Parksdale here I come

Parksdale is a hugh stand that sells local fresh produce and flowers. They also sell the biggest, most fabulous strawberry shortcakes you have ever had. YUMMY!!!!

 

 

 

Manatee watching

Growing up I loved Manatee's - still do. Not far from Nana and Steve's is a Manatee watch point. It's a body of water that their local energy company owns. The water their is warmer than other places so that manatee's "flock" to that area. There were TONS of them there that day. Didn't get that great of pictures but all those lumps in the water you see are the manatee's. I could have stayed there all day.

 

 

 

 

The air ride home

How exactly do you keep a kid quiet during a flight???, you give them a sucker stolen from their Pepe during their haircut!!! Worked like a charm!! :)
Actually Garrett does great during flights - but having the sucker didn't hurt!!

 

 

 

 

Potty Update

Just a quick update to let you know how our "big boy" is doing (and I HOPE I'm not jinxing it!) Garrett has gotten 5 out of 7 rows full on his sticker chart!!, AND yesterday....he stayed dry ALL day!!! We were SO proud of him. Kevin told him that b/c he did so good he could pick dinner - his choice?, chicken nuggets and a 'nilla milkshake. He chose to drink the shake and not touch the nuggets(that's my boy!)! Last night he even told me at one point that he needed to go!! We are really heading in the right direction I feel. This is something that I have DREADED for months now...but I must say it is going pretty easy!!

Potty Training

If you had asked me a week ago how Garrett was doing with potty training I would have informed you that my child would be going to kindergarten with a pull-up on (Ok-really I know that's not so true- but it was how we felt). Fast forward to this weekend and it's a completely different story! On Friday Garrett's teacher informed me that he had used the potty all morning and had kept his pull-up dry - so I though why not keep this going. Kevin and I had no real plans Saturday or really Sunday so it was a perfect time. We woke Saturday morning and put Garrett straight on the potty. Now, I must inform you this is not his most favorite thing to do right upon awakening - but he deals. We had success (this wasn't too exciting just because he often does this anyway if we can catch him first thing in the morning - however previously that is as far as we went), put him into big boy underwear and we were off for a day of the potty!! Now I won't bore you with every potty trip - but I will say he has done EXCELLENT!!! He has had a total of 4 accidents (2 each day), which I don't think are too bad. He is yet to tell us he had to go(hopefully that will come soon) - but pretty much everytime we sit him down he goes.

If you talk to other parents you will commonly hear that #1 is easy (well, easier) than #2. Well, not my child. Both are going along equally - so for that I am thankful. To not have to be told to put a pull-up on so he can go, or to have a child crying because they are scared (yes, I have heard both of these) are a great relief to me.

To help aid in this whole adventure - we decided that "rewards" of some type were probably going to be a good thing. Daycare uses GummyBears, so we went along with that for everytime he goes. Something I added to the mix was a sticker chart. Not knowing if he was going to truly "get" the sticker chart, I decided to try it - but told myself we maybe ditching it very soon. Well, he DOES get it, and is very excited about it. There are 7 rows across and 7 day (for the days of the week - but we aren't really following that). For every row, on the last box I colored it red. I told Garrett everytime he got to a red box he was due an extra surprise (I bought ALOT of cars, some spiderman markers, and his new found love of icecream(it's ABOUT time!!)). Today he reached one of those boxes and asked for icecream (with chocolate syrup of course).

Garrett's sticker chart


We are hoping we have reached the milestone of having a non-wearing pull-up or diaper kid. Keep your fingers crossed - and I will keep you updated. We are so excited to have a "big kid now!!"

Baseball

Today was a beautiful day! After lunch at Maw-Maw's we decided to get out and get some fresh air...and what better way to do so then to play alittle baseball. Garrett did great considering it's been awhile since he has hit.




Maw-Maw even came out to play (she hit the ball too, GO MAW-MAW!!!)

ABC's

Garrett has started singing his ABC's within the past month or so. I think it's adorable when he gets to "L,M,N,O" - watch what he does with his tongue during this!! It's so exciting to realize how much he is learning!! This past weekend Grandma Kaye took Garrett to his first circus (and us too). We had a great time, Garrett is still talking about it!! Unfortunately the program I use to upload photo's is not cooperating this evening - I will try to get pictures up this weekend of the fun we had.
On a side note - I want to apologize for you having to listen to my singing along with Garrett's. He does better with alittle assistance during most songs, if we don't this is what we hear "A,B,C,D...how I wonder what you are"!!! :)

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Not much of an introduction is needed for this video. I must say though that this was about the 5th time I had him sing this song. The first video turned out perfect...but was too dark once I downloaded it. It took alot of persuasion (ok- I bribed him with money for his bank) to get him to sing it again and not get up half way through to "see" (He likes to watch/look at things after we take them)!!
I think it's the cutest thing ever!!

