"In hopes that St. Nickolas soon would be there"

Well now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, we decided to get ready for Christmas. Ethan was a huge help putting the ornaments on the tree.. oh and of course the star. Gracie just watched us while inching her way to the tree. I had to move her away a couple of times because she couldn't keep her hands off of the ornaments. Then she would babble as if she was giving us orders but once the lights were turned on she was preoccupied with that. I think Ethan really enjoyed decorating the tree not because it is fun to decorate a tree but he knows that it is a sign that Santa is on his way!

Happy Thanksgiving...from our little Turkeys

Sporting our new headbands

Us making our annual Thanksgiving headbands.

Dest being a dork

Mommy's Addiction

F for Originality

Yesterday Eric, Gracie and I were playing when we noticed Ethan had mysteriously disappeared. Normally, he will tell us when he is going to play in his room so I started calling out to him. Then not a second later this is what we hear, "OHH WOW, OH WOW, GEO TRACKS, AND BALLS........."

Eric: Crap Dest, he got into the closet. (Where we stashed our Christmas presents)
Destiny: Ethan JETT!!!!!
Ethan: Mom, look at all of these presents!!!!

I put everything back into the closet and took him aside because he was already balling his eyes out.

Destiny: Ethan, Christmas is coming and Santa still needs to wrap those presents. Do you want to play with those presents.

Ethan: Yes.

Destiny: Well, then you will need to not go back in there again or Santa will take all those toys back to the store. You have to wait until Christmas to open them up.

Ethan: Yeah, Santa is coming any minute. ( I tried correcting that 'to any day' but he still keeps saying any minute)

I ask myself why in the world did I hide the presents in the closet when that is the exact place my parents hid our presents. Whenever Gracie starts acting up Ethan reminds her that her presents will be taken back to the store if she keeps it up. Then proceeds to tell her what toys she has in closet as if she understands him.

By the way, I am allowing comments now. I took them down about a year ago and never got to putting them back. I just barely realized it, shows you how much I pay attention.

Ball of Gas

We were outside playing and even though it is November we still have the nice warm sun around. I think it started this conversation.

Ethan: Mommy, The sun is a ball of gas.

Mom: YES it is!!! Did Dad teach you that?

Ethan: No, Blue.

Mom: Blue????

Ethan: BLUES CLUES MOM, scoffs under his breath which he seems to be doing more than a teenager does. It is scary because he is two and firmly thinks he knows more than I do.

Mom: Well, Excusssse me.

Gracie first tooth

We first noticed her brand new tooth on November the 9th but we finally got a picture of it. The one right next to it looks about ready to come on out too. Gracie has decided that baby food is so not the way to go and it is driving her Mother crazy. She barely has one tooth but wants to eat real food. Although I am really glad that she has started drinking from a normal sippy cup. They look just like Ethan's but pink. Ethan had to use a straw sippy cup for awhile till he caught on but they are not spill proof and end up making a mess so I am excited she picked it right up. While her grandparents were here, they were hoping to witness Gracie's first time crawling. She would tease them a little bit by going on all fours then she would sit back down. After a couple times of that she decided to throw out some more bait. She got on all fours and proceeded to crawl backwards. It was quite funny. Only my daughter decides to go against what everyone is doing and makes up her own way. Stubborn little girl!

Do you know why grandchildren are always so full of energy? They suck it out of their grandparents. ~Gene Perret

Last week Grandpa and Grandma Haut came for a visit. It has been a while since we seen them so it was nice to catch up. I often joke that anytime people come to see us for their vacations they often leave more exhausted then when they first showed up. Ethan and Gracie can keep anybody busy but we also dragged them all around San Antonio. First, we wanted to show them the land that Eric and I chose to be our retirement/investment property. Like I said in a previous post we were on the look out and I think we have found it. It is about 2 acres and is in a gated community that the Medina River runs right through. Maybe we will be floating right down the river next summer. Then what would a San Antonio visit be without a trip to the Alamo and the Riverwalk. Ethan had an especially good time at the river walk and I think it was due to the Hooters Girls. We were just walking by the front of the restaurant and they caught his eye. It started with just a quite stare but once his bottom lip dropped I knew we needed to change the scenery. As soon as Grandma brought up ice cream his attention span went back to normal. We had a great time and I know the kids had a blast!

