Santa at the Mall

We took a trip to the mall to see Santa last week. As predicted, Gracie was not too happy with the stranger I handed her to. She didn't screech or howl, so we managed to get some pictures with just a bit of a cry, and only a small look of terror on her face - lol. Fisher was rather quiet sitting on the big guy's lap. He wouldn't even tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas - he would just repeat what Santa said. So, he will now say he wants tractors, trucks, and cars for Christmas since Santa asked him if he wanted tractors, trucks or cars. In the picture that we bought, Fisher does have a little smile on his face, but Gracie still has that finger on her face. The lady that took the picture said it looks like she's saying "Hmmm - what do I want Santa to bring me??" - haha.

Look who's playing at the play area in the mall like a big kid! She thought she was a hot shot too. She even made a little boyfriend while she was there. You can see him looking at her in this picture - then he chased her through the tunnel. Too cute!

Look who's walking!

Gracie is officially a toddler. And boy does she toddle! She's still a little unsteady, but I guess the diapers pad her falls! Her favorite activity lately is climbing - onto the couch, onto the chairs, onto Fisher's bed - you get the picture. She's just turning into a big girl!

Random photos

Combing my brother's hair!

Digging out the Christmas decorations. That top tooth of her's cracks me up.

Silly boy

Here are some pics I thought were funny of Fisher. He was showing off the gum he had. He scratched his eyeball last week and had to have antibiotic drops 4 times a day. The gum was his reward after the drops, and he was proud of his gum!

This one shows him being a sweet boy that loves his "duck manky".

Disney Carousel

This is the carousel that Clint got for me many, many Christmases ago. Fisher got a kick out of it, and turns it on for us every day. Luckily, Gracie can't quite reach it yet!

Gracie's poncho and hat from Lolo

Here are some pics of Gracie wearing the poncho and hat that Lolo made her. It is too cute and got a lot of compliments when we went to the store the other day. The pics are some that I took a couple of weeks ago, but after a few minutes they were both going in opposite directions, so I didn't get many good shots!

Kaley and Nick

Here are some pics I took of Kaley and her new husband Nick. They came in from Hawaii for a couple of weeks to visit with us and his family (they're in Colorado). His parents are throwing them a reception next week, so she asked if I would take some pictures and make an invitation for them (I blurred out their last name and other info before posting online). He is a very nice guy and we were glad we got to meet him before his deployment (he's going to Iraq for 12-18 months).

I would like to thank Stacey Stahl for the beautiful digital kit that I used for the invitation. She is as generous as she is talented! Thanks Stacey!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Photo Shoot

This was the first year that Fisher got to choose his Halloween costume. I was looking forward to taking him to the store and seeing what he would pick - a pirate, dinosaur, maybe a puppy? Nope - not my little country boy. He wanted to be a tractor. Every time I asked him or made suggestions to something else - "No - tractor. Blue tractor." I finally gave in and looked online for some ideas. I found a site for homemade costumes where other people had posted pics of their tractor costumes and got some ideas. Then I got busy with the cardboard boxes and spray paint! I did convince him that he wanted a green tractor instead of a blue one so I could make him his accessories out of John Deere fabric. I found Gracie's little lamb costume online. I think it is just too cute, and although she didn't like it when I put it on her, she didn't try to take it off the whole time. I think she knew how cute she looked in it - lol. Thanks to Mom and Tracy for helping me keep both kids in one place long enough to take the photos!

She looks like a little bottle-fed lamb!

Potato Head Pumpkins

We did these cute "Potato Head" pumpkins since the kids are still too young for pumpkin carving. It looked like you could just poke in the pieces, but pumpkin rind is tough! We had to poke holes first with a meat thermometer. Of course I got the predicted "I do it" from Fisher when it came time to poke the holes. He was satisfied helping Mommy poke the holes and putting in the pieces, while Gracie had fun playing with the loose pieces!

Fulton Pumpkin Patch

Tracy, Mom and I took the kids to the pumpkin patch in Fulton over the weekend. The weather was perfect for a
day outdoors. The farm was really beautiful and they had a lot of fun things for the kids to do. They played in
the kiddie hay maze, played in the corn crib, cranked the corn shucker thingy (I'm sure that's the technical name!), walked the cotton maze (we didn't attempt the 20 minute corn maze with two tired kiddos), and picked out pumpkins. There were also horse and donkey cart rides through the sunflower patch and around the rest of the farm, but Fisher didn't want to get up
into the cart. The kids were so worn out at the end of the day that they were both asleep before we drove the 4 miles back to the interstate. We had a great day and will definitely have to make it an annual visit!