The remainder of our Christmas festivities

Whew, last post for today!! There are ALOT of different posts below this one....so keep scrolling down!!

Our Christmas festivities continued throughout the weekend. On Saturday we had dinner with the rest of Kevin's family at Maw-Maw's. We forgot our camera that day so no pictures to show...but we had a great time over there - and ate entirely TOO much!!

On Sunday Bill and Carleane (Bull and Bubba)came over to see Garrett and eat dinner. After a much needed change from Turkey to pizza we opened presents!! Garrett got a new art desk from them!! He also got a GeoTrax track, as well as a fire station. He loved all of it!

In order to not make another post, in this collage I added the pictures of Garrett's new bed. On Sunday we changed his crib into a big boy bed!! So far he has done great! (If I had written this 30 mins. ago I would be able to tell you that he has yet to get out of bed and has laid right down every time and gone straight to bed. However, I can't say that anymore! I put him down for a nap, and about 20 mins later I thought I heard something like movement on the baby monitor - didn't think much about it- and didn't get up to go check. Next thing I heard wasn't "Mommy" - but instead just a quiet but yet constant knock on his door until I opened it....and there he stood!! Needless to say - this nap has taken alittle bit longer to take place- but alas I think he is asleep!!)

 

Christams Evening

We finished out Christmas over at Mom and Dad's. Gran, Sandra and Rick were able to come down from Virginia and join us for dinner. We pigged out (no pictures of that-thank you very much!) - then opened even more presents. Garrett made out with tons of stuff from Mimi and Papa - his favorite - all his Thomas the Trains!! He got a hugh Mickey Mouse from Sandra and Rick (sorry no pictures- blame Kevin he was the photographer), and some Handy Mandy pajamas from Gran (again-blame Kevin)!! It was a great day spending time with family, and remembering the true meaning of Christmas.

 

Other gifts Christmas morning

 

Uncle Tyler was there too...even from Korea

Thanks to modern day technology Tyler was able to join in on our morning craziness!! It was Christmas evening for him, so he wasn't as sleepy as we were!! We wished he could be with us...but this was the next best thing!! Skype is a WONDERFUL thing!!

 

 

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning started for us bright and early. 6:30 to be exact!! Dad (Papa) and Whitney came over to see Garrett with all his new toys and to have breakfast. Mom (MiMi) couldn't come this year because of work...but we caught up with her later in the day

 

Santa Came!!!

Leaving cookies and a picture out for Santa.

 

Garrett must have been a good boy all year. Santa showed up and brought Garrett TONS of new toys....and the bike he asked for!!!

 

 

Christmas Eve at Scott and Robin's

Our family Christmas festivities started at Scott and Robin's house on Christmas Eve. We had a great meal then watched the kids open presents!! We had a great time. It was home early that evening to get ready for Santa!!

 

 

 

 

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve started with a gift from Mommy and Daddy before we headed to Uncle Scott and Aunt Robin's house. What was the gift you ask....well new pajamas of course!! Lightning McQueen and 'Mater to be exact!!

 

 

 

 

SNOW!!

We had our first snow yesterday/last night! We managed to get I'd say around 2-3 inches!! We went out this morning to play in it. Garrett had a good time. It took him awhile to get used to it b/c during the night we also had freezing rain- so it wasn't fluffy snow- more like "ice-snow". Anyway, once I showed him he could have fun by throwing snowballs at Daddy, he warmed right up :), but then he turned against me and started hitting me!! Overall, we had a great time playing in the snow!




Earning his keep

Christmas Program 2009

It's really late- and I'm tired...but I wanted to go ahead and post this for a certain someone in Korea that asked ever so nicely to see it :)
This is most of Garrett's portion. They combined the 1 year old room and the 2 2 year old rooms for it. Garrett did so good (atleast he stayed up there). Sorry for the horrible tape job....I was trying to get around the little girl infront of Garrett (or the one Garrett was hiding behind), laughing my butt off, and my knees were KILLING me from crouching down!! Anyway, we think he did awesome...and we think we have the cutest little boy up there!! :) Enjoy!!