Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Golf Swing

Our house just got a little crazier.  Rick has been working on Palmer's golf swing and Palmer's sweet golf putts around the house have turned into whiffle balls flying thru the air as he learns how to DRIVE the ball.

Um, why aren't the boys playing golf outside?  Yeah, I asked that question, too.  Nobody except me seems to mind and the balls continue to fly around the house.

In fact, I think Rick's answer was, "It would be worth something getting broken if Palmer's drive is really good."

I beg to differ...

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

January

The holidays are over, it's still dark early in the evenings, and the temperature is actually cold outside.  It must be January.

Let's check in on Palmer's Christmas loot.

I thought I had the brightest idea in the world when I bought Palmer this stool for Christmas.

I thought to myself, "I know! I will get Palmer his own stool and stop hoisting him up to wash his hands.  Palmer is going to be so independent!"

Whoops.  Independence=Mischief.  When the house is eerily quiet, my first place to look  is the guest bathroom.  What do I hear?  The splashing of water and little giggles.  Who knew washing your hands was so much fun?  (And it's even more fun when you bring your toys and dog to get washed, too.)

Check out this adorable matchbox car caddy my sister made.




















Palmer loves to line up all of his new matchbox cars and trucks.  I love how is he starting to concentrate on his toys for longer periods of time.

(By the way, a step-by-step list of instructions to make a car caddy can be found here .)

In a moment of cold weather house-bound improvisation, I turned the upstairs carpet into a road thanks to some packing tape....

With a little creativity, I think the packing tape doubles as a very lovely road.  ha!  Yes, it might be a good idea to look into one of those rugs with roads for cars and trucks.

By the way, did you notice my little Dallas Moms Blog button on the right side of the screen?  I have been a huge fan of the Dallas Moms Blog for awhile.  Their posts are helpful and insightful for the local Dallas mom.  A few weeks ago, there was a call for new contributors.  I applied and am just tickled to have been selected as one of their new writers.  My head is already exploding with new post ideas for the city blog.  I'll keep you posted from time to time with my contributions.

-Bethany

Cowboy

Meet our new cowboy.

My brother Luke bought Palmer a pair of boots when Palmer was just itty bitty. Finally, Palmer is close to fitting into the boots and all Palmer wants in life is to clomp around in his new footwear (preferably in a golf cart, but that is a different story...)  The problem is, Palmer's school doesn't allow boots and we have had a hard time explaining why Palmer can't wear his beloved shoes to school.

Thank goodness for weekends where Palmer can happily stomp all over the place just like his Uncle Luke.

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

(Please excuse the terrible photo quality.  I thought the content outweighed the quality this time.  Please also excuse my words on a Wordless Wednesday post.  Over and out.)

-Bethany

Beavers Bend

At the spur of the moment, Rick and I decided to drive over to Beavers Bend State Park in Oklahoma last weekend.  Rick has worked some long months recently and when a break in his schedule opened, we decided a quick weekend in a rustic cabin would serve our family well.

Beavers Bend is just a mere three hours from Dallas, but the variance from Dallas' topography makes it seem further.  Imagine tall trees, thick woods, rolling hills, streams, rivers, and a gorgeous lake.

(We tried to take a family picture, but the deer weren't interested in snapping our shot.)

We stayed in a little one bedroom log cabin with a fireplace and had such a nice evening of s'mores and reading by the fire.

Palmer is an active boy, so the city kid had a ball tromping around and running in the woods.

Palmer kept telling us he wanted to "go on a walk!"  During those hikes, he tripped over many sticks and would get right back up and keep running.

Eventually Rick picked Palmer up to keep us moving...

Beavers Bend was such a fun getaway and we definitely plan to visit in the summer when boating and fishing and horseback riding activities are more of an option.

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Christmas

What fun we've had seeing Christmas thru the eyes of a child.  Although Palmer doesn't exactly "get" the meaning of Christmas or Santa Claus, he definitely had a fun season filled with lights and family and opening presents.

Last year, we started a tradition of spending Christmas at our house and were happy to have so much family join us again for the day.

Palmer was very curious of the lights on the ribbon garland I made for Christmas morning.  I plan to haul this garland out for special mornings like Christmas and birthdays throughout the childhood years.

Palmer made it on the nice list (much to my surprise some of these toddler days!) and had a full bounty under the tree.

Big ticket items include a new balance bike:

A pretend car with buttons that make tons of sounds from Nana:

A tickle me Elmo...

...and many many other things from our gracious friends and family.

At this age, I think Palmer had just as much fun opening presents as receiving the actual gifts.

Rick got a new Big Green Egg smoker a few weeks ago and treated everyone to brisket and smoked chicken for our Christmas feast.  Rick told Palmer they needed to go outside and do "man things".

Back inside, Samantha and I enjoyed preparing the rest of the meal.  Check out these cute  Christmas finger jello squares.  They were so much fun to put together and I'll have to experiment with other color scenarios for alternate holidays.

Palmer with Gram:

Would you believe it?  We got a WHITE CHRISTMAS in Texas!  A "blizzard" blew in for the afternoon and we all had a ball playing in the snow.

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!

-Bethany