It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Thanksgiving has came and we have a new visitor in our house until December 25th. His name is Frisky and he is Wyatt's Elf on the Shelf!

I have many friends who have done this tradition with their children. Last year, I finally decided that Wyatt is old enough to actually get into and decided to get one. Well guess what, I couldn't find one! So we fast forward to Christmas 2013. I knew I would have to find one early and did just that!

 

When we got him out and read the book Wyatt's reaction was not what I thought it would be. He was not amazed or excited. He asked me if I was fibbing because he wasn't a real elf and was just a doll. Yowza! This kid is tough! So I just said he was and then dropped the conversation to see what he would do. Wyatt went and played for a while and then started coming back to tell Frisky information about him. So I guess it worked and he's convinced now! The tv show didn't hurt anything either. That is what Wyatt wants to watch 24/7 now!

 

 

The day after Thanksgiving we got our tree out and put up. Wyatt had a blast helping with the tree and loved every second of it. This pleases me so much. Although when putting up our decorations I have decided that I hate 90% of what I have for decor and just want to throw it away and start over. Thinking this will be on the books for the clean-up after Christmas. 

Another tradition we have started is celebrating Saint Nicolas' Day on December 6th. Last night, Wyatt put his shoes in the hallway to see if he will receive a special treat from Saint Nicolas.

I made sure to put an apple and a juice in his shoe. Of course I forgot last night and had to run downstairs at 5am this morning to get his shoes filled before he woke up. Luckily I made it in time!

He couldn't wait to tell Mike and was sad to realize that he had already left for work. (Mike has always left for work when we get up for the morning but I guess he thought he should have stayed for Saint Nicolas Day.) Wyatt made me take a picture so he could show Daddy what he got before he ate and drank it. Needless to say, this was his breakfast!

Do you celebrate Saint Nicolas Day? Have an Elf on the Shelf?

Thanksgiving 2013

This Thanksgiving we spent in Paxico with Mike's family. We made sure to dress in our best so that we could get pictures taken for our Christmas cards. Mike's aunt Leslie takes great pictures and we always commission her to take our pics.

 

This year went well. We found out once we started taking pictures that the light was too bright and so most of the pictures we are squinting too much or the brightness is affecting the shading of our faces.  These were the best two.

We always make sure to pack a bag of extra clothes when we go for Thanksgiving. We take our four-wheeler, Wyatt's dirt bike, and the guns so we need clothes to change into for these various activities once we are done eating.

This year we had a great time and we got to do everything we set out to do. I even got a 3 mile run in! We headed out to the North 80 and got a chance to shoot our guns. Wyatt got to shoot the .22 again and loved it. He shoots is so fast that it sounds like a fully auto!

I even got to shoot my 9mm that I got for Christmas last year. It was awesome! I loved shooting it and went through half a box of ammo sighting it in. We went shooting as soon as I got my run done, hence the crazy shooting clothes!

This is the pose Wyatt was striking as we were leaving. During the family picture time he kept calling himself Mr. Handsome! Apparently we have a future male model on our hands! Ugh!!

 

 

What do you do for Thanksgiving? Gun owner?

Oklahoma Vacation

We don't take many any vacations so when we headed down to Oklahoma for my family reunion we decided to take an extra day in Tulsa.

We started the trip with bringing Wyatt's booster seat instead of his carseat and he loved it! (Until the end of the trip! Keep reading!)

We headed to Tulsa on Wednesday morning and our first stop was the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks. We are Topeka Zoo Members and this means that we are Zoo Association members, which used to mean that we got a discount at all zoos and aquariums around the U.S.. Once we got there we were informed that the person selling tickets had never heard of that before. So full price it was! Boo! (I will let the picture do the talking.)

We saw this albino turtle and I was asking Wyatt how this turtle was different than the others we just saw and he said, "Because it's the color of ham!". How stinking funny is that! Mike and I laughed and laughed because of that one.

I'm currently training for my half marathon so being on vacation was no excuse for me to not run! Go me! Our hotel had a great workout room and after a day of driving, being at the aquarium, and swimming at the hotel it was finally time for me to run. I ran on the fanciest treadmill I have ever seen. It had it's own TV and was super technical. I'm pretty sure it would have done my run for me if I had let it. I'm more of a "Quick Start" type of treadmill person, so this was way out of my league! I got my four miles in and didn't die! Go me!

The next morning we lounged around the hotel room and watched cartoons. We weren't in any real hurry since we had pretty much all day before we needed to head to the lake.

Apparently mom's make the best pillows! This is how Wyatt usually lays with me. All curled up in my legs with his head on my vagina. Classy I know! He must think he can still get back in there. After seeing that head I don't think it's going back in.

 

 

After we got around we headed to the Tulsa Zoo! We bought tickets for the train ride that takes you to the back and then front of the zoo. Yes, please. We also went ahead and bought a ticket for the carousal for Wyatt to ride since he was too little last time we were here. And he loved it!

 



Family pic on the train ride! Love this picture because it's a rare one with all three of us!

Once we got done with the zoo we headed to Fin and Feather for my family reunion. We got to see aunts, uncles, and cousins that are rarely seen except for weddings and funerals. We all stay in cabins and then make big family meals with each other.

Wyatt experienced a first when he decided to stack pillows to play on and ran face first into a couch and bloodied his nose! We put ice on it and luckily it wasn't broken. Boys, I swear!

