O Christmas Tree

This year we had the idea we would chop down our own Christmas tree, so we set off to Silo Christmas Tree Farms. What we didn't know was that the only type of pine trees that can be grown in this part of Texas are, well... ugly:

This picture just doesn't do it justice. It was like weeds growing on a tree trunk.

Chase did fall in love with a little "Charlie Brown" tree and I managed to get a picture of him giving it a hug:

We ended up buying a pre-cut tree from elsewhere in the U.S., and when we got home we decorated the tree together and Chase has SO much fun!

There is one section of the tree that is quite heavy in the ornament department but we love that!

Christmas is coming! Woo hooooo!!

Santa!

Thanksgiving night we drove to Belton to see a Christmas lights display, which Chase LOVED. Santa was also there and Chase actually requested we go see him! He wasn't sure about sitting on his lap at first, but they offered a good alternative:

However, after a couple pics with the family...

...he got a little braver!

When Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas he said "cars." Lord. Like we don't have enough cars already! But it was fun because this is the first year Chase really understands that Santa is coming and all that jazz. Can't wait! I put my countdown ticker up, people! 25 days til Christmas! Woo hoooooo!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I am smelling our Thanksgiving ham as I write this. One more hour until we can dive in!

This Thanksgiving we are thankful for so many things, but our little guy jumps into first place. With that in mind, I thought I'd share his school pictures. First, the good one:

Now, the glamour shots:

Ha ha ha! I hope you all are enjoying your holiday! Gobble gobble!

Waco Zoo with Grandpa

Brian's dad is in town visiting and Chase decided he wanted to take Grandpa to the zoo on Sunday! He had a good nap on the way there...

...and we got some decent family photos!

More photos are in our Photo Album if you're interested!

Mutant Grapes

Brian and I went to the grocery store today and bought some grapes. Scratch that.... We bought some mutant grapes:

Oh, I'm sorry.... You probably need something else in the photo for scale. Here it is with its friend, the adorably average red grape:

Still not doing it for you? Insert my freakishly long thumb:

You actually have to take bites of these grapes. You can't just pop them into your mouth. It takes like three chomps!

Yes, I'm blogging about grapes. But to be honest, they kind of freak me out! They can't be healthy.... I'm sure they're pumped with steroids or something.

P.S. This is my third post of the day. Check out my previous two posts if you haven't already!

Christmas on the Farm

We went to Aware Central Texas's "Christmas on the Farm" event on Saturday. It was a bit early for Christmas festivities in our opinion, but we went to support the cause. ACT is a child abuse prevention organization where Brian volunteers and they put on a great event! I took some pictures but it was really crowded and they didn't turn out great. I did get kind of a cute picture of Brian and Chase on the hay ride:

I also have to share this with you. They had a stuffed animal booth with 5,000 stuffed animals the kids could choose from. Out of all the animals in that booth, Chase just HAD to have this one:

Brian and I are still laughing about it every time he pulls it out. He loves that goofy looking thing!

This is my second post of the day (I'm playing catch-up again!), so check out the previous post if you haven't already.

Waco Zoo

We headed to the Waco Zoo when we were all off for Veterans Day. We have been there so many times now it seems crazy to keep taking pictures. I only took four this time, and this is just about the best one I got (sad, huh?):

Hope everyone enjoyed their day off as much as we did!

Fort Hood Shooting

Hi there. We have had some emails of concern come through in regards to the Fort Hood shootings. We wanted to let everyone know that we are fine. Some of our district high schools were on lockdown, but luckily it was an early out day and the middle school students got out of school right when it happened (of course we didn't know about it at that time), so we didn't have to go through a lockdown or anything.

Brian has been put in charge of organizing some crisis counseling services at the university so he's going to be busy! And I'm wondering what school is going to be like tomorrow, with so many of my students being from military families. And I'm worried about the students I had at the school where I taught last year, because half of those kids lived on post (which was literally right out the back door of the school).

When I picked Chase up from daycare they were in a panic because with Fort Hood being on lockdown there were going to be a ton of kids stuck at daycare. I was happy to take Chase off their hands. When stuff like this happens you can't help but hug your family a little bit tighter.

Nap Time Fun

Well, it finally happened to us. We had heard of this happening to practically every other parent we know and we were just waiting for the day it happened to us: Chase smuggled a blue crayon into his room during nap time.

He colored all over his white toy box (and decorated it with stickers)...

...and his white bookcase...

...and his wall:

I knew something was up when I found him like this:

(Someone was tuckered out after all that hard work!)

He looks pretty pleased with himself, doesn't he?

Of course we made him clean it up:

I had to call my mom right away and say, "What goes around comes around," because one of her favorite stories to tell about me is that I loved to color on the walls... and every time I did, she made me clean it up. Then one day my mom cleaned it up herself and I got MAD. Turns out I only colored on the walls so I could clean it up.

If Chase loves to clean that much I'm going to put him to work scrubbing toilets.