Christmas Tree Shopping

I've been awful about blogging. I'm still in November 2011, but if you look at our printed and albumed pictures, well, Henry isn't even born yet. So compared to that I'm doing pretty well! For some reason blogging has begun to feel like a chore, but then I read other blogs when I have some spare time, and I hate to think of those precious moments being forgotten because I didn't write them down. I just wish someone else would do it for me. It's part of my lottery winnings spending plan, along with a live in hairdresser and vomit cleaner upper. Until then, I'm going to do my best to catch up and get back to blogging, because man are my kids cute.

After a great Thanksgiving celebration with the Propst side of our family we went Christmas tree shopping to help my Mom and Dad pick out the perfect tree. (I have to post pictures from this excursion, as our personal Christmas tree shopping experience consisted of picking up a 5 footer from Lowe's during the employee appreciation week... less than thrilling).




You can't see it in these pictures (or maybe you can), but these were some disheveled munchkins. We took them out for CiCi's (an impressive display for our two). They looked homeless, except for the fact that they were purchasing an 8 foot tree, which would be odd with no home. Nevertheless, we found just the right tree. John Dickson got to put the angel on the top of the tree, with a little help from his Daddy.



Ahhh the angel. I'm pretty sure I've talked about her on here before. She is um... unique. She's made of cardboard and covered with felt. Her head is made of plastic, and she cost either $0.79 or $0.99 back in the day (my parents can't agree on her price, but I would assume my mom is probably right on that one, whichever one she said). So there she is, on top of their tree, year after year after year, where she has sat every Christmas since they got married. I WANT HER. If they do not find a replacement for her soon, I will steal her. They've been warned.



Isn't she... unique? I'm sure its difficult to tell if I'm serious or not about wanting her. Seriously? Yes she is ugly, and yes I desperately want her.

What do you think Henry?

Pumpkin Carving

No, we don't carve pumpkins for Christmas, or to ring in the new year. We carve pumpkins for Halloween and then blog about it just in time to get it in before the new year. I may be late, but I will blog about it in 2011. Right before we sell our house. We decided to wait until the last minute (Halloween Eve to be exact) to find the perfect pumpkins. We drove from store to store, but there was not a pumpkin to be found, until we finally went to a pumpkin patch and landed a nice big fat pumpkin. Leslie and Nick came over for the pumpkin carving party!





And let me tell you, the Hen LOVES him a pumpkin carving party.



I couldn't resist putting this picture in here just to prove that it is possible to not see John Dickson's booty hanging out.



The final product.

The Fair: Henry

Henry was at the fair too, and he certainly loved his corn dog (we had to buy him his own after someone ate his entire gigantic corn dog). But instead of riding rides, Henry felt like watching the cows and eating delicious foods was more his speed.

The Fair: The Rest of Us

We did all have a great time at the fair. John Dickson enjoyed the rides, but really preferred the first half of each ride. Towards the end of each ride he started to get scared, but he still had fun.



(The rest of the dragon coaster story...)





He REALLY wanted a giant corn dog, so we got him a 9 incher. We figured he and Henry would split it, but about 5 minutes later, when I asked him how his corn dog was, he didn't turn around, didn't say a word. He just did this:



About a minute after that, it was gone.

About two months later, we had two offers on our house. HOW does that keep slipping into these blog posts? Sneaky two offers...

Adam Goes to the Fair!

An embarrassingly long time ago... waaaaay back in October, Nana, Grumps, John Dickson, Henry and I decided to do something uber special for Adam/Daddy. We knew it had been a while for him, and so we decided to take him out for a day at the fair. I would tell you how much fun he had eating corn dogs, fried mushrooms, fiske fries and a funnel cake, and how much he loved riding the big dragon roller coaster (no hands!), but I feel like I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Lazy 5: Part 2

So, I started to type this right after Thanksgiving, but when the pictures failed to upload, I decided to give it a rest for 5 weeks or so. Clicking on 5 pictures can be quite cumbersome.

Ahhh the holiday season is upon us, bringing with it the bribery of the Elf on a Shelf (named Jay, by John Dickson - much more clever than what his Dad would have named his elf back in the day - something either rhyming with Elf, or just "Elfsty") or the advent calendar. Whoever is the best listener gets to open the door on the calendar - we've been going on about a week just competing for the coveted first door privilege. And let me tell you - that 1/25 of an ounce of chocolate better be worth it, or come December 1 we may be down to just Jay. Anyhoo, I figured I better finish documenting all of our fall fun before it starts to snow. Tomorrow night. Seriously??? Seriously.

I know what you are all thinking... DID it snow??? No, it didn't. In fact, I can literally count on 1 hand the number of nights we have had to turn on the heat. Our apartment is BLAZING. Adam thinks it's because the devil lives downstairs. I think it's because we have 2 offers on our house right now. (That maybe was just an excuse to throw that in there).

Anyhoo, here is the ending from the Lazy 5 cliffhanger that has had everyone up at night. Just a few last pictures from Lazy 5.






Check out the cattle head to John Dickson body ratio here.

Lazy 5

We made it out to Lazy 5 Ranch back in October with Nana and Grumps - its like a new and improved Hollywild. It includes a lot of giraffes, so naturally, we had a great time.

A John Dickson sammich on the horse drawn cart:



Henry and Nana deciding where to go next:



Believe it or not, anything can be a gun.



Henry loves goats!




Stay tuned for more Lazy 5 pictures!

We're From SC

Yes we did go to the Nascar Hall of Fame thankyouverymuch!

