Happy Birthday, Jesus!

patriot shane had a fabulous Christmas, as you can tell. more pix will follow, but i'm going to bed for now!

Dogtopia Dogpile:)

tonight's post should be about shiloh and the wild & crazy dog christmas party we attended for him at Dogtopia (sponsored by BU law :), but once again patriot shane steals the show...or the dogfood. as we are driving away from the party, josh hands pt a 'small' bag of dog food to keep him entertained on our short ride home. before we exit the parking lot, i sniff the air and say, 'do you smell dogfood?' josh turns around starts dying laughing and immediately snaps this pic:

before i can get to the back seat, he snaps this one of patriot trying shiloh's 'snack':

clean-up begins w/ dogtopia in the background:)

we knew this story HAD to make the blog, so we mugged for the shot with the busted bag:

happy thanksgiving, my 17 month old!

this year my parents hosted thanksgiving dinner in plano. we are so thankful that our families live close enough to celebrate the holidays together:) my in-laws and aunt di came over for yummy dishes and good company.

i can't believe how much patriot has changed in the last year. even in the past month it seems he has grown up so much. more words (he likes to say 'okay.' at the end of every request), more independence (wants to walk into his bedroom by himself when we are ready to change a diaper!), fine motor skills improving (enjoys twisting the caps of things off and on--from milk cartons to toothpaste:). he amazes me daily.
_______________________________

here are some fun shots from yesterday:

not so sure he wants to pose w/ mom or aunt eeee.

my cousin nic gave patriot this super cute janie & jack outfit that was perfect for the day's festivities! here is the only pic i have w/ the cutie suspenders on his shoulders.

he spent the rest of the day with them draped down his back, all causal like:) here he is trying to escape from dad and i's human blockade.

look closely: don't you just love baby toes?

playin' with papa & noni

papa was so happy to be able to play with his great-grand baby on thanksgiving. he LOVES making him laugh.

happy birthday reese:)

reese technically arrived a week ago today, friday 11/21, but it has taken me this long to post these cutie pix:) click on nicksterland to see all the stats. after an amazingly fast labor/delivery, the wilson's were up for vistors. isn't her sign from mimi adorable?

on saturday, erin came w/ mom & i to visit reese. don't know why we don't have a pic w/ mom holding her, 'cause you know noni was all over holding a GIRL baby. i made it part of her birthday celebration. even though they are a day apart (i went back to visit reese on saturday and took mom & erin, though of course i had to stop by for a quick hi on friday afternoon:)

patriot hasn't met her yet due to his nap coinciding with this visit and then coming down w/ a terrible ear infection that took us thru thanksgiving in plano! but soon, he will get to meet the baby, baby, baby--and he will furiously sign baby, while saying it. to add emphasis, i'm sure!

nic looked amazing, as did the baby of the hour, miss reese elaine wilson. i heart her headband and can't wait see what this little one will grow to be like!

happy birthday, reese!

Sic 'em ESPN

at a game time perfect for tots (3pm on Tuesday) ESPN decided to televise the Bears vs. Centenary. oh, did i mention that tickets were only $3?!? Awesome. so we brought the crew:
Crater & Pate held up the cute sign Kimberly made:)i'm sure she got a better one of the two, but Creighton was DONE holding the sign, so pst posed for a shot:)

we think, as in are pretty sure, this is patriot's first live Bball game! he was a super baylor fan in his grover apparel and loved aaaaaaa sic'em bears.

the game was fast paced and we tried to capture his excitement, but he was often to distracted by the bears to pose.

across the stadium were the tristan, sawyer, creighton & families. (can you find reese in the pic? she is due for arrival ANY DAY NOW:) we visited for a few minutes, but patriot only wanted to climb stairs, so back we went to find aunt eeee and sit w/dada.

well, the final score was an amazing 90-55---aaaaa sic'em bears:)

playdough palooza

this weekend aunt eeee & patriot dove head first into patriot's debut cooking experience. what does a tiny tot cook, you may ask? pumpkin-colored playdough! enjoy the photoshoot, and if you need the recipe go to momeez.blogspot.com

