Christmas Tree Farm... in Texas??

Coming from the west coast, we are spoiled having a huge selection of beautiful Christmas trees... with all the mountains in California and Oregon full of Christmas tree crops... last year in Texas we bought one at Walmart... looked just like the trees from home... and would you guess that the tag on it said... "GROWN IN OREGON"! Really!? All the way to Texas!? But as you could imagine as trees die, that one died really fast because I'm sure it had been several weeks since it had been cut, shipped halfway across the country, sitting at Walmart waiting to be loved and taken home... it died so fast! This year, one of my girls from church said that they go to a Christmas Tree Farm... I was shocked there was even a tree farm, and really apprehensive about what kinds of trees to find in Texas... I've heard that they all look like shrubs! teehee... We got our tree there, but not one that we cut down... it was imported from North Carolina I think... but it was pretty. It sure was fun going to this farm with our friends... they had tons of fun things to do there!... We started off with a tractor ride, rode go-carts, went down a giant slide, and jumped on a huge bouncy thing. When we got home, Grandpa and Don quickly put the tree up and in water... (with DJ's help of course!)

DJ's iTouch...???

So I was hunting around for a 'DJ Church-Quieting Toy'... so that everyone around us could enjoy church a little more if DJ were to be a little more quiet. I decided to get a used iTouch and put games on it for DJ to play with to keep him quiet during church... well BINGO, I found one for $25! ...and DJ is AMAZINGLY good at these games on there! Puzzles, matching, drop and drag, driving games, etc. It's funny to see him as he is in this picture. Of course I use it too for email, check how the world is out on Facebook once in a while... and I just discovered the Rummikub game for the iTouch... a game that I LOVE! I find myself saying a LOT lately to DJ... 'It's Mommy's turn!" teehee poor kid. I love this thing!

Fossil Rim... AGAIN! :)

Since we had family in town... and several days to visit... we decided to take the hour and a half drive to show them one of our favorite places... FOSSIL RIM! :) Since we've posted about this place on our blog twice before... we'll spare all the gorey details... here's a few new pictures. :) DJ "driving"... he's really into driving at 2 years old! A huge giraffe... they sure are interesting animals... and I love the one of them next to the cars... you really get to see how big they are next to the cars! Then a family picture of some of us! :)

THANKSGIVING 2010!!

We were sooo lucky to have so much family in town for Thanksgiving! Don's dad, my parents, my brother and his wife were all here! It was so nice to spend time with them. I don't have pictures of everyone, but here's a picture of the table and yummy food! Then a few pictures of DJ playing with Grammie and Grandpa! DJ read the toy sale ads with Don's dad and learned how to do puzzles with my mom. He sure missed them when they left!

It's a GIRL! :)

I am 22 weeks along... so just a little bit past the halfway point of this pregnancy, and at my 12 week ultrasound, they told me that the baby looks like it might be a boy! Then she quickly added that it could still go either way since that is a little early to tell for sure. :) I was excited for a boy so DJ could have a little buddy and I could re-use all the boy stuff... PLUS I found out that early that DJ was a BOY, and he came out a boy!

HOWEVER... yesterday at my ultrasound appointment... when I asked the sonographer, "It's a boy... RIGHT!??" she hesitated and said, I'm not sure about that... "SHE" looks like a girl to me! She kept looking over and over... and kept saying, yup, she's a girl! In case you haven't seen one... those ultrasounds images are hard to make out what in the world you are looking at some times... but even I could see pretty clearly that SHE had no boy parts!!! We are soo excited!! :) Time to start thinking about how to DECORATE the nursery! :)

Don's Birthday!

It is Don's birthday.... but as usual, most of the pictures are of DJ! He's gotten really excited about singing the Happy Birthday song! At bedtime, he has even sung Happy Birthday song to Daddy's Truck and Mommy's car (if I'm lucky, cuz Daddy's truck ranks higher, as it is way cooler!) Happy Birthday Don! We love you!
The INFAMOUS CHOCOLATE BIRTHDAY CAKE!
DJ enjoying the birthday cake.
DJ enjoying the birthday cake, take two. :)

Periodic Random Pics...

Now and then, you have those onsie-twosie pictures... so here are mine... DJ learning that ground level isn't the only place he can be.... CLIMBING up... and UP! Then he's 'flyin' with his feet in the air... then multi-tasking! Eating his lunch while pretending to be on the phone! Such a fun kid!

THE TIME HAS COME....

FOR A BIG BOY BED! I was just bragging no more than a week ago about how DJ LOVES his crib... and has NEVER tried climbing out of it and he is almost 2 and a half! :) He's gone potty (both numbers) on the toilet several times... but one of the criteria for potty training is that your toddler is no longer in a crib so they can go potty on their own. WELL... I wasn't ready to potty train if it meant having him out of the crib!
(I should've knocked on wood) because DJ finally did it! I had a friend over... when we hear a door slamming upstairs! This friend had gone to another room and I asked her if she was upstairs, she said no!?!?! Then I KNEW DJ had gotten out of his crib! MY LIFE IS OVER HOW I KNEW IT BEFORE! :( I put him back in bed... we snuck to watch DJ through the door crack in the adjoining bathroom... DJ swiftly pulled off his socks, went to the corner of the crib, lifted one leg over, then the other... then gracefully slid down the side of the crib... as if he had done this many times before! We were cracking up! So no nap that day! Don and I "DJ-proofed" his room that night including safety locks on the inside so he can't open the doors and he slept on the crib mattress on the floor... (well he started out on the mattress). He put up a little fight, but went to sleep pretty quick since he didn't have a nap that day. The next morning, we found him on a pile of blankets in the middle of the floor. :)
A day after that, I found a used IKEA toddler bed on craigslist from a nice family... and DJ LOVES it! :) YEAY... He's been doing good so far! Naps are a LOT shorter... but oh-well, he's doing a lot better than I thought he would. :)

Visiting a Good Friend!

A year ago, DJ & I went to Austin to see an old friend of mine that I used to work with in California! She, Alisa was here for a conference for work... well that conference happened again this year in Austin, so we went down there to see her! We had dinner with our old boss and a few other co-workers... so nice to see everyone!