Arizona--Day Two

On Sunday, we decided to all head out to the Phoenix Zoo. It was pretty interesting, but it made me appreciate the Fort Worth Zoo. We have it pretty good here!
Here are a few pictures from our day:

First, we saw the giraffes. It was so cool. You could get so close to them. Noah and Lance went up to the lookout to get a closer look.

Then we saw the tigers and lions. This picture has been posted after listening to Lance beg me. I would rather not post a peeing tiger, but I try to keep my husband happy!

Pointing out all of the birds

Elise and Ayden enjoying some kettle corn!

These turtles were in the same area as some antelope and birds. Noah was fascinated by them!

Noah and Aunt Laura heading to the next exhibit

A thoughtful Ayden

Enjoying a hot dog and making sure the peacocks strutting around didn't steal it!

This picture is completely overexposed

and tecnically horrible, but I think it makes me look skinny so I had to post it. I'm shameless, I know ;)

Noah's first road trip

I know it has been a while since I've updated so I'm going to try to do better with our Spring Break pictures. I've asked Shipley to stay on top of me about posting these, so maybe I'll actually get it done this time :)



Last Friday night, we set out on Noah's very first road trip. We left around 6:00 pm for Arizona thinking that Noah would sleep all night. Ha ha, we couldn't have been more wrong! He did really well for the first 6 hours or so, but then he had all he could take of the car. Unfortunately, there were still 12 more hours to go! We finally made it to Laura's house (Lance's sister) around 11:00 Saturday morning.

Starting out on our trip:

Watching endless episodes of Blue's Clues. I think I can quote all 8 episodes on this DVD now. It is the only one he wanted to watch!

Coloring :)

Laura did not tell her kids that Lance, Noah and I were coming. They thought that it was just going to be MawMaw and PawPaw. When they came out to "help unload the car," they were shocked to see us sitting in the car. Elise grabbed Noah and hugged him tight!

Noah and Ayden playing "back-e-ball"

Laura took Noah out to see their horse Diamond. He was fascinated, but this was about as close as he would get that day.

Then, Noah discovered the quads in the garage. By the end of the week, these were referred to as "my cars."

Aunt Laura took Noah out for a (slow) ride!

There's the jist of day one in Arizona. I'll add more as I have time. Right now I'm exhausted and would like to nap. The ride home today was 1000 times worse than the ride there. I'm not sure any of us slept last night!

Sign me up for rehab

I bought another Christmas tree yesterday. I think I might have a problem.


But, honestly, if you saw a 6 ft tree for $2.49 wouldn't you buy it too?

Christmas post #1

I really should've kept on top of posting Christmas pictures, but I didn't. (You're probably not surprised!) I have so many fun pictures from the past week that I want to share, so it may take a few posts to share them.

We had Christmas with the Tippett's early this year because they were leaving for Arizona to visit their other grandchildren. They are so generous to us every year! Thanks Mom and Dad Tippett!

Noah opening presents

Yay for the Wii! We have had so much fun with it! We also received a Wii fit and it is kicking our butts!

Noah and his new chair

Cheesing it up on his new bouncy horse!

We had a very interesting end to our evening at the Tippett's house. The tree had a slight lean to it all day but no one really thought it was a problem. After opening gifts (thank goodness!) we all heard Lance yell, "Watch out!" and then watched the tree fall over on everything. Noah kept saying "Uh-oh tree, uh-oh tree" over and over again. Luckily no one was hurt and only a few ornaments were broken. This next picture was not at any Christmas celebration. Noah was just really enjoying his grilled cheese one afternoon. And he HAD to have his hat on to eat!
On Christmas eve we always go to my parent's house. We have several traditions starting with a wonderful Mexican meal! Yum!

Noah inspecting Micah's belly button

Hanging out in PawPaw's old chair

One of my favorite traditions is when my dad gathers all the kids in his lap to read the Christmas story. He has always read the story on Christmas eve as long as I can remember. This year was extra special for us. I remember thinking back in October that this moment was all I wanted for Christmas this year. Tears streamed down my face as Daddy read to his boys and told them all about baby Jesus. Laughter ensued when Noah pointed to baby Jesus and yelled "FOOTBALL!"

Opening presents

Playing with PawPaw's breathing thing and Great Grandma Ledbetter

The Tippetts :)

Wearing Great Grandpa Marshall's hat and playing with his new toys

When we arrived home that night, Noah was pretty tuckered out so I had to get the milk and cookies ready for Santa by myself.

