Thanksgiving & a Visit From Grandparents

Our original plan was to drive to Dallas for Thanksgiving, but since Liz was working the shift the night before, we invited Dave's parents to come join us in Amarillo instead! I have never hosted a Thanksgiving or cooked a turkey, so I was a little nervous, but his parents brought a smoked turkey with them - perfect!! The turkey also came with potatoes and gravy, so we only had to put together a few sides for the meal. It wasn't the fanciest dinner ever, but it tasted great and the clean up went really fast. 

While his parents were here Sophie stole Grandma for several hours each day to play in her room, read books, do crafts and play games. Davey also loves his grandparents and spent time doing puzzles, building duplos, and playing cars with Papa. And Charlie just snuck in a snuggle whenever he could. We are all so grateful they made the trip out to Amarillo to celebrate Thanksgiving and spend time with us!

Sophie worked on her gratitude turkey (Davey insisted it was a chicken) all month long. Each day she would right on a feather and then add it to the turkey, and he was looking pretty full by the time Thanksgiving arrived. 

I am not a hostess or decorator, but our table actually looked pretty good! Sophie helped me make the little turkeys the day before, my grandma Lambert made the table runner, the gold pumpkin was a gift from my mom, and I was lucky enough to find a matching set of chargers on clearance at Michael's!

And of course, the table decorations don't really matter, just the people around it

Thanksgiving snuggles with Aunt Liz

After dinner was cleaned up, we started this enormous puzzle which took a week to finish (separate post coming soon).

Grandma brought this fun potholder craft for Sophie to work on. They had a great time completing it together and now it's in my oven drawer. 

The day after Thanskgiving we got out the Christmas decorations. It didn't take Charlie long to discover the tree and ornaments - busted!

Dave and his dad also took the doors off our built in cabinets! It was something I have been wanting to do for awhile, but we had just never gotten around to it. Now we can use the shelves for display, and it was the perfect place for my Christmas decorations!

We took grandma and grandpa over to Candy Cane Lane, a street in a nearby neighborhood that goes all out for Christmas. 

We found Santa! He was sitting out front of the last house and the kids were excited to tell him what they want for Christmas, although Davey was still a little unsure and wanted to keep some distance.  

On Saturday we went to see the new Grinch movie. I thought it was cute, and Sophie absolutely loved it. Davey did well too and stayed in his seat the whole movie. We'll probably add it to our Christmas DVD collection when it comes out next year. D

And for dinner we went back to the Big Texan because it's a fun place to take out of town guests, and I'm not one to say "no" to a second steak dinner! 

Charlie is overwhelmed by that place and just sat in his high chair looking around

Before grandma and grandpa left, they surprised us with these fun matching pajamas. Dave's mom knew he wouldn't care for these, but he put them on for a photo and then gave them back to return to the store. We make cute pandas :)

Big Texan Birthday

This year I turned 33 years old. I had a good day and received lots of thoughtful messages from family and friends. My birthday also happened to be "Grandparents & Special Friends" day at Sophie's school, so I went over to have lunch with her since we don't have local grandparents. My friend offered to watch Davey and Liz stayed back with Charlie, so it was just us girls. We had a nice time talking while eating Cheetos and soda together.

After lunch, Dave came home from work early so I could go out shopping by myself for awhile. I found a few new clothes, and just enjoyed having an hour of solitude. Dave also did school pick up afterward so I could have some time at home.

Me and Sophie at kindergarten lunch

As a family we didn't do too much to celebrate because Dave and I decided that this year we would get new phones instead of giving each other birthday gifts, since our current phones had entered the downward spiral of death. We did go out to eat however, and chose the Big Texan because I love steak, it's family friendly and they have a great birthday special. This was the kids' first visit and they had a fun time looking at all the animals and western decor. It's gaudy, but fun and Sophie has already declared that this is where she wants to go for her birthday. I'm glad she likes steak as much as I do!

Love my family!

Before sitting down to eat we let the kids play for a bit in the shooting gallery. There are lots of targets scattered around a room that make a sound or move if you hit it. Davey loves guns so he thought it was awesome!

You get 25 shots for just $1 so everyone was able to take a few turns, even Charlie :)

We had a wonderful waitress who took great care of our family. She brought out hats for all the kids to wear. Davey still wears his around the house all the time.  

Charlie had no idea what was going on, but was a good sport anyway

My free birthday meal, which was delicious! Prime rib, 2 sides (mac & cheese and mashed potatoes), a roll, and a drink. 

Video: Of course Dave made sure the fiddlers came over to give me a birthday serenade

Our First Snow in Amarillo

On Sunday night we got snow in Amarillo! Snow is always exciting, but this was our first storm since moving to Texas, so it was extra fun.

