My New Nickname

We had a wonderful time with my parents in town over the past few days. Stories and pictures to come.

In her short little life, Callie has called me mama, mommy, and mommay. Now I'm mommom. Lately she keeps asking me, "whatcha doin mommom?" It's sooo cute!

Maddie's New Trick

And the result of her new trick...

She made a mess while eating. After putting a spoonful of food into her mouth, she would stick out her tongue and start blowing, spraying food everywhere.

Our Favorite New Game

Callie feeds Madison pieces of Cheerios while Mommy cooks dinner. Everyone's happy. Best. Idea. Ever. (I just hope it wasn't a one-time deal.)

This is Why I'm Glad We Live on the 1st Floor

We went upstairs to play with our neighbor friends. Anytime we go up those scary apartment stairs, Callie insists on doing it by herself. It takes a LONG time for her to go up and down all of those stairs, and I'm always scared she'll fall, but she does a good job!

Cousins!

 Callie holding the letters/pictures she received in the mail from her cousins in Utah. We miss you Owen and Sadie! 

This week we got to spend some time with Callie's cousins in Wylie. The girls had lots of fun jumping on the trampoline, playing with the dog and in the dog's kennel (kind of gross, but when you've got 4 kids under the age of 3 to watch, most forms of entertainment become acceptable), and playing with baby dolls.

Callie and Hailey

Katelund

Makayla

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

Not. I've laughed when I've heard that song this week. I started listening to Christmas music a couple days ago because I figure it's about time, but as I listened, memories of driving to my in-law's in the snow came to my head, and it just didn't feel like Christmas to me.

A few minutes ago, I left the apartment to get the mail. It was 81 degrees with a warm breeze. I wore short sleeves, shorts, and flip flops. Some of the trees have leaves changing colors, while others are still green.

Even though I spent most of my Christmases here in Texas, this feels weird to me. Don't get me wrong, I am thoroughly enjoying the amazing weather--it just doesn't feel like Christmas.

Black Friday--No Pun Intended

A few years ago, Jason and I experienced Black Friday for the first time. We stood in long lines in the middle of the night in freezing cold weather and braved the mass of people crazily hunting down their prizes. We learned our lesson. Now we just go if there is a really good deal on something we really want, and even then we don't normally go when the store first opens. We go once the madness has died down. It's usually just Jason who goes since we have kids now.

We weren't planning on doing Black Friday shopping last night (especially since lots of stores opened at 8:00--that disgusts me). We looked at the ads yesterday just to see if there was anything good and we did find something exciting--a bike for Callie, but we were worn out once we got home last night. I went to bed around 10:30, but Jason wasn't tired yet, so he stayed up. Some time later, he came into our room and told me he was going to go get that bike. He was successful and even got a couple of other things. Callie will be sooooooooooooo excited.

This morning, we joined my Aunt Nancy, Uncle Mike, and my cousin, Alyssa (from my dad's side of the family--the Black side of the family--hence the title of my post) in their yearly tradition of going to a Christmas tree farm. They've been going for about 23 years now! My family joined them a couple of times, but I don't remember. I've just seen pictures of myself, all bundled up in a big coat and gloves, with my cousins, in front of uncut trees.

The farm was over an hour north of Dallas out in the middle of no where. It was a beautiful drive and it was so nice to get out of the city. They had a hay ride and a really fun play ground with swings, slides, a maze, Christmas decorations, and picture-taking spots. They even had a little train ride for the kids (water barrel seats, pulled by a tractor). We had such a great time! Callie loved touching all of the trees and her favorite things at the playground were the play car with a Christmas tree strapped to the top and the airplane swing.

Both of our girls loved Alyssa!

 

Uncle Mike, Aunt Nancy, and Alyssa holding the tree she cut for an elderly lady from church.