We even left Santa a note...

Santa was here!!!!

It's an obsession

So I've been told I'm crazy and out of control, but frankly I don't mind. I have an addiction and I'm not willing to get help anytime soon. I'm addicted to Christmas trees. I have at least one in every room. After a discussion about this at lunch the other day, I decided it was time to dedicate an entire post to the trees in my house. I really enjoyed taking pictures of them :)

Here is Noah's tree. It's up high and completely unreachable for little 18 month old hands...

And then we have Noah's bathroom tree. It may not be the prettiest tree, but it has the most meaning for me. This was my grandma's tree. She passed away in '99. Last year, Grandpa gave this to me and I will forever put it up in my house.

In the computer room, Lance gets his own tree. He complains every year that it is so small, so I had to promise to go out after Christmas this year looking for a good 1/2 off deal on a new one. What is Lance's decoration of choice? Star Wars, of course.

Then, in our bathroom, we have a tropical motif going on. What better way to add the Christmas spirit to that than with a gold tree and Santa on a surfboard. Oh, and the hula snowlady. She's a must.

Our bedroom has the hodge podge tree. You know all of those ornaments that are given to you for special events or ones people make for you? This is where they end up in our house. We've got Sweethearts 2003, Just Married 2004, New home 2006, Parents to be 2006, Baby's First Christmas 2007 and about 20 different framed pictures of our child. Imagine how crowded this tree will be when we have another one (way off in the future for those of you wondering.) Oh, and I thought I got a picture of the full tree, but apparently I didn't. You'll just have to imagine it with all of these awesome ornaments on it! :)

And then we have our main tree in the living room. Isn't it fabulous?

Just kidding! That's the tree at the Gaylord!

Here is our tree. If you've been to my house, you've seen my kitchen and all of its Coca-Cola glory. I won't drink the stuff, but it sure makes for some cute decor. Anyway, this tree is my favorite because of the great Coca-Cola Santas and ornaments out there!

So there it is. My tree obsession. I think I need a bigger house.

'Tis the Season

Christmastime is my favorite time of the year. It even ranks above my birthday. And, if you know me well, you know that my birthday is pretty darn important to me. I love the music, the decorations, the spirit of people and I love to be reminded of the reason that we celebrate it all. Christmas also brings with it the busiest time of the year. There seems to be something going on all of the time. This past weekend was the beginning of the season for the Tippett family and BOY was it packed with excitement!

Saturday morning the Tippett, Marshall and Ford clans headed to Dallas for the Adolphus parade. My mom was chosen to be Mrs. Claus in the parade this year! We wanted to ensure that we had really good seats, so we left Fort Worth at 6:30ish. AM. So much for sleeping in! We arrived with plenty of time to spare. (About 2 1/2 hours) We parked our gear down in a great spot and tried to stay warm and keep 3 boys entertained. We sent the big boys (Trey and Lance) to Starbucks and cuddled under blankets. It was so worth the wait! It was a great parade!

Here are some pictures from the parade. I took about 400 pictures. I figured that no one wants to look at 400 pics on a blog, so I narrowed it down a little. Ok, a lot.

The Tippetts

The family waiting and freezing

PawPaw entertaining Noah

Mrs. Claus!

Lance's favorite part:

Noah was fascinated!

As if getting up at 5:00 on a Saturday isn't enough to exhaust you, this weekend was also North Pointe's annual (minus last year) Christmas pageant. It started with some silly drama, but it turned out to be a really fun weekend. Noah wasn't sure what to do with himself. He loves church but spending 3 days there became a little tiring. We did actually manage to take naps both days. Thank God for a Sunday school room with a couch! I have been in charge of youth makeup for several years now. I'm not quite sure how I got the job, but I like it enough to keep it (for now...) Although, I'm pretty sure it's the reason I have a cold right now. Germy teenagers and close proximities do not do well for one's health.

My make-up buddy Shawna. The job may not be glamorous, but we make it fun!

The "youth number"--Christmas with a capital C

Yep, ladies, he's all mine :)

The nativity scene was beautiful!

This picture helps me to remember what all this craziness is about. Yes,it is stressful. Yes, it is tiring. But we have to put that all aside and remember why we celebrate Christmas.