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!