Wordless Wednesday

Vote 4 My Better Tomorrow:)

on friday, patriot assisted me in casting my vote for president. he even has the sticker to prove it!

at first i was gonna go by myself while he was in mothers' day out, but rose & i found some interesting info for our radio show that changed my mind. i believe the verse, 'train up a child in the way they should grow and when they grow old, they will not depart from it." rings true here. a national study says that a parental voting is the surest predictor of whether or not a young adult decides to vote. also, they are twice as likely to vote themselves if their parents vote regularly. it is important to me to teach this civic duty by action as well as words, so off to the polls we went!

i'm sure it's no big suprise who we voted for:0)

okay, if you haven't already, run on out and vote tomorrow, November 4th!

my 16 month old

Patriot Shane-

October has been SO fun and full of firsts.

You amazed me when:

• you wraped your arms around me and layed your head on my shoulder in a REAL hug, yesterday:)
• figured out how to open the childproof gate, 5 times in a row.
• decided to walk all on your own --now there is no stoping you.
• sat like a big boy in Colin's overstuffed chair, sipping your milk and watching the game w/ Mr. Matt.
• ran on the beach & played in the surf like you owned the place.
• climbed in to the swing on your play castle, flipped around and swang yourself.
• began to repeat almost everything we tell you, really trying to figure out how to pronounce the words and understand their meaning.
• decided veggies were no longer your friends & became a fruit fiend.
• used a fork correctly.
• flew on 8 flights in 4 weeks w/out any memorable meltdowns!
• calmly let me take pix of you in your adorable lion costume after first hating it with a passion.
• became a cookie monster with a sweet tooth as big as your mom's.
• flash that dimple at me and ask for "moh, waf-waf's" when you've already had 3.
• used sound effects for everything from cars to waterhoses.
• carved your first pumpkin with dada.
• laughed hysterically at something new everday.
• knocked on the kitchen door while signing & saying 'dada' expectantly.
• wore your first pair of Levi jeans and made me think, what happened to my baby?

i love you my sweet son & am thankful for all of the things you teach me to be, daily.

love always,
mama

Wordless Wednesday

Come Camp-out with Creighton

this past saturday evening we attended Creighton's fabulous 2nd b-day party in his own backyard. however, when we arrived, we found that the yard had be tranformed into a tot's wonderland of outdoor activities. from fishing to hunting and s'more to slides---this party was a hit with kids of all ages:) our little man had a ball in his camo attire; check out the pix below for a peek into the party:



fantastic job, kimberly. you and b were gracious hosts---we will party with y'all anytime:)

pei wei with grace

our friend chris, kelli & grace came to town on saturday and brought by a yummy lunch from pei wei for us to enjoy. chris was actually the pastor who married josh and i, oh so long ago and we have been good friend w/ them since college. i know chris took better pix than me, so i'll add those when he e-mails 'em.

okay, so there were no shots of the actual lunch, but here is the playdate afterwards:

such serious babies.

warming up a little...

they both thought chris was hysterical!

it was quite a feat to get these two independent walkers in the same frame, but we tried to preserve it for history's sake:)

Cookie Monster

I think it's official, we have a cookie monster on our hands:) While we were at the park for Creighton's play group party yesterday, Patriot snuck a cookie out of the box and began chowing down. By the time I got my camera out and turned it on, half the cookie was gone!

here's where is all started: the cookie box

As you can see the cookies were a big hit with all the kids. Look closely to see Melissa feeding Brodie one, while my chipmunk stores his cookie in his cheeks!

This was hysterical and alarming all at once! For those of you wondering, I did let him finish the cookie, but after that we were 'ahhh don' with snacks for the morning:)

I have to give credit to Kimberly for the new header pic of Patriot swinging at the park--she's good, huh? She has the beginings of a booming photography business and thankfully Patriot seems to heart her camera!