2 Year Old's Make Christmas FUN!

I'm trying to hurry and share my Christmas pics so I can finally be done with Christmas. I'll try to change the background soon. I know you're getting tired of looking at wreaths. Hee Hee!

Christmas started off at my house the week end before. I had my mom's side of the family over for food, fellowship, and the ever fun ornament swap. Every year there is a funny, ugly, and favorite ornament. I ended up getting the ugly one (plastic Hawaiian flower with a clip on it???) and Walker got a cool one, a John Deer hat and tractor. He thought he should wear the hat, not hang it on the tree. We do the "Dirty Santa" thing and Walker took the John Deer ornaments from Uncle Russell. It was funny.

My brother Blake and his girlfriend Beka.

Next... Christmas Eve night. We went over to Paw Paw and Granny's house for gift swapping. From there we went to G-daddy and Mi Mi's but I don't have pics from that one.



Finally... Christmas morning and afternoon...
Walker loved his Santa gifts. He gave him some gloves and a hat,harmonica (his favorite)...
other random things to be found lying around our house...
Christmas afternoon...
The fam- my dad and brother, Blake...

my mom... Uncle Blake and Walker...
Walker and Nana with the art desk she got him... He loves it! He draws me pictures all the time.
Granddaddy got him several toys. Here's one of them... the loud blower! HA! But doesn't he look sweet?
Here we go. Another pile of toys he received that day. Notice the Aubie in the background! I love it. Mom got it for me to put in the yard gamedays. Maybe next season I'll be proud to put it in the yard. HA! Thanks Callie, the artist! You are awesome!

We truly had a blessed Christmas and thanks to everyone for all the wonderful and thoughtful gifts. Though we've decided, next year NO TOYS! Just kidding... maybe a couple.

Recent "Random" Events

Alright. Let me catch you up. I finally am posting pics from back when I put up the Christmas tree. Maybe one day I'll spice it up a little more, but for now, that will do. Walker loves it anyways. I aim to please him. Mission accomplished!

I told Walker I needed a guinea pig to try out the new camera. So, he ran around the house as fast as he could. We laughed so hard.

And here he is with Santa and the Mrs. They read the kids their story and let them sit for pictures. This was at our church's Christmas party for the kids.

He is pointing to Santa and telling me and Zac whose lap he was sitting in. It was so cute. This is the first time he has wanted to sit in Santa's lap.

In class... throwing snow balls.

This is the front of our barn. I was determined to put a wreath somewhere outside this year. Now the animals can feel festive too!

We revamped Walker's room into a toddler/ big boy room.

My cousin Callie created these awesome canvas paintings for Walker's room. She had some in her son's room and I fell in love with them.

This is what we did during the Iron Bowl. Exciting!

Call me crazy!

I did it. I went shopping on Black Friday among the other thousands of crazy people. I will NEVER do it again as long as I live. I like to try everything at least once. I guess I love learning life's lessons. HA! I did get a huge chunk of my shopping over with, but I probably could have done it later that day. I got to Wal Mart at 4:50. I couldn't find a parking place and there wasn't a buggy in sight. I did make it to Staples to get a camera I wanted (on sale). Thanks Santa! So yep... I will be posting pics again soon.
We had a great Thanksgiving at my mom's house. It's nice to spend time with the family. Walker had a blast playing yard football with all the guys. Mom is a Martha Stewart fanatic so she made the dinner as close to MS as possible (crafts, recipes, decoration). Too bad I didn't have my camera at that time. I would love to show some pictures from the day. Maybe I can get my mom and dad to send me some. Stay tuned...

No More Pics for A While...

Unfortunately I am camera-less as we speak. Walker found his way up on the island and dropped the camera bag on the floor. I didn't think much about it until I went to take his picture at my school's winter festival. The screen has some crazy thing going on. So don't expect any pictures any time soon. This is my luck seeing I was about to get started on Christmas card pictures. Oh well. It was time for a new camera. Maybe Santa will be nice to me. Hint hint Zac.
I am also Walker-less tonight. He is staying with all his cousins over at G-Daddy and MiMi's house. I'm sure he's having a blast. I took this opportunity to put up my Christmas decoration. I just finished and it is 10 till 12:00. I'm tired... but very excited to have a clean, decorated house. This is our first year to have a "fake" tree. I never thought it would happen, but after last year I knew I couldn't deal with a real tree for a while. I bought one last year as soon as they went on sale. It is so pretty and the best part is the lights are already on it. Whoever came up with that idea deserves a big kiss on the cheek! I've been looking at that huge box in our garage for a year. I'm glad to finally get to use it. We'll see how it goes tomorrow when Walker gets home. He's a year older... maybe he won't try to grab the lights and run. And the best part... no more pine needles to vacuum up daily. Whatever happens, I know he will be happy when he sees it. I can't wait to see his sweet little face. I miss him.

Traditions

I love a good tradition, especially a Christmas tradition. My dad sent us The Elf on the Shelf. If you haven't heard of this let me explain. I'll put the elf out on Thanksgiving night. He will sit and watch Walker for the day. He can not be touched or he will "lose" his powers. Walker can talk to the elf and tell him secrets, like what he wants from Santa. At night while Walker is sleeping, he rushes back to the North Pole to report to Santa to tell if Walker was naughty or nice. The next morning the elf will reappear in a new place. Walker has to run around the house and find the elf's new place for the day. This happens each morning until Christmas morning. The book that comes along with the elf tells the story. We even have to name the elf. Can't wait to see what kind of crazy name a 2 year old will think of. Probably something like "football player." As of right now, that's the only thing Walker has on the brain.

