got in town Sunday night and were amazed with it all. We took the train throughout the park and also saw a mini drama of the nativity story.

the huge christmas tree at the entrance. you should see it lit up at night!

jade playing in the ball pen

waiting for the train

telling santa her wish list after a very long day

Monday, we did some shopping, both at the outlet malls and at Branson landing, ate at a fun seafood restaurant on the lake, and came back and played around in the hot tub before bed. Tuesday, it was pretty cold, so we stayed indoors mostly and played indoor miniature golf, ate frozen custard, played skee-ball, basketball and deal or no deal at the local arcade place. That night we went to see the broadway production of Peter Pan and it was fantastic! Very different from the typical Branson style shows you usually hear about. Wednesday we went back to Silver Dollar City and played around in the kids park with Jadeyn and let Jimmy go to his favorite show: The Saloon Show. Suprisingly (at least for me), there was plenty to do for the "couple/young family" and I genuinely had a nice time. We were even good about giving Jadeyn her naps. So, if you're looking for an affordable family vacation in the Midwest, look no further than the Ozarks in Missouri. You will have fun!

hot tub'ing it

shopping at branson landing


chil-laxin at the hotel : )

Jadeyn update post coming up!

Jadeyn's feats!

Jadeyn is ALL over the place now. She started full-pledged crawling November 6. I don't think she likes it all that much. She only crawls until she can find something to pull up on. That's right, she pulls up on everything! Coffee tables, her crib, the couch, humans, the wall if she can manage and her most recent: the christmas tree (not a good idea!) It's really fun to watch her. She actually started pulling up before she started crawling. I caught her one Friday morning (Oct. 23) after her nap standing up in her crib. It was so cute! And her latest trick? She's a cruiser. Once she pulls up somewhere, she's off, walking all over that one piece of furniture. That started around mid-november. So we've had one active little girl on our hands the last month or so. It's exhausting!

She also loves to talk and sing. Especially throaty sounds. It's weird actually. I don't know where she learned it. I've never heard any other baby make such strange sounds! It cracks us up though. Her teachers at CLC think she will be an early talker. I'm a little skeptical, but we'll see! She has also learned to wave bye-bye and hi. She has no idea what it means and she doesn't do it all the time, but it's sweet to see her wave her entire arm up and down and get really excited as she does it.

christmas...already?

this year we did it. i've always spoken poorly of those people who neglected thanksgiving and started celebrating christmas right after halloween. but i admit. i'm one of "those" this year. our christmas lights are hung (and turned on), our fall decorations are coming down and the christmas stuff is going up. i thought i'd feel some guilt, but there's no shame here when i come home and see our pretty lights (the only house with lights so far) all lit up on our house welcoming me home. we also got jadeyn's christmas pictures made today. take a peek of a few! and happy christmas!

6 months gone!

it's shocking to think jadeyn has passed her 6 month birthday already. she had her 6 mos appt last friday. she was 26 1/4" long (40%) and 15.2 lbs (30%). we take her 6 mos pictures tomorrow morning!

happy halloween from our little elephant

A-


DOR-


ABLE!

fall in DC

my friend, cassie and i went to visit andrea in dc over fall break. despite the awful rain that did not let up until we were driving back to the airport on sunday, we had a great time! it was gorgeous there but it was really just fun hanging out with wonderful friends. we still pretty much did everything we wanted to, except we decided to opt out of traveling to williamsburg, va. and yes, we got the hook-up to tour the white house! it was great fun!

us at the white house...we learned that michelle was there, the two girls were in school and pres. obama was in some meetings that day, but not sure if he was in the white house or not


abe lincoln's real tophat at the american history museum

the original declaration of independence in the rotunda at the national archive building

the cutest town, old town alexandria

the world war 2 monument with washington mon. in the background!

pumpkins, hay bales and goats, oh my!

We visited the nearby pumpkin patch a couple Saturday's ago. Jimmy and I had a lot of fun and I'm sure Jadeyn was just glad to be outside. They had a lot of different things to do as you can see below in the pictures. Jadeyn pet/looked at many different farm animals including pigs, roosters, bunnies, pony's, goats, llamas and a cow! She also rode on her first tractor ride, went on a corn field maze walk and picked out her very own pumpkin, which we're proudly displaying in our front yard.


On top of the "haybale maze" with dad


the tractor ride

pumpkin pictures

admiring the goat, she was entralled with all the animals!

Happy Fall All!

i have decided to try and make jadeyn's baby food instead of getting store bought. it's been so fun!! we've tried carrots (she LOVES them), parsnips and pears (also loves!) it's really pretty simple and i love how much money i'm saving by doing it this way, and also just the freshness of the food! i bought a package of carrots for $1.38 and made 28 servings! and this weekend i made like 33 servings of parsnips, 9 servings of sweet potato and 10 servings of pear. so they just sit in my freezer in the ice tray mold and we use them one by one. a friend let me borrow her baby food recipe book and they have so many neat ideas. can't wait to try it all out!

family vacation!

We went to Dallas over the weekend for a little break from work. Jadeyn's first vacation and she did great! It's been somewhat of a tradition since we got married to go to a professional baseball gam every year. Since we're a little low on cash this year, we opted for the Rangers. It was a blast! Rangers beat Tampa Bay 8-3! We also did some shopping at Ikea and the outlet mall in Allen. Jadeyn liked being dipped in the hot tub, although it wasn't hot at all. It was the perfect temperature for a little baby. Just like a bath : ) Jimmy and I got to go out Saturday night and eat some yummy sushi at a local hibachi grill. Jadeyn stayed at the hotel with my parents.

It was such a fun time and a much needed break from our everyday lives. We may visit a pumpkin patch tomorrow - stay tuned for more pictures!

enjoying the game from our awesome club seats!

our little fish

the great state fair of...OKLAHOMA!

went to the fair last night. love the types of people here!

check out overall man with the leather jacket, police-looking hat and gold chain on the left

and you gotta love this man taking a rest on the curb

ahhh...true love

we couldn't get a frontal picture but this lady was OLD with purple hair wearing all goth clothing!

seriously, where are all these people the rest of the year??

the fair was great. lots of food, walking, shopping and people watching. can't wait for next year!