Tis' The Season

Saturday night we took Taylor to see the early Christmas festivities at the Domain. Macy's had a 40 foot lighted Christmas tree and fireworks! We enjoyed getting a heads start on Christmas, even though we haven't even celebrated Thanksgiving yet! Here's to crowded malls, no parking to be found, bargain shopping deals, crazy drivers, overworked and underpaid sales staff, hot cocoa & "spiked" lattes not "spiced" (how else do you shop in the madness), and loving being a kid all over again through the eyes of a toddler!

Halloween Road-Trip + A Weeks Worth of Pumpkins

On Saturday morning, Taylor and I left for Houston for some Halloween fun with the Johnsons (Andrew's sister's family). Andrew had to stay behind because he was in charge of a golf tournament on Sunday morning-bummer!! Although we hated to be away on a holiday, we had a blast visiting a new neighborhood for Halloween.

I was a little worried (what's new) about driving 2 and a half hours with a potty-training-toddler, but all went well-I actually had to go more often then him. He seems to surprise me every time! He was so excited to get to "Aunt Vikki's" house so that he could go trick-or-treating with his cousins Megan and Garrett-that's all he kept saying. We listened to the radio, pointed out all the horses, cows, goats, tractors, and hay bales we could find along 290, ate snacks, and watched a little Tom & Jerry at the end.

Later that night when the kids were dressed and ready it was hard to explain to Taylor that we had to wait until it was DARK to start trick-or-treating. After a nice warm dinner of Frito-pie, we were ready for the night to officially begin. Some of the houses in the neighborhood are on acre lots, so most of the kids ride on decorated trailers in order to get from house to house and to maximise the candy consumption. It was a chilly October night for once, and we all snuggled under blankets on the trailer. While crossing one huge lawn, Taylor bit it on the driveway and tripped over a stake that was holding up a pumpkin decoration-all within l minute of each other. He's a trooper and kept on going! After that Taylor was perfectly content with a Tootsie-Pop from the third or fourth house and decided to just sit with me on the trailer eating it and watching all the girls dance, sing, and run from house to house in the dark.

By the end of the night he had a bag full of goodies and didn't want it to end. When we got back to Aunt Vikki's and Taylor was stripping off his clothes for bed he said, "that was fun mommy"! The trip by ourselves was SO worth it! The funniest part was trying to share a bed with a hyped up 2 1/2 year old on Halloween night. He truly didn't want it to end...