This is the elf. It has wire arms and legs so we can get really fun and creative with placing the elf through out the house. Doesn't this elf look just like the ones your grandparents had from the 50's? It brings back fun memories from my childhood. I'll keep you posted on what Walker names the elf.

Coming Up For Air...

I felt like I needed to update you on our newest development...We are now the owners of Esco Turf Management. This explains why I have not been able to add a new post in some time. I now have two full time jobs. As soon as I leave the school, I quickly make my hour round trip to get Walker so I can get home to get on the computer. I have been staying up till 11:30 or 12:00 each night in hopes to get all the invoices and checks entered in the computer. Why am I telling you all of this... ? I guess what I'm trying to say is... Maybe one day I'll get to blog about my sweet baby again. I haven't even had time to take a picture since Halloween.
This business is a prayer answered a hundred times over. I am so happy Greg wanted to sell his company to Zac. And more so, I'm happy we could make it happen. We still need prayers so that we can get through a full year and it stay as successful as it already is. Zac is a pro at turf management. That's what he did while we lived in Auburn. I'm not worried about his ability at all!
I have to admit...I am a little worried about me. What if I slip up and forget to copy something or not sign something or not enter something important in the computer. There are a ton of things I have to remember. With over 300 customers, it gets a little scary handling all those checks and paper work. I will never look at a secretary sitting behind a desk in the same way again.
Hopefully soon I can get some pictures added. Keep praying for us!

Starring "Thomas the Train" in...Trunk- or- Treating '08

This year's Trunk or Treat at our church was so much fun. Anyone who knows Walker, knows he is obsessed with Thomas the Train. So it was only fitting to get him this costume. He about died when I pulled it out of the bag.

This was the first time Walker actually got to understand the Halloween procedures of trick or treating. Poor thing. We underestimated the amount of candy he would get. His cheap pumpkin bag didn't hold that much at one time and the handle broke. Other kids were dumping their bags to return for a second fill up. Ha! No thanks. You can't imagine the amount of candy we took home. Everyone was desperate to get rid of their gobs of sugary candy.

Walker was in total disbelief that all that candy was going home with him. And sure enough...as soon as we got home, he didn't forget about it and begged for a piece. Maybe I shouldn't use the nice word beg... more like he screamed for it. Is this what I have to look forward to every Halloween? If so, I'm going to have to get clever in my ability to hide the candy.

I had to include a few pics of the decorated trunks.

This is Will. He's one of Walker's friends at church.

Thomas on the move...

Saturday we went to Chick-Fil-A's pumpkin patch. Walker picked out a cute and rather perfect pumpkin. I was proud. But most of all, I was proud of him overcoming his fear of people dressed up as animals. He has always been terrified of furry costumes. Let's not forget his birthday party a few weeks ago...Monkey Cheese! Well, the Chick-Fil-A Cow should win an award. As scary as that thing looks, Walker, for some reason, took to him. He wouldn't leave his side and before you knew it... Walker touched him. He even gave him a hug. WOW!

Thanks Cow!

Girls...Finally!

Although it was short lived, I finally got to see my girl friends. This week end was in the makings for some time now. Of course it flew by. Even though it went no where near as planned, I still had some good moments to remember. Thanks girls...hope we can do it again soon. I will leave it at that! War Eagle!

Zac spent most of his time trying to sell 4 tickets. Hmm... I wonder why no one wanted to buy Auburn/ Arkansas tickets.

This was one of his desperate moves to get them sold. HA!

Walker's 2nd Birthday Party..."Monkey Cheese"

Well, we had Walker's second birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese A.K.A. "Monkey Cheese." The plan was to have it at an organized place of business so we would not have to endure the pains of cleaning up. That part was wonderful. I thought we would leave there energized and ready to go, but that's not the case. We felt like we had run a marathon! There were tons of kids and parties there. What else should I had expected? Oh well, it was fun, even though it was a little traumatic and scary for the birthday boy! Walker was terrified of that rat. Party time was near and then...da da da...here came Monkey Cheese ... Walker put a death grip around Nana and me and held on tight throughout the duration of the party. Note to all parents...You might want to hold off on giving your TWO year old a party at a place where he's terrified of the main character. Other than that, Walker was happy to have all his cousins there to chase after. The rat...Monkey Cheese

This picture says it all. Walker was usually hiding behind someone in case the rat came off that stage.

Death grip victim #1- Nana

Cousin Kyle gave Walker a baseball glove. Walker loved it so much and had to put it on that second.

Cousin Cooper helped Walker open his gifts.


Granddaddy gave Walker his first bicycle with training wheels. He jumped right on it and actually took off. Although at home, he's not getting anywhere. He doesn't understand the peddles brake when you go backwards.

We really appreciate all the family coming over to Huntsville to celebrate his birthday. It was a great weekend overall. Uncle Blake came to stay and went to the Fiddler's Convention with us Friday night. I love the Fall season. This weekend we are leaving (on Walker's actual birthday) to go to Auburn. I can't wait!!!! I will be sure to post some pics from that soon.

Happy birthday sweet baby! I love you more than you will ever know. You are my life!

Trail of Tears '08

We finally made it to the Trail of Tears. I knew it was a must. Walker is in a stage of loving motorcycles. Nana joined us for the day. The long, and very loud, parade of motorcycles lasted about 35 minutes. I think Walker waved at them all! So funny! Enjoy the pictures...

We capped off the fun day with a Chick-Fil-A play date.