Train Ride

We've started another tradition this year...riding the local "Christmas Train". We met several friends and their kids for the hour long train ride that went from Springdale to Centerton (yes, very sexy). The kids seemed to love it, and I think the adults were really thankful we didn't take the three hour long ride instead! We drank hot chocolate, watched tractors and cows out the windows, and devoured tons of snacks. Good times!

(and the picture of my guys in the middle seemed to capture the moods of them all that day...oh, Ethan...)

Sooner Men

Ethan declared Saturday morning "guy's morning". So they all donned their Sooner gear and headed to Krispy Kreme for breakfast. At first I was a little sad...thinking I needed to have a daughter that would want a morning with me...but as I drank my coffee and basked in the silence, I figured if this was my lot in life, it wasn't such a bad thing!

9 Months Old

It's so crazy to me that Owen is 9 months old. I'd say it's flown by, but I think I sound like a broken record! It's been a big last month for him as he's had two teeth pop in, he's started waving bye-bye, raising his hands above his had when asked "how big is Owen?", and pulling himself up on things. His "army crawl" has gotten quite fast, and he's on the cusp of figuring out how to crawl. He is ALWAYS on the move, and he is still putting EVERYTHING in his mouth. We've had to start saying "no, no" b/c he loves pulling things out of the wall outlets. That little stinker knows exactly what he's doing too...he'll reach his hand up, look at me, shake his head back and forth as if saying "no, no", and then touch it anyway. This is going to be fun! He still continues to enjoying exerting his independence when it comes to eating...if only he'd get some more teeth to eat with. We did make one trip to the hospital a few weeks ago after he had a really bad cold and his lips kept turning blue. They ran the gamut of tests only to tell us he had a "virus". Lovely. He's doing great now, and we're looking forward to celebrating his first Christmas!

Branson

I have done such a bad job of keeping my blog up, that rather than try to update the last month, I've decided just to start from this past weekend. I didn't even get pictures at Thanksgiving...I am slacking.

We took a small family vacation to the hot spot of Branson, MO this past weekend. We wanted to start the family tradition of seeing the Christmas lights at Silver Dollar City, and hitting the outlet mall, of course. To make the trip a tad more memorable, the weather took it's first dive south...it was in the 20s the evening we were in Silver Dollar City. I was a little concerned about it being too cold for Owen, but he ended up being the warmest of us all. He rode in my Moby under my ginormous coat. It was a little touch and go with Ethan for awhile - he was awakened from his nap early to go, and he was NOT feeling it. But once we got on the Christmas Train, all was well. The lights were amazing, and the big tree was gorgeous. I think what made the trip the most memorable, though, was meeting an older man named Gordon. We sat next to him at dinner and started talking to him. His wife died four years earlier and he has since made the trip to SDC every Christmas to reminisce about her and their times together. He showed us pictures of her, told us how they met, how she passed away, and all about their children. He told us to enjoy the time we have together because it goes so quickly. I was in tears pretty much the whole time. On our way to Branson, we'd prayed that we'd be able to love on whomever we met. I think we were able to love on Gordon a bit, but he really ministered to us more than anything. Suddenly, all the things that were robbing us enjoying the night as a family seemed really insignificant.

The next day we hit the Tanger Outlet Mall (a little piece of heaven for Chris!). We knocked out quite a bit of our Christmas shopping. The boys were troopers - they ingested their weight in snacks to keep them happy!

I think we'll try and go earlier in the year next season in hopes for warmer weather, but all in all it was the perfect beginning to a new family tradition.