Santa's Surprise Visit

We were visiting our friends, the Pritchards, the Sunday before Christmas when out of the blue Santa appeared. My boys were thrilled that Santa knew where the Pritchard's lived. They each spent time sitting on Santa's lap and talking to him.

Gary was quite the experience though. He sat on Santa's lap and Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas. Did my son ask for a ball? A toy plane? A remote control car?

No sadly, he did not. He asked for an umbrella! Santa did not quite understand what Gary had answered so he asked Gary "what is that"?

(Poor Santa could not understand Gary talk, not enough time around real children and too much time around elves I guess.)

Gary stood up and held his arms up to his head like an umbrella and said "you know, the thing that keeps you from getting wet in the rain".

Santa laughed and asked "doesn't your mom let you use an umbrella when it's raining"?

Gary said "No, she just lets me get wet! So I want an umbrella for Christmas".

Seriously, this was his real conversation with Santa.

And no, Santa didn't get him an umbrella for christmas. Santa knows that it puts hair on a boys chest to get wet in the rain, like a real man.

J.D.

Gary

Jerald

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling, NOT!

J.D. at 4 months...

So, I caught my little man trying to roll over. Excited, I ran and grabbed the camera, ran back, snapped some quick shots, and then...

HE STOPPED!! He wanted to pose instead!!

Cute Booger!

Just a mom shouting out about a brand that I love. I do, I love Boiron's homeopathic line of products. I first tried their Oscillococcinum at the first sign of flu for both the boys and I and it worked great!! I have also used Chestal for the boys and Calendula Cream works wonders too.

With using Boiron I have peace of mind knowing that there are no known side effects, they don't interact with any other meds, they contain no questionable ingredients for children, and contain natural ingredients. I just purchased some with this dollar off coupon to keep on hand. Try it for yourself and see if you love it as much as I do!!

What an Adventure!!

If you are in the Texas area you MUST visit the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center!! Jeremy & I went many moons ago when he was in medical school so we took the kids to enjoy the experience too! It is located one hour and 20 mins from the DFW area. Contains 1700+ acres of free roaming deer, ostriches, emus, rhinos, wildebeests, giraffes, and other wildlife that you can feed their special food from your car. It's a drive-through 9 1/2 mile tour of pure fun! About half way on this tour, up on a hill is a restaurant (with good food), a children's petting center, and a gift shop where you get out and stretch your legs and let the kids run around. FOSSIL RIM IS LOADS OF FUN!! A TOTAL MUST SEE!!

And did I mention the actual dinosaur track? See for yourself~

Red Deer~

Deer~

Zebra~

Wildebeest~

Blackbuck antelope~

Ostrich~

But, by far, the Giraffes were our favorite of the trip. They stuck their long necks down and pretty much tried to get into the car with us. The boys loved it!

I zoomed in for this shot~

The boys trying to get his attention with the food (blurry because I was trying to move and hold the baby and get a shot at the same time. I did not like the giraffe in the car that close to me, if you notice that is my seat he is taking over, Jeremy was in the driver seat.)


One of the boys feeding him, enticing him further into the car~

J.D. was not scared to have this huge head sticking in our car~

And, before leaving he even licked J.D.'s toes, but I missed the shot!

Here is a view of the Restaurant atop the hill~

The next 2 are views from the balcony of the restaurant.

There were some unique signs through out the park. I know this one is missing the E-R to it, but without those 2 little letters it reads in a different light~



Gary and his friend Matthew at the petting zoo~
I ran out of battery before the Cheetah cage and the last half of the tour. Total bummer because I love Cheetahs. We enjoyed our trip and encourage you to go if you are in the area. A+ for Fossil Rim.

Sick... twisted... FREAKY!

I was on the net looking for something innocent about bees when this stung me! Freaked me out! Yuck! This is a doll that is for sale. Someone has a Stephen-King-twisted-mind! I still don't like looking at it, so I posted it for you to see....

Thank a Veteran

I just wanted to take a quick moment to THANK all our service men & women on this veteran's day. I am grateful to my husband, father, father-in-law, grandfathers and other family members for their service!!! I am proud of all of you!! Thanks for your sacrifices for your country! Thankful for your time serving so that my family & I can live in a free nation. We DO appreciate you and your labor of love!

Many of you have called or emailed us asking about that horrible, shocking tragedy that happened here at Fort Hood. We are thankful for your concerns. Instead of deploying Jeremy like he was supposed to, they gave him a new job as OIC (Officer In Charge) of a clinic on post. He started last Monday, and then on Thursday was that appalling attack. Well, Jeremy's new office is 2 buildings away from where the shooting took place. After the shooting started, people attempted to leave the building, one man ran over to Jeremy's clinic and the receptionist called 911. Jeremy and some nurses took off to help out until the swat team cleared the area. They then went on to the hospital to help out as they were over run with shooting victims. He was just grateful to be helping out. The mood here at Fort Hood has changed, you can see the affects on people faces and hopefully yesterdays' memorial will help to bring some kind of closure. I don't know if we will ever understand the reasons behind such a blatant heinous act but pray that our service men and women will find the peace needed to leave this behind them and move forward. Many here seem to be looking over their shoulders straining to see if there is a hidden danger. I've even seen it off post at the stores, soldiers constantly surveying the area around them.

Take a moment today to thank everyone you know that has been in or is in the military. Reflect on the military service provided this great country and how those whose lives have been lost have protected you. Our bishop on Sunday at church had everyone stand up that has been in military action since WW1 and for every war, skirmish since then. As he called out each war and those who have served stood up, I had to fight back tears of gratitude. It was amazing and and awe-inspiring as men and women stood showing their selfless devotion to our country. The whole process took only 5 minutes but will always remind me how lucky I am to live here in America, home of the brave. Very reflective and thought provoking for this Veteran's day.

"...let us solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly on the seas, in the air, and on foreign shores, to preserve our heritage of freedom." ~Dwight D. Eisenhower declaring Veterans Day November 11, 1954

Texas State Aquarium

We enjoyed the Texas State Aquarium with some cousins before the baby was born. Here are some fun shots.