Christmas Open House

'Tis the Season

We've had so much fun getting ready for Christmas this year. Decorating in a new house for the first time takes a little more thought than just putting everything out where you had it the year before. Jenae is being such a helper and her joy is contagious. We've done a lot of baking in the last week, too. We hosted a Christmas Open House and had to get all the goodies ready. Take a look:

Jenae was pretty excited to have her OWN Christmas tree in her room.
The early part of last week Jenae spent with Shasha so I could do some cleaning and cooking for our Open House. They made a "Cracker House" and we brought it home to help decorate for the party. So far we've only lost half a cracker to a hungry little girl.

Here she is ready to cook! She is sporting the new apron that Homie gave her for her birthday. Looks good, huh?!She was a good helper. I let her help measure flour and sugar and she did lots of stirring. My only rule was that Momma got to do the eggs all by myself. I wasn't taking any chances there. Later that day, I found Jenae up on her stool making eggs. She IS a big girl after all. And, she's TWO. "I can do it by myself!"


In case you couldn't tell here's a closer shot. Those are her play eggs. Complete with tags. She went to her room, to her kitchen set, got her own eggs and brought them to the kitchen. Smarty-pants! Momma and her helper!

Jenae also helped unwrap all the candies we used to make treats. It was a great job for her and she only tried to sneak a bite once...and I caught her! So it worked out well. She is so proud when she is able to contribute. And, most of the time, it really is help.

Pictures with Vincent

While we were in Oklahoma for Thanksgiving, Grandma wanted to have pictures of the kids made. It was quite the experience! It took Vincent a while to get warmed up to the idea and by then Jenae was about finished. The pictures we got turned out well, but that's not to say we didn't almost give up. Cousins are so fun!

November, 2007. Jenae is 27 months. Vincent is 23 months.

Halloween. Meow!

Here's just a teaser! We had so much fun last night and I look forward to telling you all about it. However, today is my anniversary...it's getting late...and I'm going to bed. So, until I have more time to tell all the fun stories and post all the pictures this one will have to do.

This is Jenae about half-way through Trunk or Treat. She just had to stop and check out what everyone was putting in her pumpkin.

Fun at the Zoo and Pumpkins, too!

Saturday morning we got an early start and drove into Abilene to go to the Zoo! It is a great, small zoo. Jenae and I can easily walk it all in about an hour. Just the right size for little legs. Also, the animals are caged so that the kids can get real close and actually see them. Jenae is quite familiar with the zoo and would grab Vincent's hand and say, "Come on, Vincent!" Of course, many times Vincent wouldn't walk at all unless the were holding hands. It went both ways. They were pretty cute!
First stop, the flamingos and ducks.
Saw a peacock on the way to the monkeys!
The bears were very interested in our animal crackers.
"Come on, Vincent! Up the bridge to the giraffes!"
Don't be scared, Jenni. It's just a giraffe tongue. Besides, Vincent is watching. Be brave.

There you go! Good job!

We finished the zoo, grabbed some Sonic, ate cookies at Shasha's house and then went to look for a pumpkin patch. Couldn't really find one without driving out in the country, so we settled for this display in front of a nursing home.
Vincent decided he was done for the day. No pumpkins. No Jenae. No holding hands. No pictures. Nothing!So, we just took a few of Jenae and got in the car and headed back to the house.

Visitors from Oklahoma!

A couple of weeks ago my sister, Jenni, her son, Vincent, and Homie came to visit us for the weekend. We had a great time showing them all the fun things to do in Winters...and all that happened before dinner. :o) Just Kidding. (kind of) The kids had a great time out at the Friday night football game. We hooked Vincent up with some Blizzard gear.

Jenae and her daddy sharing some love!

Bedtime stories are best when shared with a friend!

This was actually taken a different night...after a full day at the zoo. The little thing
just slowly faded as Homie read her last book of the night. So sweet!

Fall

This is the best I could do. I was trying to get a nice full-length shot of Jenae. However, everytime I would squat or bend down to get on her level, she would imitate me. So, just imagine she's standing there, nice and tall, in front of the tree. :o)

Football

Jenae is so proud of her "ball" shirt. In fact, the last two weeks after the game she has slept in her blue shirt and then worn it all day Saturday too! I think she is proud to be a Blizzard!
Here are the boys in action. I need to get some better shots to show some perspective. Coming from Belton-a 5A school, to Winters-a 1A school, there are some slight differences in proportions. The bands look tiny, the stadium is small, and the sidelines aren't lined with reserve players. One thing I think is sweet is that now whenever we drive by the stadium, which is just down the street from our home, Jenae always says, "Go, Blue!"
The funniest thing so far this season has been Jenae's understanding of the team mascot. We are the Winters Blizzards. It's a horrible picture, but everyone always asks exactly what does that look like. Well, here it is:
Folks are always asking Jenae, "Where's the Blizzard?" "Do you see the Blizzard?" Come to find out, Jenae is only picking up on "Where's the Lizard?" "Do you see the Lizard?" I know this because she sits with me and asks "Gecko?" Even as I'm posting this, she saw the picture and said "gecko!" She must think we are all crazy though. She knows what a gecko is and what it looks like. She's got to wonder how this "blizzard" mascot resembles a gecko at all. I'm sure it's her first instance of wanting to roll her eyes and say, "Whatever!"

So, Go, Blue! Go, Geckos!

Bubbles

Swimming

What a fun summer this has been! We've spent countless days at the pool. At the pool here, it only costs 50 cents for Jenae to get in...so we went...a lot! I am amazed at how bold she's become. At the beginning of the summer she was so clingy, couldn't float upright in her swim vest, but she loved the water. So we kept hitting the pool. It was on our sojourn trip with Mimommie (which I still haven't blogged about, I know) that I actually let go of her to see what would happen. She just took off! I laughed and she was so proud of herself and giggling that I bet she swallowed a gallon of water. Since that day there's been so stopping her. These pictures were from the last time we swam with the cousins.