Belated Christmas Post

For my own record keeping sake, and for the few of you who might still be reading, here is my post for the Christmas Holidays.

We went to Searcy the week before Christmas since that was when Nathan could get the most time off. It was a great trip. We saw all the grandparents and siblings in both families and had a great time visiting, eating and opening WAY too many presents (which is always a good thing). We also took the kids to have pictures with Santa (as you can see in the slide show, it did not go so well. I did not take enough pictures, but I got enough to document the occasion. It was a nice way to start the holidays.

We then spent Christmas here in Austin with just our little family. It was really nice. Nathan worked Christmas eve, but got off early and we had appetizers for dinner that night. After dinner we drove around the neighborhood and looked at lights. When we came home we played a few games on our new Wii (our present we bought with Christmas money). We let Griffin open a present, The Night Before Christmas book, which we read and drank hot chocolate. On Christmas morning we of course opened presents and stockings. We fixed a big breakfast and just played around with our new "toys" all day. Nathan made steaks for dinner. It was a nice day and a great time to spend with our boys making memories and traditions.\

Tucker's latest

Tucker is growing so fast and with that comes something new everyday. Here are some of the things he has started doing/saying recently:

He learned to say "waffel" (wa-foo) this morning- his favorite breakfast food.

"Bombs"- this is a game Nathan invented where he throws soft balls at Griffin and Tucker and yells "bombs!". Tucker has really gotten in on the act- he picks up a ball and yells "BA!" and throws it. Our boys are definitely all boy!

Today Tucker was walking around naked after his bath. I told him, "Tucker, go get a diaper". He walked over to where they are stacked, grabbed 2 and brought them to me grinning all the way. It did take him about 5 minutes to complete the task, but impressive nonetheless.

He now knows how to use a phone (hold it up to his ear and say "hey") and to point a remote at the TV

Main Street Bethlehem

This was our third year to go to Bethlehem and for us, it is a "can't miss" holiday tradition. This year we brought the Cherry's along and Griffin and his best bud John Paul has a great time. The weather was cold, but nice and we all enjoyed this reminder of what is most important.

A Cowboy Christmas in Gruene

This was our second year to go to Gruene, TX to celebrate their Christmas market days and the town lighting. If you are from Austin and have never been to Gruene, you are missing out. It is a neat little Texas town with lots of fun "crafty" shops, the oldest dance hall in Texas, and a large restaurant called the Gristmill that serves the best beef tenderloin sandwich you have ever eaten. It was made even better by traveling with our friends the Drennons. We did not think we would all fit in one car this year, but when they arrived at our house with a plan to squeeze us all in, we were thrilled. It was a tight fit, but worth it. We started the afternoon off with shopping- in addition to the usual shops they had a large outdoor market of vendors selling items for Christmas. We all found some good buys. Next we ate and then it was off to the town lighting where Cowboy Kringle made his appearance riding his horse into town, lighting the town, and passing out candy canes. He did not fool Griffin though, who was very concerned about where his sleigh and reindeer were and asked us at the end of the night, "Who was that man pretending to be Santa Claus?" All-in-all it is a great way to kick of the Christmas season. Here are some pictures, compliments of Megan (if you have seen her blog then you might skip these).

Happy Birthday Tucker

My baby is one! I can hardly believe it. The year has gone by so fast. I try to remember and compare Griffin and Tucker at this age, but I cant even remember what Griffin was doing and my "notes" are not that detailed (guess it is not just the second child excuse, but rather my own weakness when it comes to recording things) It is probably better- less comparing and more just enjoying him as he learns new things. We were in Arkansas for birthday and Christmas last week and here are a few pictures of him enjoying his cake- and he DID enjoy the cake! Other than the cake and a couple more presents, he didnt even realize he had a birthday, but I guess that is par for the course for a one-year-old birthday. More pictures of our trip to come in a future post. In my attempt to be a better record keeper for my family, here are some things that Tucker is up to at age one.

Tucker is like Griffin in many ways: he is all boy, he is active and brave-climbing anything he can get into and standing up with a proud "look at me face", and he is loud. He has his differences as well. I have said it before, but he is my snuggler. He lays his head down on me and will just lay there- so sweet. I know it wont last much longer, so I am enjoying every minute of it. While Griffin is my creative drama "king", Tucker already seems to have a more "engineer" type mind. He will sit and take things in and out of a box or bowl, stir a spoon in a cup, try and put blocks or puzzle pieces where they go. He is more -oriented and I can only imagine the struggles that will come when he can stand up for himself when Griffin messes up something he has "put together". Tucker is walking...sort-of. He can take several steps without falling and now tries to walk, until he falls, then resorts to crawling. It wont be long. He is becoming very vocal. He points and grunts/yells when he wants things and he tries and repeats what we say to him- he usually gets the first syllable right. On the way home from Arkansas, Tucker was getting fuzzy and so I handed him a graham cracker and both Nathan and I could have sworn he said "thank you" (dat oo). I said it to him several times and he repeated it. Since he has only done it one other time without me saying it first, but I am pretty sure that is what he is saying. He has not added many new words since 11 months, but he says them all more consistantly, especially "dada", "nana" (banana), "ma (more), "ba" (ball).

Tucker, you are such a joy to our family. You compliment your brother and us in so many ways and we cannot imagine our lives without you. We are so excited to watch you grow and learn and play. Most of all, we pray that you learn to love God and choose to follow him all of your life.

We love you buddy!

Love, Mommy, Daddy, and Griffin

Our Christmas Tree

has become our tradition to get our Christmas tree and decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving, since we are home and Nathan is off on Friday. We got a great tree and I love the way it makes our house smell at this time of year. We got a little fun with the extra lights this year and let Griffin decorate his room. We had a great family weekend.

On our walk today...

Tucker had taken his socks off twice and I put them back on, telling him "no, no". Griffin had a moment of profound thought and said, "When Tucker doos bad stuff I am still proud of him, but I am kind of sad." How true!