Christmas Wheels

On Christmas Eve, we made cookies for Santa and left pretzels for the reindeer. Luckily, I convinced Barrett that pretzels would be more suitable for deer, rather than chicken or animal crackers!

Do you remember the little song, "The wheels on the bus go 'round and round, round and round..."? Well, that seems to be the reoccurring theme song around our house lately! Just change the word bus, to car, four-wheeler, bicycle, and/or tricycle!

Santa Claus and our family was very good to us this year!

North Park Mall Adventure

We met up with some friends at North Park Mall today (our BFF Wyatt)! Our reason for going was to see the huge, electric train display. Wow...what a sight. The boys loved it!!!! Barrett couldn't get enough. He kept saying, "Yook, it's Thomas the Train" and "Yook, it's Polar Express".

On our way out, we became intrigued by an older gentleman playing his guitar. He was taking requests. Since he had just finished singing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, we didn't want to ask him to play that again. Instead, Barrett immediately ran over and asked for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

The next thing I know, Barrett steps up onto the stage and begins singing along with the guy. It melted my heart. I felt like a mom at their child's first school program or something! Adorable. He wasn't scared, stood proud and tall, and sang the entire song all by himself. He even said thank you to the man when he was finished.

People around clapped for Barrett and he just stood there smiling! P R E C I O U S!!!!!
I could barely take pictures because I was tearing up!

Christmas Break @ 85 degrees

Texas weather! Enough said. Today's high was 85 degrees! Crazy, but I thoroughly enjoyed the day outside with Barrett. We took a visit to the park and played for over an hour, then took a 2 mile jog (B in the jogger stroller) this afternoon!!!!



I saw first hand how tender hearted my little guy can be today. He's such a free spirit and always smiling, but when we first got to the park, he ran into some girls that weren't very nice to him. Barrett found a pile of "unattended" acorns and began picking at them, when suddenly, two girls ran up to him and started grabbing them out of his hands. They pretty much pushed him aside and told him that he wasn't allowed to play with "their" acorns.

My little guy took a huge deep breath and made this face. It was so sad. I could tell his feelings were hurt.

I really wanted to pull the "mommy card" and give those two a piece of my mind...but instead, I redirected Barrett to the rest of the playground equipment.
Shortly after the episode of the Mean Girls, a couple of other sweet girls approached Barrett and started playing with him. I believe that had been witnesses to the drama (or probably even victims). I think Barrett thought they were his cousins. He took right up with them and they played for over an hour!!!! I'm thankful for good natured little children (like those two sisters) that recognize when other kids feel lonely, out of place, or get their feelings hurt. They were a blessing today.

Santa Message

Santa message for Barrett!!!!

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/guest/Jao9Py08MJOiG0WpinqelQ
(thanks Taren for sharing the idea)

Here is his reaction after viewing the message...

Kick off to Christmas Break

Our kick off to Christmas break began with Matt having his knee surgery...followed by our KK, (Matt's mother) coming to stay with us and help out while I was at school.

KK was such a big help. She not only cleaned my house, but made delicious meals each night for our family and played with Barrett non-stop! I know she was probably tired leaving here, but we sure did/do appreciate her!!!

Matt's making incredible progress. He's mentioned several times that he is ready to ditch the crutches and he's ready to ride his bike! I'm thinking we'll be able to get rid of the crutches soon...but the riding of his mountain bike and playing basketball is going to have to wait (close to 4-6 months). Yikes!!

-Matt won't be pleased that I posted this picture of him...but it was too funny to pass up. Pre-op surgery was a chance to bust out my camera, even though Matt wasn't happy about it. Here he is giving his signature to operate on the left knee. Shortly afterwards...he went "night night".

24 hours later - Not too bad. Lots of swelling, but the initial incisions look great!


Monday, Matt was back at work and Barrett and I had the pleasure of seeing our friends Megan and Hayden. I don't know why we wait so long between our visits, but I'm going to make an attempt to see them more often!!!

We exchanged gifts, and look what we got!

Barrett played all evening with his power drill. I showed him how the surgeons performed surgery on Daddy's "hurt leg". Soon after...Barrett was ready to drill away on Matt's other knee! Awesome! Maybe there will be a doctor in the family!

Of course we couldn't resist the mall. Megan and I did a little shopping, let the boys play on the playground, and dined at Gloria's for lunch! Fabulous day!

Boys will be boys! No shopping for these too. All they wanted was O U T. To the playground we go!!!!!!!!!

My New Year's resolution...to take more time to visit my good friends!!!!

Thanksgiving, Elf on the Shelf, and Airplane Ride

Wow...where have I been? Time to play a little catchup on the blog post.

Thanksgiving

We all had a great time seeing family. Our journey started as we traveled to Throckmorton, then to Graham, and back to Wylie. Barrett enjoyed seeing his grandparents, great-grandparents, and playing with this cousins.

Here is a picture of Barrett helping his Meme Barrett in the kitchen. He was suppose to be stirring the whipping cream, but decided to take a sample lick to make sure it tasted okay.

Elf on the Shelf

Oh my! If you have a little one, you've got to get Elf on the Shelf. I bought the book/elf last year, but decided to hold off on reading it to Barrett until this year because I thought he might understand it a little better.

He does!!!! It's been great for bribery! haha Really, I don't know what I'm going to do after Christmas to keep him from being naughty!!!!

We named our elf, Elfvis, and Elfvis has been keeping an eye on Barrett morning, noon, and night. Barrett knows he is going to report everything to Santa, and if he has good reports (like eating his vegetables, picking up his toys, apologizing if he hurts someones feelings, and making good choices) then Santa will deliver the toys that Barrett wants.

Can you guess what he wants???? I'll bet you can!

This is Barrett agreeing to be "good" for Santa. Can you read his lips?

Mommy: "Barrett, are you going to do your best to be good so that Elfvis can report back to Santa and Santa will bring you new toys?"

Barrett: "Yes!"

Airplane Ride

Barrett experienced some more 1sts for this weekend. One being his very first airplane ride. Although it was due to an unfortunate reason to fly, I still wanted to Barrett's experience to be the best. We talked over the days leading up to our flight (mainly because I was afraid he might be scared).

Boy was I wrong. This child L O V E S flying. He had everyone around us laughing. The more turbulence we had, the harder Barrett laughed. He was cackle, and then say, "This is soooo fun," or "Weeeeeee", or "Whoa, it's really, really, bumpy"!

The landing of our first flight was the best! Barrett (in the midst of laughing) said, "We landed! We're on the floor now!!!".

I'm glad he liked it. As much as he is into planes, he might decide to become a pilot.

I would love that! Mommy flies for free all around the country!

Between connecting flights (Charlotte, NC and Hilton Head Island, SC...we ran into Santa Claus at the airport. Barrett was able to talk to Santa, tell him what he wanted for Christmas, and touch Santa's beard.

Not really wanting to sit on the ole man's lap though! hahaha

And finally...this is the reason my dress and clothes during the trip were wrinkled! ha Barrett thought the idea of hiding out in our suitcase was fun!!! Throwing our clothes out of the suitcase and over his shoulder... was also seemed to be entertaining!

Did someone say, "Free" and "Christmas" in the same sentence?

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