Happy Thanksgiving!

Y'all, it's cold outside!  And has been for like... a week!  I cannot remember any other time in my life when it was this cold here this many days in a row.  Today was the coldest Thanksgiving here since 1984.  I was really excited about that.  I was telling everyone how that means this is the coldest Thanksgiving I've ever had!  Then Dustin reminded me that I went to Oklahoma with him one Thanksgiving, and there was ice.  Way to ruin it for me, Dustin!  Later, I remembered that my family was in Nebraska one Thanksgiving.  So just nevermind.  Whatever, I was still happy that I got to wear tights, boots and a jacket today.  I ACTUALLY WORE FALL CLOTHES ON THANKSGIVING!  In TEXAS!  Wow!

I have so much to be thankful for today and every day.  My husband.  My adorable little girl.  My mom and dad and Mark and Susie and my brother and my Granny and Pops and Grandma Jan and all the rest of my aunts, uncles, and cousins.  I fully believe that I do have THE best family on the planet.  I'm thankful for their health.  My health.  A great group of friends.  My warm, cozy house.  My dogs and cats.  The fact that I have food and a bed and a heater when so many people in this world do not.  The list goes on and on, but most importantly, I am thankful that Jesus died on that cross for me.

We had a wonderful day today.  We went to church in Houston with my grandma, aunt, mom, Mark and Jacob and then went to Dustin's parent's house and ate a TON!  Now I'm fixing to finish off my night by watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles.  It's my Thanksgiving night tradition!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Some November Stuff

When my long-term sub job ended a couple of weeks ago, I was a teensy bit sad.  I had really been enjoying myself, and from what the ladies at the preschool building told me everyday when I went to pick up Eden, she was too!  That twinge of sadness vanished the next morning when we woke up to cooler temperatures, and instead of having to get dressed and go to work, Eden and I curled up on heating pads and under blankets to watch Cinderella.  Now that's what I'm talkin' about!  As much as I enjoyed my time teaching again, I am truly happiest just being Eden's mom right now. 

On my last day, when I went to go pick Eden up, the lovely preschool ladies gave me this:

I LOVE IT SO MUCH!  The manger is obviously Eden's little footprint, but Jesus' body is Eden's two thumbprints, and His head is her fingerprint.  How cool is that?  They made them for all the kids to give to the parents for Christmas, and I think it is so unbelievably sweet that they took the time to do one for me and Eden.

My mom gave Eden tons and tons of STICKERS for Halloween, and she has been making beautiful masterpieces.  Then I put them on the fridge and take pictures.

she's so cute!

 

We went to the Children's Museum one day, and I love comparing pictures of her there now to pictures of her when we first started going a year ago.  She was soooo little, not even walking yet, and I had to protect her from all the big kids.  Now she's one of the big kids, and I have to protect the little babies from her!

 

 It got really, really, really cold one day.

Since cold weather doesn't last long here, we had to take advantage of it, and we took Eden on her first trip to a deer stand!

Sitting in a deer stand, even with no intention of actually hunting, is one of my most favorite things to do.  It's so peaceful.

After a while, we got out and told Eden to go get the deer, and she took off!

Dustin came home one day with a camouflage shirt and jacket for Eden.  It was so cute!  He told me it was boy stuff, because he looked at the girl stuff, and it wasn't gonna work for him.  No pink camo allowed in this house!

love

 

Eden got herself a new little cousin, and it was love at first sight.



Dustin and I went to a Texans game (and watched them LOSE... AGAIN!) with some friends while Eden had a fun day over at her Poppa James and Susie's house.  I wanted a family picture before we left.

I took Eden to the park yesterday, and when we got to the swings, she wanted NOTHING to do with the baby swing.  Only the big kid swing for her!

On the way out of the park, there were some pretty flowers.  I asked Eden to sit down in front of them so I could take her picture.

I should have been more specific.



Eden - 22 Months

 

I swear I am going to stop referring to Eden's age in months as soon as she turns 2.  It didn't seem like a big deal when she was fourteen months or eighteen months, but now when somebody asks me how old she is, I feel kinda ridiculous saying "twenty-one" or "twenty-two" months.  So I've started just saying, "She's almost 2."  And then I always have a brief moment of disbelief.  Almost 2?  Ahhh!

22 Month Stats

favorite word: again
She wants to do everything again.

favorite game:  hiding.  hiding EVERYTHING.
Eden likes to hide a toy, tell me it's "gone-gone", then make it reappear and shout "BOO!".  It doesn't stop with just toys though.  After dinner when I try to wipe her hands, she puts them behind her back and tells me they're gone-gone.  "Eden's hands are gone-gone?", I say.  "BOO!", she shouts and brings them out from behind her back really fast.  When I try to put her shoes on, she'll run and find a blanket or a towel and cover her feet.  "Gone-gone", she tells me.  "Eden's feet are gone-gone?", I ask.  "BOO!", she yells as she yanks the blanket away.  "Now can I put your shoes on?", I ask.  "Again!", she says, and we do it again.  She likes to hide in the closet, under blankets, in the bathroom.  Then jump out at us and shout "BOO!"

That is what's happening in these pictures:

 "gone-gone"

 

"BOO!"

favorite activity:  dancing
Apparently Eden danced at preschool.  They have dance time there, and Eden now wants to dance allllll the time.  She'll dance to any song, but she ESPECIALLY likes to dance to "The Hot Dog Song" that comes on at the end of every episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  And by dance, I mean running, stomping, twirling in circles and clapping.  As soon as that first note of the "Hot Dog Song" is played, she's up and at it.  When the song ends... "Again!"  And I rewind it so she can dance again.

best friend:  our dog, Max

A Halloween & Weekend Recap

I'm gonna preface this by saying that I've been having a hard time photographing my child lately.  She is so not interested in the camera right now.

