Sea World!!!

Garrett went on his first trip to Sea World! The night before he was so excited about all of the animals. Not only was he just floored by the size of Shamu, he got to touch a dolphin! Garrett also went on his first rollercoaster ride. It was such a great day, beautiful weather and lots of fun.

Christmas at Granny & Dad-dads

Garrett had a great Christmas this year. His first Christmas stop was at Granny and Dad-dads. He was very excited all day long about going to see Granny and Dad-dad. He did not know we were going there to open Chirstmas presents. However, once we started passing out presents he insisted on helping. He really enjoyed delivering the presents. He also got really excited in helping people opening their presents.

After everyone got a present and started opening we finally got Garrett to sit down and open his presents. One of his favorite presents was a remote control firetruck that Dad-dad gave him.

Christmas Eve

After a big day of celebrating Christmas in San Antonio, we came home to get ready for Santa Claus.

First we left Reindeer Treats on the front lawn. Garrett made his at school. Unfortunately our own hooved beast decided that Reindeer treats were yummy. (I hope glitter doesnt hurt horses.)

Then we had to get Santa's treats together. Garrett picked his favorite cookies out and we filled a glass with milk.

Finally, Daddy and Garrett read a new Christmas book by the tree.

Merry Christmas.....

Santa Cookies

Tonight we made cookies for Santa! Garrett helped to roll out the dough, cut out the shapes, and then add the sprinkles. Needless to say our cookies are pretty wild looking, but I think Santa will still like them. Oh, and we have to take some to Daddads tomorrow because apparently he likes cookies too.

Little Mechanic

Garrett loves his "monster trucks" and he loves his Home Depot tool box. I just had to take a picture when I saw him, in his Handy Manny hard hat, using all of his tools on the truck. He is just too much sometimes.

It's a ....... Duck?

We went to the doctor on Monday and its a GIRL! Well, they are 95% sure its a girl anyways. In an effort to get Garrett excited about his new little sister we asked him what her name would be. After a few minutes of deep concentration Garrett responded, "Duck!". Thus far he has not agreed to any other names, but I will work on it. "Duck Long" sounds like the guy from Sixteen Candles. ha!

SNOW!!!

It all started with some serious sleet at around 7pm. By 8pm it had turned into a wintery mix. And now at 9pm its big fluffy snow-flakes. The snow isnt sticking to the ground, but our deck and fence (and vehicles) are coated in ice now. I'm not holding out much hope for a snow day tomorrow (Harper will probably be out) but its still neat.

Keeping up with the neighbors

Ok.. so I finally got the front gate decorated. Many of you are probably saying its only Dec 5th and its not that big of a deal, but I usually have mine done before Thanksgiving! So today I forced the boys to come help me get it all together and I have to say that I think it turned out pretty-darned cute. I really love the new solar icicle lights I got from QVC during Christmas in July. They look pretty even during the day. Then when we came home tonight they were just glowing an icy blue.

Garrett's Little Tree

Garrett has been just itching to put things on the big Christmas tree, so we decided to get him his own little tree this year. He was very excited to put all of our old Mickey Mouse ornaments on it and to have all the Christmas babies underneath the tree. I know its early for Christmas trees but he has just been feeling so lousey that I thought it might help perk him up. I cant wait until tonight when its dark and the tree just lights up his room!

Car Garage

After spending the day celebrating Granny's (wannie's) birthday in San Antonio, we brought home the new "car garage" that Daddad had built for Garrett. The child who had been asleep since we started home was now wide awake and began the hunt for every car and truck he owns to put them in the garage. It took a while, as each vehicle apparently had to go in a specific place, but eventually they were all as he wanted them. (just as an aside, I doubt we even had half of his cars put away, and they were on all sides. It will have to be an ongoing thing.)

Jack-o-Lanterns

We carved our pumpkins tonight. Only two of them though. The little ones are being saved to use throughout the season (and then to be shot gun targets after Thanksgiving).

Garrett participated much more than he has in the past. Daddy even let him help cut out the pieces.

Pumpkin Patch... Round 2

On Sunday Garrett had to take his new cousin to see the pumpkin patch. I think this is about as close to Tyler as he has ever been.

Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Garrett went on his second field trip. This time they got to ride the yellow school bus all the way to Medina to the Pumpkin Patch. I was so excited to take a day off and spend it just being mommy.

Getting his whole class together was like herding chickens. We never could get everyone looking the same direction.

