Happy Birthday, Serena!

I have always enjoyed celebrating my birthday with a bakery cake and this year was no different. James came home with take-out and a cake. So I enjoyed a nice evening of not cooking, birthday cake and watching the Biggest Loser.
After 3 birthday parties of his own, he has this eating cake stuff figured out! :)

Llama Llama Red Pajama

Everynight Chandler always has stories read to him, tonight was no different EXCEPT the books were out of order! James started with Goodnight Moon. James was only able to read 3 or 4 pages until Chandler slapped the book down. He climbed out of James' lap, picked up Llama Llama Red Pajama, climbed back in James' lap and listened while the story was read, not once but twice, to him! James and I got a good laugh and yes we read this story everynight. Thanks Grammy! :) Our BABY is growing up!!

Snap, Crackle, Pop...Ice Storm of '09

Thankfully the limb fell infront of the house, not on the house!

New Year, New Home

James' mom & step-dad moved to Red Oak from Colorado in June and since have been looking for a place to call HOME. Well, they finally found it, a nice size lot in Waxahachie to build their HOME. We are so excited for them and to watch and learn all the "in's & out's" of building a home.
Larry and Linda standing where soon their front door will be.

Christmas in Red Oak

Here's what Santa left Chandler, a lil' quad and his very own KUBOTA tractor!
Push it from the front and push it from the rear that's the only way to make this tractor go!
He is still too little to make his KUBOTA go, but he enjoys pushing it back and forth into things.
He wasn't quite sure of his lil' quad at first. However, once he figured out that the red button made him go it wasn't long till he was driving himself into all the walls and furniture.

Christmas in East Texas

Our little cutie
Emma and Grandma Linda
Kisses from Grandpa Larry
Moir Cousins: Emma, Chandler and Jacob

Christmas in West Texas

Christmas with the McCook's, Bowden's and Moir's **Alyssa, I don't know how I managed to do this, I got home with NO pictures of the kids together (other than the group shot and that doesn't count)! Guess, that means Chandler and I will be headed to OK soon :)**
My first and SUCCESSFUL attempt at Monkey Bread...it was DELICIOUS!
Chandler got a inch worm from his Grammy and Poppa

These aren't KUBOTA?! WHAT?

"Grandpa David & Grandma Ruth sent me these boots and mommy just told me they are John Deere"

Sleepy Head

Wiped out after an evening of fun at James' company Christmas party.

Thanks Alyssa!

8 Things I Did Today:
1. Went to the gym
2. Took Chandler to the doctor (ear inf)
3. Grocery shopping
4. Laundry
5. Cleaned the kitchen
6. Caught up on the business' bookkeeping
7. Purchased a elliptical machine for a bargain price, thanks Rakel :)
8. Blogged

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Amaya's-Red Oak
2. Celebration-Dallas
3. Chuy's-Dallas
4. Randy's BBQ-Red Oak
5. Fuddrucker's
6. MoonWok-Cedar Hill
7.
8.

8 Favorite Shows:
1. Dancing With the Stars
2. ER-sad this is the final season
3. Today Show
4. The Biggest Loser
5.
6.
7.
8.

8 Things I Wish For:
1. To win the weight loss challenge at the gym
2. To have a new fence around our house by the end of next year
3. To have the exterior of the house painted
4. The continual success of our business
5. A trip to Disney World
6. A trip to Wyoming to see the Tetons
7. Caught up on scrapbooking, especially Chandler's baby book!
8. The mice to stay out of my house!!!

8 Things I Look Forward to:
1. Spending time with family over the Christmas holidays
2. Our cruise in February
3. The first snow
4. A great workout
5. Friday nights when I don't cook :)
6. Home improvement projects around the house
7. James coming home
8. Everyday of motherhood...it's the BEST!!! :)

Christmas Tree Discovery

So, I have had the Christmas tree up now since the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Chandler has noticed it's arrival and up until yesterday would only look at the tree. He had a fun time pulling a few ornaments off and examining them closely. Yes, I'm happy to post my Christmas shopping is COMPLETE! :)

Look Who's Walking.......

and look who the PROUD parents are! Yes, we did use our laptop as an incentive to walk from me to James...and it worked. He still seems to enjoy crawling as his means for getting around, but we know it won't be long.**Thanks momma for capturing these precious pictures**

Thanksgiving with the pony and other familia

Thanksgiving this year we drove about 2 hrs away to the big city of Graham to celebrate with my Uncle David and family. Kirby and Chandler, look at that smile on his sweet face. He loved riding Star, the pony.
Ryan and his wife Kirby leading Chandler around on his first "real" pony ride
My cousins Erin and Ryan Bowden leading Chandler around on Star.
Me and my sweet boy getting ready to saddle up and ride his first pony
Rance, Ryan and Kirby's son, and Chandler playing together before the big feast

Animal Lover

Chandler, much like his father and mother, has a great love for animals. Especially, the dogs. His favorite, at least for now, is our 12 yr old lab, Chloe.

Here's the update....

Look at this precious boy, what a MIRACLE he is! We are so blessed!


Tonight we had fun being silly. James was pulling Chandler around in his wagon, and I happened to catch Chandler with a scared look on his face, moments before he was smiling...I mean come on, "Would this face lie ?" Thanks Steph for the shirt...do you remember giving that to him? I think you picked it out for him before he was born.


Drew, James and Larry...Thanks Larry for sending the pictures, since I forgot my camera! :(


This past weekend we drove out to East Texas, Van, and celebrated Thanksgiving with Drew. L to R: Larry, Drew, Bailey, Jacob, my head and Chandler. Linda was taking the photo and James and Emma were out counting dogs. HA...we had more dogs there than people...CRAZY! (Actually, I'm not sure where they were) We skipped the traditional feast and went for grilled burgers and a campfire. Fun times! :)


One, EARLY, morning Chandler and I headed to Stephenville to deliver donuts and invoices to a board meeting. James and our crew had just completed a massive clearing project there. **The picture above was only taken for blogger and scrapbooking purposes**


We stopped and had some fun at the park before heading back home to Red Oak. The boy loves to swing.


Here is the mastery of climbing onto the lid of the dishwasher. He surprised me oneday; I had my back to him briefly, pouring him milk...I'm sure, and when I turned back around there he was sitting as PROUD as could be.


One of Chandler's many discoveries has been the dishwasher. The boy is fascinated with it. He loves to open and close the lid and throw all the silverware out on the floor, yes, I keep the knives up and away!


James turned 33 on the 8th so he celebrated with a NEW CAR...a Honda Fit. Aside from the Expedition we purchased in '04 this was his first NEW car. I know he doesn't look all that thrilled in this picture, but it had been a long day for him.

We had a small, fun party at his parents house in Red Oak. Thanks Linda for the yummy enchiladas and awesome German Chocolate Cake...as you know, two of J's favorites!


Chandler has enjoyed playing with the older kids lately. This day the Brandt kiddos came for a visit. Lucas all kicked back and relaxed.


Chandler and Halli


I love this picture...Chandler's friends JR and Megan Gorrell.