Dear Daddy

A note to daddy about how we celebrated his birthday without him.


Daddy I woke up so happy and talkative this morning. I wanted to wish you happy birthday, but since I don't know any words yet, I wore this shirt which pretty well sums it up. (I had a diaper explosion all over it later in the day. But that's another story.)

Mommy bundled me up all nice and warm so we could go someplace special. Everything looked so yummy, but she didn't even let me have a taste!

I ate a cupcake for you, daddy. It was really yummy! (Especially the frosting!)

After the cupcake we went and played with Emily and Camden for a while. Then when we came home mommy watched basketball (she was happy cause her Tarheels won.) And then some guys came over with big hoses and cleaned the carpet. I got to help. I was very wet when they left.

We went some place with a lot of Christmas trees and way too many people. But everyone thought I was adorable!

Mom was being kind of mean and wouldn't let me crawl under the rope and play with the Christmas trees. I just wanted a cowboy hat and stick horse to take home! But I mostly hung out with Nana and grandma.

Mommy's tree looked very pretty and it already had been sold!

I got to meet Santa Claus for the first time. He was very, very interesting.

I liked Santa better than last year, but I wasn't too sure at first. Finally grandma made me smile.

And that's how we celebrated your birthday. Maybe next year you can be here with us!

Love,

Gideon and Parker

not going to believe who we ran into at the truck stop near work

Chubby Cheeks, Gid the Kid and Something I'm Not Talented Enough to Do!

Wow nearly two weeks since my last post! Where did the time go? Can you believe Princess P is already 8 weeks old? She's really starting to fill out, especially in her cute chubby cheeks. I'm excited for her two month check up this week to find out how much she's grown.

Gideon still adores her and actually since she's awake more and more these days has begun taking it upon himself to entertain her. It's very cute.

The other thing he's suddenly interested in is cowboys, horses & trailers. I think it must be the Woody influence from too much Toy Story but he always wants to wear a cowboy hat and go for horse rides. And he shouts a very cute "YeeHaw!" I'll have to try and get video of it.

Earlier this week I got a call from my dear friend Sara asking if I'd like to help her decorate a tree for the annual Festival of Trees. I've never done this before and I love all things Christmas so I didn't even have to think twice. Plus Sara is one of my favorite people in the world, so getting to hang out with her for a couple of hours without kids was a huge bonus.

So I already knew she was talented, but Sara just blew me away with what she was able to do. I just didn't get that kind of creativity. I can't look at all of the random parts and pieces she brought and visualize what the finished tree is supposed to look like. Still I was excited watching it come together. I was the official photographer and other than that I just did whatever I was told. When she said, "Put these red branches like so..." that's what I did and so forth. For the record, there is a photo of Sara and I standing by the finished product, but it was taken by her husband, Sam, so I don't have a copy of it yet.

I wasn't sure what she was doing with the star at first. But I'm glad I kept my mouth shut because eventually it looked great.

This is the almost finished product. I'm taking my mom and mother-in-law to the Festival on Thursday, so I'll try and get some more pictures of it when the display is all put together and everything. I think it turned out lovely.

I snapped a few pictures of other trees I thought were fun or interesting. I'll get more on Thursday when they're all done. The thing I love about this festival is that you see a little bit of everything. Victorian, Elegant, Funky, Patriotic, Classical, Children's, Characters, Whimsical, Homemade, and even one that was decorated with the cases of Christmas DVD's and bags of popcorn and candy. It's incredible.

This doesn't seem very Christmas-y to me, but I absolutely love it!

This green and white might just have been my very favorite. I don't know why. It wasn't the most elegant, or beautiful or striking. But something about the white tree with the bright green & hints of red just really speaks to me. It's simple and understated yet it grabs your attention too. I can't wait to see it lit up!

And this one I had to take pictures of for future reference. I think I want to decorate Parker's room like this with fairies and butterflies. It's just darling.

Anyway I'll let you know how it goes on Thursday and be sure to take more pictures. And I promise I'll update after Parker's Dr. Appt. as well.

The end of our Halloweekend

So our Hallo-week was successful. Carnival at church, Boo at the Zoo one night, trick or treating the next. Needless to say we've been on a sugar high for days and days around here. The best part about the weekend was that Travis got to come home and enjoy it with us. It's actually the first Halloween he's ever spent with his kids. He's been gone for the last two so he's never taken his own children trick or treating before. I think he had a good time.

It's the great pumpkin! Oh wait, it's just Parker looking festive even before her costume! (BTW the sad face is not because she hated her outfit. She was just hungry and I apparently wasn't moving fast enough to get her bottle ready.)

Yes, we're one of those crazy couples who dresses up along with our kids. And why wouldn't we? How many other opportunities do we get to be a viking warrior and an escaped convict?

I think my costume turned out pretty well. It was fun and unexpected so that's what I liked about it. I've already had someone call dibs on it for next year.

Pretty Parker Petunia. Her costume was very warm, which is good because it's cold here on Halloween.

We made several attempts to get a family picture. I'm not sure we succeeded, but this is as close as we got.

Okay I know our costumes didn't really correlate. I always admire families who do a theme or something with their costumes, but frankly I'm not that creative. Gideon is so Buzz obsessed there was no question that's what he would be, but since I didn't feel like doing Toy Story for the rest of our costumes we just went with whatever. Still, I think we look pretty cute.

My love of Halloween & dressing up comes naturally. My mom is known for having the best Halloween house in town. Some years we do elaborate treasure hunts, but even when she doesn't do that, she always decorates her front entryway in a certain theme and hands out candy that way. Really it's the only reason people would go so far out of their way to go trick-or-treating. Even teenagers have been known to bring their dates.

Okay it looked a lot cooler in person because it was all dark and spooky. I'm stil not sure what mom was, but some kind of mistress of darkness. Either way it was a hit with everyone who stopped by.

Someday I'll be the crazy old lady with the super fun Halloween house but for now, I'll just have to settle for dressing up with my kids to take them trick-or-treating.