Here is Garrett and his friend Caleb trying on hats while making scarecrows.

Automatic Pony Feeder

Well, its 7:30pm and since Bill fixed the deer feeder at about 4pm, Shasta has not left it. She is very impressed with her new automatic corn feeder. I really dont think we are going to get many deer at that pasture. Lately I have seen most of our deer down by the water trough in the catch. I guess that they drink there at night and nest into the thick trees. I have seen about 6 decent bucks. I wonder if any of them are the little twins that used to hide infront of the house.

Garrett's First Field Trip

Thursday, October 9th

Garrett went on his very first field trip with his classmates. He was so excited he finally got to ride in a yellow school bus.

The field trip was to the pet store. He really loved the fish and the birds. However he did not want to pet the soft white bunny rabbit, but he did pet the Iguana and the ferrett.... Go Figure .... Stay tuned his next field trip is to the Pumpkin Patch in a couple of weeks it should be lots of fun.

A walk with Shasta

We have been trying to be more active. I am hoping that if we eat early and do something like go for a walk that I will start feeling better. So tonight we decided to take Shasta with us. Garrett has ridden her on a few occassions, but this is the first time he went all the way down the road. Shasta wasnt particularly thrilled, but I think she was happy with the big hug she got when we came back to the house.

Fall Day of Fishing

The weather has been so beautiful lately. I think I spend a lot of time just trying to come up with reasons for us to go outside. Garrett has become obsessed with fishing. Of course, he seems to think that you go fishing at HEB, but we are working on that. (wonder what his Daddy has been telling him!)

So on Satuday we went to the Guadalupe with Granny & Daddad and Candy, Travis, & Tyler. It was Tyler first fishing trip, but I honestly dont think he was very into the fishing. Garrett on the other hand seemed to really love it. For a 3 yr old he shows a lot of patience. We were only catching little perch, but they do put up a good fight. Daddad seemed to have a knack for hitting just the right hole to catch them. So Garrett had lots of chances to reel one in. By the end of the day he was wanting to touch the fish as we caught them. He even waved goodbye to them as they swam away (to grow up into bigger fish for next time.) We need to have more days like this.

Birthday Boy

I havent been doing a great job at keeping up with this. But here is an update from Garrett's birthday party.

We had big plans tothrow the usual party and bbq at our house, but with everything going on, I just didnt see how I could get it together. So the back up plan was to spend the weekend at the Hill Country Hyatt. Doing nothing more than floating around in the pool and ordering pizza. But thank to Hurricane Ike, that too wash squashed. (of course hindsite, we should have just gone, its not like it rained or something!)

So we ended up going to Chuck E. Cheese. I forget what a nightmare that place is, but Garrett loved it. We then took him to Toys R Us and he got a basketball hoop for outside and a parking garage for his cars.

I may be biased but....

Come on, how many 2 year olds know this many letters??? Yeah, he doesnt say them right, but he does know them!

Rainy Day Cookies

Today Garrett and I stayed home. It was a perfect rainy day for making cookies. Garret enjoyed it more than I thought he would. He helped me to measure ingredients and put them in the kitchen aid. Then he helped me put the dough on the pans. Figures, I didnt even think about taking pictures until we were almost done!

A family visit

Today Missie, Jimmy, & Cody came out to load the cows. We are moving the cows out to Uncle Warrens place where there is still some grass. The girls were not very excited about being loaded into a trailer, but eventually they gave in. (the alphalfa and cattle cubes helped!)

Once the cows were loaded, our two little cowboys decided to do some riding. Zelpha had bought them matching outfits and it seemed like a perfect time to get some pictures. The boys had a good time riding, and probably even more fun playing on the rock pile while we loaded cows.

A perfect day spent outside!

Cat Naps

Garrett is back to taking naps! We finally got a picture of him sleeping with his kitties! Its funny how tolerant the cats are with such a wild boy. He loves his furry friends.

Bathroom Renovations

I had a great idea at the begining of our Christmas break to redo our bathroom. After much research, at least a good hour in Home Depot, we decided to Venetian Plaster our walls. Our decision was influenced greatly by our poor taping & floating job. Needless to say the whole process took about 3 weeks. We still do not have towel racks and we havent gotten all of the plaster and dry wall off of the floor, floor boards, doors, windows,..............

Happy New Year

One of my big ideas for the new year was to start a blog so that we could share what is going on with all of you. So... as I have a few moments I will start writing in more details.