Just a few days before the storm we had temps in the mid 70s, which felt wonderful, and then throughout the week they started to drop. Over the weekend it got really cold and the winds blew in the storm clouds. The forecast called for 100% chance of snow, and they weren't wrong! It started falling around 8 pm and throughout the night I watched it go from a dusting on the lawn to full coverage. It was still snowing when I went to bed, and I thought school would be cancelled for sure on Monday.

Our front yard on Sunday evening

View of the backyard - our pine trees looked so wintry!

On Monday morning the kids woke up super excited because the ground was still bare when they had gone to bed, and now there were 4-5" on the ground! There were strong winds, however, so some areas had been blown clean, but then some of the drifts near our house were closer to a foot deep. I was shocked to hear that school had not been cancelled. Even through the roads weren't plowed, the sidewalks weren't shoveled, and no ice melt had been laid, school continued on normal schedule. Sophie was super bummed she couldn't stay home to play, but since the day was supposed to stay cold, I told her it would still be there to play in when she got home. 

I took the boys out for a short time after she left. Davey was just a baby last time it snowed in Utah, so this was a whole new experience for him. He had fun, but fell over quite a few times and kept losing his gloves. He played with his trucks for a bit and helped me shovel the walk, but then decided he was done.

We Sophie returned from school, we bundled up again to play some more. With the bad weather, Dave decided not to commute down to Canyon so he was able to go out and play with them. They had snow ball fights, and he built them a little snow turtle. The snow was super dry and didn't pack well, so we'll have to try making a snowman at Christmas when were up in Washington. Afterward we came in for cookies and cocoa. It sure was a fun day!

Charlie at 8 Months

Charlie is 8 months old now! He went through some big changes over the last couple weeks and is now army crawling all over the place, saying "mama," and going to bed at a reasonable hour. He also got his first teeth! Only one tooth came through on the top though, so he's got a cute little jack-o-lantern smile that was perfect for Halloween. We had hoped that he would also start eating this last month, but he still refuses spoon feeding. We've tried oatmeal, apples, carrots, avacado, banana, and even ice cream with no luck. He also hasn't figured out how to chew and swallow finger foods either, so I am still exclusively nursing this giant boy. Maybe this month we will have more progress.... we sure love him though!!

Charlie at 8 Months

• I didn't measure him this month, but he's around 20 pounds and wearing 12-18 month clothes. We're also finishing up our box of size 3 diapers and then we'll move up to size 4.
• He is on the move! He scoots all around the house and has enjoyed being able to explore. He has also learned to move from his stomach back to a sitting position, although it sometimes takes him a few tries.
• Just like our other kids, he can be a very dramatic crier. He makes the most pathetic sad face and can produce huge, fat tears almost instantly. The things that most often make him sad are Davey, someone taking his toy, Davey, me walking by without acknowledging him, and Davey. 
• He has two teeth on the bottom and one on top. The other top tooth is close to breaking through to even out his smile. 
• In addition to saying "mama," he also learned to growl this month. The kids love to growl at him and then have him imitate it back.
• Is starting to become attached to his blue dinosaur blanket. He loves to bury his face in it, and snuggle the furry side when he is tired. 
• Can escape from the bumbo seat, so that's no longer a safe option, and we also put away the bouncer and swing. This boy is growing up!

First time in the snow! It was windy and freezing cold, but he didn't seem to mind. 

Crawling around, looking for crumbs in the rug

Sad that I won't let him eat marbles

Charlie loves bath time. In just a couple months he'll be ready to join the big kids, but for now he gets cleaned in the kitchen sink. 

His signature one-tooth smile

Sleeping on the rug

He is just the sweetest boy

A Visit from Grandmari

My mom came for a short visit at the end of October while my dad was on an out-of-state hunting trip. Her last trip to Amarillo was for Charlie's birth so we weren't the best hosts, but this time we had lots of fun things planned!

In our 4 days together we ate lunch with Sophie at school, carved pumpkins, trick-or-treated, shopped the Halloween clearance, went to the Discovery Center, enjoyed ice cream at Braums, swam at the WT pool, went birthday shopping for me, built helicopters at the kid's Home Depot workshop, read books, played games and more! She even helped me clean the house and take the kids to get flu shots (which went so much better than last year). We love Grandmari!!

Grandmari with the kids - Sophie (5), Davey (2) and Charlie (7 months)

Eating lunch with Sophie on Halloween. We brought donut holes as a special treat!

On Friday we checked Sophie out of school for a few hours so she could play with us at the Discovery Center. Texas has really strict attendance policies, but I think this "appointment" was worth it!

Spelling Sophie's name on the giant Lite Brite

All aboard the life raft!

Trying out the helicopter simulator (they crashed)

Charlie all bundled up after our swim at the WT pool

Dinner and ice cream shakes at Braum's

This is the new clock my mom bought me for my birthday, which is also the first thing we hung on the wall, even though we've lived here for more than a year now.

Our friends were also at the Home Depot workshop and my mom helped Sophie's friend assemble her helicopter. It was nice having an extra set of hands!