Risky Business

This weekend was filled with all sorts of Christmas activities.  However, Saturday morning Dalton provided a photo op that I just couldn’t pass up.  I told him that I put his clothes out the night before on his top bunk and asked him to go get dressed.  He, of course, strips down to his undies and only brings his shirt back into our room to put on.  It just happened to be a white button up shirt to wear for Christmas pictures.  When he put it on, I couldn’t help thinking about the Tom Cruise movie scene from Risky Business (I think?).  I went and got his socks and told him to say cheese.  This is what happened. 

My little girl is growing up

Addie is getting so big.  In just seven short months she has changed so much.  Already sitting up, rolling over, crawling and now she sings along with the Christmas music in her car seat.  She had her first “solid” finger foods this week.  At first, she wasn’t too sure about the puffs (cheerio type snacks that disolve in her mouth), but she now loves the independence she has in feeding herself.  She has such a cute personality that is really starting to shine.  She loves to laugh at her big brother and is very curious about all he does.  Here area  few pictures of her enjoying her new snacks and the two of them watching Barney together.

 

“Got it.  Now what do I do with it?”

“Hmmm, I’m not so sure about these Mom.”

“My big brother thinks I’m watching Barney with him.  What he doesn’t realize is that I’m playing with his toy airplane while he is distracted.  He he he!”

“I’ve lost interest in the airplane.  Now on to bigger and better things…..”

“…like Christmas presents!”

Playing Together

Today is the one week anniversary of Addie’s crawling.  Dalton loves that she can now play with him.  He is so protective in that he inspects every toy before letting her play with it.  He looks for toys that are soft, big and free of sharp edges and corners.  When asked to go get her a “safe” toy, it’s always sweet to see what toy he will return with to give her.  Shamu is currently his favorite toy to sleep with and without even asking, he has brought it to share with her on several occasions.  Addie couldn’t have asked for a better big brother.

 

Christmas Festivities

This past weekend was filled with the first of many festivities to come this holiday season.  We started the weekend out by having Breakfast with Santa on Saturday morning.  It was a fun time of fellowship with other families at our church and the kids had a blast.  Dalton was a little unsure of Santa for the first five seconds or so, but quickly overcame his uneasiness and climbed onto his lap.  We had asked Dalton several times the night before and morning of what he planned to tell Santa he wanted for Christmas.  Each time he responded with a Sit and Spin.  (Yes, we realize he is probably a little too big for this toy.  He played with one at a friend’s house a few weeks ago and has been stuck on wanting one ever since.)  When he climbed onto Santa’s lap that morning and Santa asked Dalton what he would like Santa to bring him from the North Pole, he quickly responded with a hippopotamus.  He told Santa an elaborate story about how the hippo could live in our backyard and he could play with the cows that live in the pasture behind our house.  He included details about how the cows could jump over the fence and everything.  Needless to say, we were laughing uncontrollably at this point.  Addie, on the other hand, was content just playing with Santa’s beard.  Perhaps next year she will ask for a Polar Bear or something else just as comical.  Here are the pictures of Dalton telling Santa his detailed story of his Christmas Wish.

 

We also attended the annual Schertz Christmas Light Parade.  The joys of living in a small community outside of San Antonio are that they find any and every reason to hold a parade.  I think this is the third or fourth parade this year.  They bring out every fire truck, police car, ambulance, flat bed trailer and tractor the city has to offer, put a few steamers or lights on the side and have the locals wave from the back.  It’s great fun for the kids and gives families an opportunity to spend the evening together making memories.  After the parade, we walked over to the park where bouncers, games, a sledding hill and a train ride was set up for the kids to enjoy.  The weather was a bit chilly, so we had Dalton pick three activities.  He, of course, rode the train, played on the “snow” covered hill and went down an incredibly tall bouncy slide.  He was disappointed to leave so soon, but when you see the picture of our tired little girl, you’ll understand.

Horse drawn carriage and the llamas.

Riding on the train.

Playing in the snow and our sleepy girl.

And he never even thought twice about sliding down.

The Season is Upon Us

Well, it’s official.  At least in our household.  The Christmas Season is here!  Yay!  The tree is up, Dalton and I made our first Gingerbread house together and Christmas music can be heard anytime we get in the car now.  I absolutely love this time of year. 

This year we are hoping to continue several family traditions in hopes that the true meaning of Christmas can shine through.   This Saturday, we are looking forward to taking Dalton and Addie to our church to have “Breakfast with Santa” and selecting an ornament off the Angel Tree.  We did this last year, but didn’t feel Dalton really understood why we were buying gifts for other children.  This year I’m hoping that he is able to understand how fortunate we are and that getting to help others is a very special thing.  We are also looking forward to being in San Angelo over the holidays and taking the kids to Blake’s childhood church for the Candlelight Christmas Eve service.  Last year we attended the service at our church in San Antonio.  Dalton loved the candles of course.  However, it was a challenge keeping him entertained through the rest of the service.  Hopefully this year, the story told with captivate his interest and heart.

 

Here are a few pictures of our future engineer constructing one of many masterpieces to come.

 

The walls go up.

Decorating the roof.

It’s all finished and now I can eat the leftovers.

Taking a break from building to play with my baby sister.

Look Who is Crawling

Just a little over a month ago, we were so excited because Addison had learned to sit up all by herself (and just in time for Halloween pictures).  She quickly turned that into getting onto all fours and rocking back and forth.  About a week ago, she accomplished crawling backwards.  And now (drum roll please)…. She’s CRAWLING. And although we are very excited, part of me does wish she would have waited until the Christmas tree came down for the season.  Instead she started crawling the day after it was put up.  Blake insists that it must have been her motivation (and the train chugging along around the bottom).  Gone are the days of leaving her happily playing with her toys on the living room floor as a I run up and down the stairs doing laundry and the like.  Blake and I were both very excited to see her crawling across the floor this evening, but I don’t think our excitement even compares to her big brother’s.  He is so proud of his baby sister.  Here are a few pictures of her newly learned skill.  We tried our best to get a few action shots, but she is faster than our camera.

Happy Thanksgiving

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!  We traveled home to San Angelo for the holidays to spend time with our families.  Being both from the same hometown gives us the privilege of getting to see everyone, and the opportunity to eat turkey at four different family get-togethers!  We ate so much turkey that I don’t think any of us can stand to see another one for at least at year. 

Daddy and Dalton enjoying the first Thanksgiving dinner.

Dalton and his cousin playing dominoes.

Addison is showing off her semi-crawling skills.

   Dalton has been raiding Grandma’s jewelry drawer. 

Trophy Hunter in Training

The next generation of Lacy trophy hunters has formally entered training with his first hunting trip.  While no shots were fired in this initial round, the will was there and we managed to stay quiet enough to see several deer, including a nice 8-point. 

 

 

 

Grandpa Lance took Dalton out again a couple of nights later.  Although nothing was killed, Dalton made up a great story about Grandpa shooting a doe; complete with the most minute details of how they put it in the truck and the dog was scared of it. 

Dalton has not stopped talking about his hunting trips since we came home.  Hopefully within a few years and a little more training Dalton will turn into a prize trophy hunter.