It might look like John Dickson and I are racing on the simulator practice thingamabobber.



We are actually just hitting the gas and trying to figure out why we can't get the car to go.

Henry had the right idea - this would have been more my speed...





Adam lost by the way.

The "Johnny Johnston" Lowes car

Playground

Yes, I know. They are adorable.

Pumpkin Patch

I decided it was finally time to post pictures from our pumpkin patch adventure, seeing as how we are quickly approaching Thanksgiving. I received the gentle reminder that turkey day was upon us, as John Dickson had to report to his class his family's menu for the big day. I lost the sheet to fill out, so I gave Adam firm instructions to request another one this morning and fill it out when he dropped John Dickson off. The two of them worked together, and created the following problems:

1. John Dickson has the memory of an elephant, and will now NOT be forgetting that for Thanksgiving we will be enjoying sweet potatoes with a marshmallow topping, grapes, and chocolate cake. Just like our ancestors.

2. Even though I told John Dickson we were having chicken chili for dinner (side note: kids eat chili in tortilla scoops), he was confused by all of the Thanksgiving talk and devastated that we were not having turkey for dinner tonight. On Thanksgiving. Tonight.

John Dickson is quite into Thanksgiving. I went to pick him up from school the other day, and I'm always interested in seeing what toy he selected that morning to take for naptime. I've seen some toys that have surprised me - Henry's sock monkey, a bear lovie he never looked twice at when he was bear lovie age appropriate, a hard plastic robot to snuggle up with, but never did I expect to find in his cubby a Williams Sonoma catalog. Presumably because of the turkey on the front. It's the only thing I can figure. Regardless, I was proud.

And in the spirit of digressing from the pumpkin patch adventure, have I mentioned Henry is talking full speed? Well, maybe not full speed, but he's certainly taking off. He's calling me "mama" (finally!!!!!), and I think he calls Adam "dada." He will repeat it if you say it, and he knows who "dada" is, and I think he calls Adam that... but I'm not positive. He does say John Dickson. He is also saying book, yes, no, please, more, uh oh, ouch, car, mine, Boo Boo (what the boys call Bear), hi, bye bye, and I'm sure there are a few others. Oh, and he counts to 3. For real. And he sings the "lala la la" from Elmo's Song.

Anyhoo... if you've seen our posts from Denver Downs Farm in Anderson, SC that I will not be taking the time to go link this post back to, then you've seen a pumpkin patch done right. We were sad to move away from Denver Downs, but excited to try this new place that promised to offer just about everything from our beloved first love of a pumpkin patch. Turns out their webmaster needs a serious raise, because homeboy knows how to make absolutely nothing look like something spectacular. And it was one of the coldest days we've had up here yet. Seeing as how we were all underdressed and the pumpkins were underpatched, we let the munchkins pick their pumpkins (which were all conveniently already picked and spread out across the ground... pumpkin patch my behind) and headed for a warm lunch in a heated building with three meltdowntastic munchkins. Despite all, it was a good time.

Well That's Embarrassing

Has it really been almost 6 weeks since my last post?? Between working, studying for the CIA exam, soaking in the newness of a new town, and hitting all of the Janie & Jack sales (love this new town - and did I mention I can WALK there?!?!? I promise that's not why I took the new job...), blog posts and pictures have just been piling up in my head... and the bigger the pile, the more daunting the task seems and the less motivated I become. And at a 5 picture per post max, I just don't even know how to start... except that I know you are dying to see some pictures of John Dickson with his 'stache, and Henapen in his Peter Pan costume! Complete with Tinkerbell, of course!



"Awww... look at her in her elf costume!"





"What a cute pirate!"



Context clues people!!!



Even so, we had a great Halloween! John Dickson was thrilled to be Captain Hook. He insisted that he needed a sword, and seeing as how that would be the worst thing he could possibly have, we convinced him that he needed his free hand to carry his pumpkin. He did, however, get a hook. The first thing he said was "now I can really hurt spiderman." Like I said, no sword. Henahen loved his Peter Pan costume as well, crying when he had to take it off after he tried it on the first time. He also caught right on to the idea of trick or treating, using those eyelashes and baby blues as a distraction while he took piece after piece from each bowl. He insisted on holding Aunt Erin's hand all night, who had to remind him from time to time that this was "not a grocery store."

A little pizza, a little trick or treating, a big cousin bubble bath, a little impromptu dance party... it was a good night for all, except for maybe Adam, as John Dickson may or may not have danced in only his underwear and Ella's butterfly wings, and Henry may or may not have gone home wearing pink pajamas.

And as a side note, I went to a Halloween party last weekend, where I wore a little red riding hood costume. John Dickson saw me and asked "why you wearing a princess dress?" When I tried to explain the costume to him, he asked "how you be little red riding hood?" I said "like this!" He looked at me, confused, squinted his eyes, and then said... "Do it again..." He thought he had missed it.

And as another side note, Henry has a Halloween shirt that I had been saving for the big day. As Henry went to school in his Peter Pan costume on Halloween, I packed the shirt and a pair of jeans for him to change into. Someone, ahem, forgot to unpack the clothes from John Dickson's bookbag, and John Dickson came home wearing a 12-18 month shirt. That was pretty funny, but what really got me was the next day when he came home wearing size 18 month jeans. Or capris. You know, whatevs :-)

Many many more posts to come, including our trip to the pumpkin patch, Lazy 5 Ranch with Nana and Grumps, the SC State Fair, and some good ol fashioned pumpkin carving!