We spent most of the week visiting with family, playing with cousins, and swimming at the pool. We also went to Muskogee and caught Despicable Me 2 and it was great. Very cute and Wyatt loved seeing it since he loves the first one so much!

I had to finish Week 2 of half marathon training at the lake, which meant five miles. There is no gym option here so I had to run outdoors. I knew that morning was going to have to happen which meant how early? I got up at 6am to put the pork roast in the crock pot and then headed out for my run. I would love to say that it was easy and I rocked it, but that's not the case. It felt like forever and I sucked. I swear I couldn't run for more than a couple minutes at a time without stopping. This was definitely not a feel good run. More like a feel shitty run. But I didn't give up and I completed it. All five miles of it! Dunzo! (Please note that the picture taken below was a good half hour after my run. Otherwise I would have scared you with my face and you would never run again.) Also I did beat my goal of running it under one hour! Barely, but it happened!

Sunday morning we packed up and headed home. We only made it an hour before Wyatt threw up in the car! This was the first time that had ever happened. The whole trip he had been complaining of his tummy hurting while we were driving but I just attributed it to being stuck in the car and eating crappy food all day long. Now I think it's because his booster seat was so low and he couldn't see the horizon out of the window.

 

Once we got pulled over and cleaned up I put a pillow under his booster seat so that he could see out the window and we didn't have any more puking episodes. Yeah!! His regular carseat will be put back in my car pronto!

 



Wyatt's Fourth Birthday

It's hard to believe it but Wyatt is FOUR! It seems like I was just pushing him out of my vagina yesterday. To relive that story click here.

This year the theme Wyatt chose was Mickey Mouse. I had contacted my friend Kim about making his birthday shirt and all was good. Then something happened. He changed his mind and of course had to have a Cars themed party. Thankfully Kim was a saint and the shirt was changed to be a Cars theme.

Mike of course got put on cake detail and he did an awesome job, like always! To see his previous works of art click here, here, and here.

Yes, this was the best picture of him and the cake!

We had another great birthday at the Train Depot in the park and this time the train was even running! We have been having a party here for four years and this was the first year the train was running. His birthday party was at 10am but we got to celebrate and watch the kids ride the train for free for two hours. Best free entertainment ever!

Wyatt had a great time because his friends from daycare were there and his family. I think this was one of the best birthdays he's had.

Cousins

Friends

Great Gram and Wyatt

Family Portrait

Thank goodness it's all over and we have until next year before we have to think about cakes, decorations, and themes. :)

Happy Halloween!

Aggieville Trick-or-Treat

Wyatt as Buzz Light Year

Adrian was a Cowgirl

A smile while waiting for our food! :)

Kimberly, Adrian, Wyatt, and I got all dressed up and headed to Aggieville today to go Trick-or-Treating and then watch the Homecoming parade. Wyatt wasn't thrilled to go and cried almost the whole time but perked up of course when it was time to go. Then he acted like he had been having the time of his life and didn't want to leave. Wyatt and I headed  to Panera afterwards to warm up and get some food in our tummies. It was a great afternoon with my boy!

Haulin'

I snapped this picture of Wyatt because it reminded me of my dad! My dad has always had a lawn-mowing business since I can remember. My mom, brother and I have participated in this business for as long as I can remember as well. Matthew and I knew how to ride a push mower, push a lawn mower, drive mowers onto a trailer, drive with a trailer, and use a weed eater long before we could do most other things. Seeing Wyatt do this made me think of my dad instantly and brought a smile to my face!

Cousins

Today was Bentley's 1st birthday! The little squirt is finally One! We headed over to Alma for his party and Wyatt had a blast. I love that he lives so close to his cousins and loves to play with them. 

Giving rides to Adrian and Bentley in Bentley's new wagon!

Looking at the toys!

He had to have a birthday hat to wear!

Labor Day

We concluded our Summer with a camping trip to Melvern Lake with Mike's family. This was the first time we had been camping since he was 1, gotten double ear infections and began the long journey to tubes. Camping this time around was so different and so much better than when he was 1. He could run around play with the other kids and actually liked the sand at the beach! My dad came up to visit for a couple of hours on Sunday and Wyatt loved that there was someone else there just to pay attention to him. They shared a Lunchable for lunch and then we headed out on our boat. We had been talking about Wyatt going on the boat but knew it could be iffy. He hates it when Mike starts the boat up at home and says it's too loud. We got the boat loaded and Wyatt and I were waiting on the boat for Mike to park the trailer when he just started freaking out!! He was crying uncontrollably and wouldn't let go of my leg. We pushed off and started cruising the lake when we realized that he had fallen asleep. The kid literally went from screaming his head off to asleep in a span of 3 minutes! We stopped put the Bimini top up to keep the sun off him and let him sleep for a little bit. Once he woke up we started cruising again and he LOVED it! He was king of the lake. He enjoyed it so much even got into the water with us when we stopped the boat to go swimming. We were on the lake for 3 hours and decided that was enough for everyone and headed back to take a rest. That night we took my father-in-law, niece, and sister-in-law out with us and Wyatt had a blast with them. He was acting like we boat all the time. We are definitely going to take the boat out more often next summer since he loved it so much!

Wyatt and Poppa Flash eating lunch.

He was tired of me taking pictures of him.

After 3 hours on the lake, he was passed out cold.

Making a sand castle with Dad.

Destroying the sand castles that Dad made.

Filling up the dump truck.