For example, at the beginning of last week, I tried to take some fall pictures of Eden.  My dad's cousin, Nancy, had a cute little set-up at her house for her own grandchild, and she invited me over to take pictures of Eden as well.  She had such cute props.

Too cute apparently.  There was no looking at the camera, that's for sure!

For Halloween, Dustin's parents got Eden the biggest pumpkin I've ever seen.  I, for real, had no idea you could even buy pumpkins that big.  The night before Halloween, we carved pumpkins, and the giant one got an E.



Eden was fascinated.  She alternated between looking inside of them and running around really fast in front of them.

Dustin finally got her to sit for a picture... She looked terrified?  I guess it's fitting.

The day of Halloween was a preschool day.  And I got a picture.  Because it was really early, and I think she was too tired to resist.

Halloween is the only day of the entire year that I wish I lived in an actual neighborhood instead of out in the country.  Growing up, we averaged one trick-or-treater every other year, and thanks to a gate, Dustin and I have never had one.  If you live in a neighborhood, you probably take for granted that you can just walk out your door and trick-or-treat.  Don't take it for granted!  Some of us can't do that.  I love all the neighbors who gather together... the ones who assemble in lawn chairs in a cul-de-sac and pass out candy together as a group while drinking beer and having a little neighbor party.  I'm kind of jealous. 

Fortunately, we have friends that DO live in a neighborhood, so we went to their house, and Eden got to trick-or-treat.  She was a pig.

And my goodness, was she cute!  Unfortunately, "pig" is not one of the animal noises that she can make.  Lord knows I tried.  I think she purposefully refuses to do that one since leading up to Halloween it was the one I wanted her to do the most. 

Moving on...

Yesterday morning we took Eden to Dewberry Farm.  I've been wanting to take her there since the beginning of October and get pictures of her in the pumpkin patch, but between rain and four thousand birthday parties (is it just me or does October seem to have a unusual amount of birthdays?), we never made it.  But I figured November is still a pumpkin month, so it's all good.  Um, wrong.  We hop on the tractor that is supposed to take us to the pumpkin patch (because that's what it did last year when I went in OCTOBER), and once we're all loaded up, the driver asks if everybody is excited about taking pictures in the Christmas trees.  And everyone is like YEAHHHH!!!  And I'm like UM, WHAT?  IT'S NOVEMBER 2ND, AND I WANT TO GO TO THE PUMPKIN PATCH!  So we get dropped off in the middle of a field of Christmas trees, and Dustin and I trek through the mud to get to the pumpkin patch.  Which is really just a bunch of pumpkins thrown into a field.  And the pumpkins are disgusting.  And rotting.  And smelly.  And ugly.  Because nobody cares about pumpkins anymore.  It's time for Christmas trees.  And Eden starts pointing at all of them and shouting, "YUCK!!!  YUCK!!!  YUCK!!!".  So it took some work... I had to search for some good ones and turn the rotting sides away from the camera the best I could and fight an almost two year old who really did not want to take pictures, but in the end, I got a couple of cute ones.

Also, it was really windy as you can see from Eden's Alfalfa hair.

After we got that over with, we could move on to the fun part of Dewberry Farm!

Alcohol!  Just kidding.  I wish.  I could have really used a beer after the pumpkin patch.  Dustin really wanted a beer too because he was REALLY, REALLY annoyed by all the city people who actually thought they were on a farm.  Unfortunately, no beer.

But watching Eden with all the animals was just as good.  Okay, better.

We fed ducks and geese.

I liked this guy:

Eden was a big fan of the pigs.  I was too.  They're pretty dang cute.  Not as cute as her as a pig though.

But the highlight of the day was the pony ride.

The first time Eden rode them, I went with her, and I held her the entire time.  Dustin went with her the second time, and he never held her.  I was on the other side of the fence yelling, "DUSTIN!  DUSTIN!  DON'T LET HER FALL!"  I think he was pretending he didn't know me.  He seriously never acknowledged me.  But she did just great.

I'm pretty sure it was the highlight of her life actually.

Okay, so... even though the pumpkins were gross and sucky, I will still never again go to Dewberry Farm in October EVER AGAIN.  November is the way to go.  WAYYYYYY less crowded since I guess everyone has already moved on to Christmas things.  I'll just have to find a different pumpkin patch for photos next year.

After Dewberry Farm, we had a birthday party.  Another one.  And it was awesome.  It was at one of those bouncy house places where an entire gigantic room was full of giant bouncy houses, and Eden had a BLAST.  Seriously, when it was time to go, she would NOT come to me, and I had to climb onto a bouncy castle and chase her down.  And she RAN from me.  She went down this gigantic slide approximately five billion times.  And every time she landed at the bottom, she would bounce up and then land again on her belly and face. 

I thought it looked kinda painful, but it didn't phase her a bit.  And yes, that's her third outfit change of the day.  Dustin thought it was ridiculous.  He was all, "What's wrong with what she's wearing now?", and I was all, "That's not a birthday party outfit!", and he was all, "What the heck is a birthday party outfit?", and I was all, "Something colorful, fool!".

When we got home, Eden went through her party favor bag and found play-doh.  When I told her it wasn't food and she couldn't eat it, this happened:

So pitiful.

The girl slept GOOD last night.