Blanco State Park

Last weekend we met Grammy & Papa Jack with our trailers at Blanco State Park.  The park is not even an hour northeast of Boerne.  We had a ball.  Jonathan got to go on his first fishing excursion, we saw a couple of very nice lights displays and enjoyed a living Nativity presentation, after which Jonathan got to pet (and hug) goats, sheep, cows and donkeys.  We watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas" in Grammy & Papa Jack's trailer, ate grilled filet mignon, drank hot cocoa and had s'mores over the campfire.  Hopefully this little outing will become a December tradition.

Determination

Catching a fish with Papa Jack

Now what do I do?

Worn out

 little trailer

Christmas s'mores!

Giving Thanks and Getting Ready

Lampasas, Texas is just about midway between us and Grammy & Papa Jack's house.  We stop there on almost every trip up because of a certain park and play ground there.  There are ducks to chase too.  On Thanksgiving Day, we drove up early so that we could make it in time for dinner, but we still made the traditional stop at "our" park.  It was already decorated for Christmas.

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get any photos of our Thanksgiving celebration.  It was the first time in a long time that my family, my parents, my brothers and their families were all under one roof at a holiday.  It was particularly special this year because Aunt CeCe officially became a Womack this fall.  Aaron and CeCe tied the knot in October.  CeCe has been an undisputed member of the family for a long time, but we're so thankful that she's stuck with us now!

This year, Uncle Josh's birthday fell on Thanksgiving Day.  It was a double celebration!  I think I speak for everyone when I say that we are all very thankful for Uncle Josh. 

Jonathan does a lot of singing and dancing these days.  He has a pretty good ear for a two-and-a-half year old.  His favorite songs are the "ABC" song, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", "Jesus Loves Me", the "Dinosaur Train" theme song and he's learning "Jingle Bells."  

December 6th, Giggie & Bop spent the day with us.  We had lunch at Rudy's, went to see Santa & had some dinner at Freddy's before they headed back to Tupelo.  It was a very nice surprise.  

December 8th was another busy day.  We decided to participate in the Angel Tree program at our church.  Dec. 8th was delivery day.  Jonathan helped me make cupcakes the night before and we had a little birthday celebration for Jesus before we delivered our gifts to the family of the inmate.  Jason read from Matthew 25:34-40 and said a prayer for the family that we were about to visit.  

That morning, Jonathan and I went shopping with some of our friends on base.  Boerne has a Christmas market on the town square the first two weekends in December.  We had a great time.  The kids played in the water while we listened to live music.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Who knew Christmas shopping could be this relaxing?

Playing with friends

Zzzzzzzzzzzz.

Dinosaur Valley

We finally took our little "new to us" travel trailer out on an adventure to Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas.  We spent two nights there in early November.  The only slightly perilous moments arose when a sippy cup was lobbed into the camp fire and when we woke the second morning to frozen water lines.

Glen Rose lies at the northernmost point of the Texas Hill Country, and is only about an hour west of the town where I grew up.  I still have a scar on my back from a hiking mishap I had at Dinosaur Valley in my twenties.  It is a beautiful park, and Jason picked some fantastic campsites.  You can see dinosaur tracks in the Paluxy Riverbed if the water is low enough.    

As previously mentioned, Jonathan loves dinosaurs.  Some intelligent person added a theme park just outside the state park.  Most of the suckers (like us) who show up at the state park pay a pretty penny to walk through a large display of life-sized dinosaur models.  Jonathan had a blast and we really enjoyed watching him run from model to model yelling, "What's this?  What's this?"  Once he'd heard the name, he repeated it back to us multiple times.

Grammy & Papa Jack met us there.  Uncle Josh, Aunt Cyndi & Nora spent the second day with us.  The first night in the trailer was a little rough.  We anticipated that.  On night two, everyone got a much-need good-night's sleep.   

Papa Jack and Jonathan

Uncle Josh, Aunt Cyndi & Nora

Learning the finer points of disc golf from Uncle Josh

Jason picked campsites right next to the playground.

Time for s'mores!

Halloween

Although Jonathan still isn't sure what it's all about (who is?), Halloween was certainly more fun this year.  Jonathan did some trick or treating at the houses of four neighbors and our good friend Alvin came for a visit that very night.  By the time we made it to the fourth door, Jonathan had the line "Trick or Treat" down pat. 

Jonathan at a play date trying on a friend's dragon costume

Our moldy pumpkin moonshine.  You can see where Jonathan "helped" just under the right eye.


Jonathan and I paid a visit to see Grammy and Papa Jack just before Halloween.  He got a front-row view of Grammy pulling the guts out of her pumpkin.   

Jonathan was a train engineer this year for Halloween.  He is all into trains and dinosaurs right now.  

On our visit to see Grammy and Papa Jack, we visited the Ft. Worth zoo with Aunt Cyndi, Nora and Papa Jack.  The San Antonio zoo doesn't have gorillas and giraffes, and even though we didn't have time to see the entire zoo, Jonathan was mesmerized and very exuberant about the new things he did get to see.  

