O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree!

As per tradition, we got the ole' Christmas tree out the day after Thanksgiving! Mom and Brooke came over to visit Friday evening, so we thought it would be the perfect time. Brent helped me drag the box out of the storage room and into the living room.

While Brent was putting the tree together, Brooke and Brody played with the some of the decorations, then they discovered what great fun a big empty box could be!!

Brody enjoying his ride, along with his ball and glove...

How do you like the shorts, khaki socks, and dress shoes look???!!!

Decorating the tree!!

Brody kept saying, "Preeeeetty Lights, Preeeeetty Lights!!!" I know Christmas is going to be sooo much fun this year. I have been reading stories and telling Brody about baby Jesus in the Manger, and he loves to look at the Nativity Scene I have set up in our foyer.

One more thing - I have started letting Brody take part in his prayer time at night. Before I put him in bed, we sit in the rocker and sing a few songs, read a book, etc. Then, we say our prayers. I say, "Dear Lord, we want to thank you so much for..." And Brody will say, "Brooke!" And then I say, "And we want to thank you for.." And he says "Noni!" We continue to do this until he has gone through the whole list of family. And I always make sure we thank Him for Jesus. It is so sweet to hear him (sort-of) praying at one year old!!

Turkey Day 08

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family. I know we sure did! We had lunch with Brent's family at his parent's house, and then we hosted my family's Thanksgiving dinner at my house that evening. We were so busy, I didn't think to pull out the camera until after most everyone had already left, so I don't have much to share.

Me and Ryan - I can never really see a resemblance until I see a picture of us together, then it always surprises me how much we really do look alike!

My little man, for whom I am SOOO thankful! I thank God for every day that he gives us with him, and I pray that I always remember to do so.

Can't you tell how much Brent loves having his picture taken??

Pictures of Branson

We made it home from Branson on Monday evening, and we had a really great time. It sooo cold, but we bundled up good and braved the blustery conditions. I just love Branson all decorated for Christmas.

On our way up, we stopped to have lunch at Cracker Barrell in Conway. Brody always has so much fun in the toy section of the store.

Once we got into Branson, we got a quick bite to eat at Ruby Tuesday, then headed to our condo.
A little monkey fell asleep in our bed not long after we got there....

Then I moved him to his makeshift bed on the floor beside our bed...

The next morning he woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed!!

We did alot of shopping at the outlet malls that day and played indoor putput that evening.

This is what happens when I try to get Brent to take a picture of me and Brody...my head gets chopped off...

The next day Brody made his first visit to Silver Dollar City!!! It was sooo frigid out, we had Brody in about 5 layers.

On the train at SDC....

Brent had one of the craftsmen there to make Brody a bat with his name on it. It was a hit of course!!!

While shopping at The Landing, Brody had his first Build-A-Bear experiance. It was too much fun. I think I enjoyed it more than he did. Here he is kissing the little heart than they put in the bear (monkey, in our case) before stitching it up.

Giving his monkey a bath!

And the final result. We would like everyone to meet Albert, Brody's new monkey - all decked out in a STL Cardinals jacket!

Daddy's boy

I just love to walk in and see Brent and Brody curled up on the couch watching a movie or reading a book together. Always makes my heart melt. Here are my boys...I am a pretty lucky girl...

Looking for deer in our backyard. We have a pretty regular group of them that come at least once a day. Brody loves to watch them. Sometimes he will just stand at the back window and call them..."Deee-uh!!" (Deer)

In his seat at Amie and Eli's waiting for his supper:

A few weeks late...

Okay, I obviously did something screwy when I was uploading these picures, because they are all out of order, but I will just try to explain them as we go.

This picture is from Brody's spaghetti supper at his preschool a few weeks ago. He wasn't really feelin' the photo-op, so this is the best we got. But it's great of my mom and Brooke!

Brody playing in Amie's boots. He thought this was soooo much fun...Brent did not...

Okay, so now that Halloween is 2 weeks past, I am finally going to blog about it! Oh well, better late than never. Here is Brooke and her puppy Fancy. Brooke won the costume contest at our church. She was a precious little witch!

And here we are trick-or-treating that night. Brody LOVED it! He would run up to the doors and say, "Tri-Treat"! But as soon as they opened the door, he tried to lightening bolt right past them and run throught their house. I had to keep a tight hold on him.

You can see him trying to run in here:

And his party at school:

They had the cutest little cookies with their names on them -

And here is a picture of Brody's chicken costume. He was originally Elvis, but he wouldn't wear the wig (which was the cutest part of the costume), and the suit itself wasn't very thick or warm. So, we got Brooke's chicken costume out from her 2nd Halloween and let him wear that - which he LOVED! So, if anyone ever needs a size 2T Elvis costume, let me know!!

We are leaving Thursday for Branson, so I should have a whole book of fun pictures to share when we return!

EUREKA!!!!

Brent and I took a much-needed weekend getaway this past weekend. We went to Eureka Springs for a few days, and left Brody here with the family. I thought about him the entire time we were gone, but I must admit that it was nice get to be "me" for a few days, and not just "mom".

The weekend started off great, with a pretty neat surprise waiting for us in our hotel room. One of our wedding pictures was the cover of the 2008 Eureka Springs Wedding Guide! How crazy is that?? We had no idea. Not long after my wedding, my photographer called to ask if she could have my permission to use a pic for an ad or something if she ever decided to. I, of course, said yes, thinking that she probably did this with most of her clients, just in case. I never really thought anything else about it. Well, surprise!! It was pretty crazy walking around all the little shops and places around town and seeing our faces on the shelves. Weird. Anyway, I found the guide online - click HERE and you should be able to see it. Pretty cool anniversary gift, huh?!




Anyway, we stayed at the New Orleans downtown. It was fun to be right there in the middle of the historic district. Definately somewhere we will stay again! The lobby still had that oldtown charm, but the suites had all been renovated into a more modern feel. Still "old fashion" with the huge furniture and wide crown molding, but all brand new. It was great.

The best way to describe the weekend was relaxing. We did alot of good eating. (You can tell that he just loves having his picture taken.)

We also went to the Crescent Hotel, where we had our wedding reception a few years ago. I just love this place. It brought back all the memories of that day just being there.

This is the Gardens of the Crescent, where we took alot of our wedding pictures.

Us on the balcony of the Conservatory, the room where our reception was held.

And, of course, we had to visit Thorncrown Chapel. Brent reluctantly let me ask a nice lady to snap a picture of us in front of the chapel. He hates asking people to take a picture. I don't know why it bothers him so much. (Sorry about the old guy in the background - not sure who he is.)

On Saturday evening, I walked down the street to the Basin Park Hotel and had a niiiice massage. I swear I could have that done once a week and never get tired of it.

The Basin Park Hotel:

We were hoping that the Fall Foliage would be at it's peak, but we were a few day early I think. It was still nice, but nothing like I have seen it before. This was about as good as it got.

It was a nice little trip. We were going to get up Sunday and go to the church service at Thorncrown Chapel, but we just packed up, ate breakfast, and headed home instead. I think we were both ready to see a certain little boy.