Much to be Thankful for!

On Thanksgiving both of my children were appropriately dolled up. I took my camera out to my mom's house and didn't even take a single picture!!! I'm terrible! We had a great holiday, and I hope that all of yours was equally joyful!

On Friday, Tristan joined my sister and I for a little shopping. We bought a pink Christmas tree to put in her room. She already had a multicolored tinsel tree, but the pink one was perfect for her. We bought a little set of ornaments and she decorated them that night. She just looks so grown up to me!!

The Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving it snowed. Not much, but we weren't expecting any, so we were glad for what we got! Tristan spent several hours outside with Daddy making a "snowman". He grew up in the part of Texas where it doesn't snow. I guess that explains why his snowman is more like a mounded blob instead of three balls. Tristan helping may have also had something to do with that! It's Sunday now and almost all the snow is gone, but it was fun while it lasted. Hopefully we'll have several more good snow storms this year to play in and make a real snowman!!

"A Dazning Place"

When Tristan sings "A Whole New World" she says dazning instead of dazzling. It's pretty sweet! We thoroughly enjoyed our week in Florida. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write about it! I don't have all my photo pass pictures back yet, so I'll post more of those later!

On the Thursday before we left Preston started to sound a little wheezy to me, but he acted fine, so I didn't worry much. I'm not the rush to the doctor kind of mother...I'm the wait and see if it works itself out kind! At 15mo Preston had never really been sick or taken any kind of medicine (other than for allergies). Friday he sounded a little worse, but still not bad. We left for the airport at 5:45 Saturday morning, and he had pretty much lost his voice. It was pretty sad, but it made for a much quieter trip. (Preston is a talker!!) He was still acting like he felt fine, and by Monday he was barely coughing at all.

Tristan however was not herself on Monday. I could just tell she didn't feel good. That night she was burning up with fever. It continued through the night and into the next morning. We decided we'd better take her to a care center and check her out. Keep in mind that she's over three and has only had one ear infection and taken antibiotics once!

Since we were going anyway we figured we might as well have the doctor listen to Preston's chest even though he was back to his usual self. After three hours in the care center, we learned that both of Preston's ears were terribly infected, one of Tristan's was and the other was on it's way!! They both started a round of antibiotics that day.

The illness definitely put a damper on our fun as Tristan just wasn't herself. Preston however had a glorious time. He rode rides with me that Tristan wouldn't and had a blast! Tristan wasn't 100% by the princess lunch, but I think she still enjoyed it. When we entered Cinderella's Castle, she sat up tall and whispered, "It's a dazning place." And it was.

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween!! What started out as an awfully cold and terribly windy day ended up in a pretty good trick or treat night. If I do say so myself, I had the cutest ghost and prettiest fairy princess in my car!

We visited with lots of people and got a couple bags full of candy. Tristan was well rehearsed wit the "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you", but Preston would say nothing. He was pretty sweet though when every time showed him candy he would "Oooo".

I think that Tristan's highlight was that after Halloween, we go to Florida. She has said this to me several times today! On Saturday morning, her dreams will come true. More postings for sure after we get back from Cinderella's castle!

Pumpkins

Last Saturday our church had the Halloween carnival and we had our picture taken together. If you can't tell...I was a Jack-O-Lantern, Preston was a ghost, Tristan was a fairy princess, and Matt came as himself! Tristan had lots of fun playing the games until she was buying tickets at the front with Grandma, and someone with a scary mask came in. That was the end of her fun, so the kids went home early. Thank goodness for Grandma! Matt, my sister, and I were all working boothes, so we couldn't leave.

Today the kids and I hollowed out the pumpkins to carve tomorrow. Tristan has really never liked to put her hands in the sticky part of the middle. Being a boy and all, I really thought Preston would be game. I thought wrong. I would ask him to help me take out the seeds, and he would just back up shaking his head. He was barely interested at all in what I was doing.

I worked by myself while the kids played outside, (it was a beautiful day!) After Tristan was a little bored and wanted to go in, I asked her if she would rather paint her pumpkin. She thought that was great, and so did Preston! As you can see, they had quite a time. By the way, crayola washable paints really do come off very easily!

Hot Dog!

Before anyone calls me to yell, Matthew and I are fully aware of the potential choking hazard.

Matthew was feeding the kids hotdogs and he had one cut up, but not the other one. Preston somehow got ahold of the whole one and ate the whole thing!!! It's not as dangerous the way he eats it...he goes at it first like corn on the cob, then he puts it in his mouth the other way. We'll do our best to not let this happen again, but he is still pretty cute!

Fair continued...

As we were getting ready to head home, we went by the fountains. Tristan had a blast splashing last year, and not much had changed except the addition of Preston splashing! Preston would have climbed in if Matt hadn't repeatedly stopped him. He kept splashing and then putting his wet hands on his face until he had water all over his face. His clothes stayed surprisingly dry!

We stayed for the evening parade and left before the major night crowd hit. It was a great time!

Texas State Fair

This year was Preston's first trip to the Texas State Fair! He had a blast! Auntie Amanda came with us, but the rest of Matt's family are not fair goers. Tristan and Preston loved to pet the animals and help feed them.

Of course, for me the fair is mostly about food! Preston was broke in early by eating chicken on a stick. The fair has a variety of unusual fried foods each year. This year's new ones were fried latte, fried cookie dough, and fried banana pudding. We passed on the latte. The cookie dough was disappointing, but the pudding was outstanding! Go ahead and laugh, but writing this now, kinda makes me wish I had some!