   

Papa Jack & Jonathan feeding a parakeet

Aunt Cyndi & Nora

Rrrrrrrrrrrrr!  

Adoption

It has been a long time since I updated the blog.  There's a lot of subject matter to draw from these days.  I have pictures of Halloween, two camping trips and Thanksgiving to share.  But I want to fill you in on our most overwhelming and exciting venture to date.  

As of early November, Jason and I became fully verified by the state of Texas to foster and adopt children under the age of two.  We have received seven calls since November 9th.  As usual, we have plans to travel, but we are fully prepared to cancel those plans if a little one comes to live with us for Christmas.  

Jason and I would love to conceive... I would absolutely relish the ability to carry a child for nine months at least one more time... but for some reason, that isn't happening for us.  I went through a battery of slightly invasive tests this summer, including an abdominal surgery.  Apparently, there's really no reason why we can't conceive.  We are trusting that for some reason, we're not intended to right now.  Before Jason and I became engaged, we discussed our mutual desire to adopt one or more children.  So here we are.  

As far as we know, our names are still in the hat for a twenty-month-old little boy and an eight-month-old baby girl. The last call we received was last Tuesday.  Although the wait time following a call can sometimes seem emotionally draining, Jason and I take that time as an opportunity to spend a day praying for the child.  We are prepared to spend a long time waiting, but we trust that the timing and the child for us are in God's capable hands.     

"Far Engines and Heli-chopters"

Here's a little flash back to the Tupelo, MS trip...

Bop pushing Jonathan on the swing

"Hi Giggie!"

This morning we headed over to Home Depot for a little fire safety fair, after we stopped off at Krispy Kreme to watch the hot doughnuts go through the assembly line and straight into our mouths.  We got to watch the helicopter below take off and circle over us several times before it went "home."

Driving the fire truck

"What's that?"

"Hi Mommy!"

Watching...

THIS!

Home Depot was giving away pint-sized tool aprons and little wooden fire truck kits.  Somehow we managed to lose two of the wheels on the way home.  I guess I'll be hunting for those at Michael's soon.  He was a little tired this morning, but seemed to enjoy getting to sit on the helicopter and fire engines.   

Yesterday we met our friends Jennifer and Avery at Sea World.  Jennifer and Avery are seasoned Sea World visitors, so we got to see some exhibits that we didn't know existed.  Jonathan really enjoyed the penguins, puffins, sea lions and alligators.  Jonathan also sat on a merry-go-round horse all by himself.  I was standing right next to him, but was able to let go early on and just watch big boy ride.  

At times we have days when I would welcome a nice dark hole to crawl into.  I'm sure Jonathan will be working on self control for the rest of his life (His Mama is definitely still working on that one.).  But yesterday at Sea World, Jonathan was SUPER.  He shared without prompting, stayed with me, helped push the stroller and had a wonderful day.  

Jonathan has been singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", "Jesus Loves Me", "The Winnie the Pooh Song", and his ABCs for the last couple of weeks.  He seems to be getting taller every day.  He plays hard and sleeps hard and then plays hard again.  We've spent a lot of time at the playground the last couple of weeks.  He's climbing the ladder to the top story of the playground and going down the slides by himself now.  He's also beginning to eat a lot.  Last night was the first night since before we traveled that he went to sleep in his big boy bed without getting up even one time.  He still had a little trouble at wake up time, but he's making progress!  Jonathan is such a blessing to his family.  

On The Move

I guess it was just the week before last that we took a quick trip up to Arlington, TX for Nora's big one year birthday and then headed up to Tupelo to see Giggie, Bop, Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Stephanie and Kirbie.  We're still pretty exhausted, especially since we decided just the week prior to put Jonathan in his big boy bed.  It took right at a week to get that transition ironed out, and then we traveled.  Now we're back at square one, only, as we're about as wrung out and tired as we can possibly be after our trip, we're standing at square one with considerably less resolve than before.  

Big Boy Bed!


The quilt on Jonathan's bed was made by his great grandmother for Jason.  

Big Girl!  Happy Birthday Nora!

Huh?!?!

Yeeaaaaaah! Birthday Cake!

Nora had a great party.  Jonathan was on his best behavior.  All of Nora's little cousins attended and they were all girls.  Needless to say, Jonathan had a ball.

We had a nice time in Tupelo.  One of the highlights of our stay was our trip out to watch Kirbie have her riding lesson.  It was a perfect morning.  

Nice Horsey

Ready to Ride

Kirbie, Boo Boo & Miss Amy

We enjoyed watching Kirbie before and after her lesson.  She helped her instructor care for the horse and prepare it for the ride.  She's a natural!

Wow.

"I wanna ride the horsey!"

We took so many pictures, it was hard to pick.  Jonathan and Kirbie got to play together two evenings. Our final night out was spent at Grammy & Pappa Jack's new home in Weatherford.  We're still recuperating, but glad we got to spend time in Tupelo, Arlington & Weatherford with our family.