Looking towards the front of the property

Grandpa and Grandma with us and the kids

Ethan, Noah and Joaquin

Us with the Zabel's. They came up and visited with us for the day en route to Goodfellow
As you can see getting everyones attention is quite hard.

Looking towards the back of the property

Grandpa and Gracie by the Medina River
In the background the boys throwing rocks into the river

You can't leave San Antonio without your Alamo picture

Enjoying our ice cream on the riverwalk

Ethan feeding the birds.

They are growing way too fast!

Lazy Weekend

We have been really busy lately so this weekend became our lazy weekend. On Saturday, we did some shopping, had a nice lunch out and then we had over some friends for a barbecue. We had a great time and their little boy just gets a kick out of Ethan and all of his antics. They enjoyed chasing each other around the kitchen. I was excited because Jenny enjoys drinking wine too so I was able to share my wine that our next door neighbor insisted that I try. It has to be the best wine I have ever tasted! It is the kind of wine that is so good you don't realize how much you have drank till the bottle is empty. Needless to say Jenny and I were laughing the entire time. It was fun! On Sunday my neighbor invited me to a girls day out. We got pedicures, did a little shopping and had lunch. She has a little girl that is 4 months younger than Gracie so we are always trading stories. Eric got to hang out with the kids and do stuff around the house. He always has a project up his sleeve.

The other morning Ethan found a little mirror and asked me to look in it. When I did, mind you it was really early, I said "Whoa your mom looks rough, I need to put some makeup on". Well he thought is was so funny that now whenever we see a mirror or he brings me a mirror, he always tell me first, "Mom put some makeup on first, you look rough!" It is a constant reminder I need to watch what I say. However, he makes some of it on his own. We were having lunch and whenever he doesn't want to finish his food, he always has this excuse:
Ethan: Mom, I feel sick (in the most pathetic voice while rubbing his tummy)
Me: Well just eat a couple more bites and then you can go lay down.
Ethan: I have a fever Mom (while touching his head) See Mom, touch my head.
Me: Ugh, you feel fine to me. I don't' think you have a fever.
Ethan: I am going to go lay down Mom.
Me: Thats fine but your food will be waiting here for you when you feel better
2 seconds pass by
Ethan: I feel better Mom, can I have some Halloween Candy.

Wurstfest and Lost Maples

On Saturday we went to New Braunfels Wurstfest Festival. It is a celebration of everything German ranging from food to music. There were also some rides for the kids to enjoy. Of course, the merry-go- round and the ferris wheel just don't seem all that trilling enough for my dare devil that he requested to go on the roller coaster. Thankfully, it was a kiddie roller coaster but I don't think that mattered to him. Adult or child ride, he was going on. Besides the rides we enjoyed all the good food and listened to the music. They had 3 different halls playing music so we got to see and hear pretty much everything.
The next day we drove out to Lost Maples State Park. I had read that the farm roads leading up to park and the park itself had some really great scenery, especially in first part of November due to the leaves changing color. I must say the scenery was absolutely gorgeous with the trees changing to orange and red and the little ponds that were around. Eric and I are always on lookout for the place that we want to retire on and this place is high on my list but the price for this area seems to be nowhere on my list! Oh well. We did have fun walking on the trails and seeing all the pretty colors the area had to offer.

Ethan enjoying the ride

I think the German music was getting to Gracie

Sitting out by the water that runs through New Braunfels

Lost Maples

Such pretty colors

Ethan goofing around on one of the trails

Little pond on one trail

How much more walking?