Two and a Half

Where has the time gone???

On September 22, Crockett turned two and a half! I know it isn't exactly a birthday or anything, but I just feel like this has been a turning point. He is no longer a baby, maybe technically a toddler, but ALL little boy! He is so many things right now... busy, talkative, friendly, shy, tender-hearted, tough, ornery, a hugger, a hitter... just all those wonderful things that make little boys so special.

Crockett ~

- You are: 30 lbs, 36 in, in size 5 diapers (on our 1st box of 5's and hopefully one of the last boxes of diapers...) and in 2T clothes

- You STILL DO NOT SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT... always wind up in bed with momma or momma winds up in bed with you.

- We have been traveling SO much lately and you are AWESOME in the car! You look outside, watch movies (Mostly WoowyBuzz and The Baby (Ice Age)), and look at books. You do say Momma or Daddy about 500 times every time you see a tractor or cows... and we usually see LOTS of them! You are a great travel partner!

- You are the pickiest eater! You have gotten a bit better recently. You eat weinies, lots of cheese, peanut butter sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, yogurt, fruit cups, cantaloupe, watermelon, oatmeal, waffles... not a whole lot else... You would drink TONS of apple juice everyday if I would let you (I still mix it with atleast 1/2 water) and now you will drink milk. YAY!

- You are a very talkative little boy. Some of my favorites are: drink = wink, Grandmaw = Mummer, Rachy = Riris, Ma = Mon, RuRus = LuLu, ew too = I love you too, mammies = jammies, oohies = horseys, tows = cows, meemeek = Mickey Mouse, Soso = Oso, boppel juice = apple juice, tactor = Tractor, ShaSha = HotShot, sheshe = fishy, Bumbo - Dumbo, DD = Braidy, When = Quin, hoooouuuusssse = House. You have begun to say so many words and are even putting 5 and 6 word sentences together occasionally. I will be so sad when you can say everything correctly :(

- Your favorite things to say lately have been "Yep", "Puppies HUSH!", "Sing Songs" (as in the songs we sing at Tiny Tots & Tunes)

- You love to play with all of your cars, trucks and tractors. You would stay outside in the dirt all day if you could. You love looking at and reading books. Your favorites are still all of the Llama, Llama books. Recently you have become pretty good at puzzles too. You are a very social little boy and do great at school most of the time, but you also play by yourself very well.

- You have learned most of your colors. We are working on your numbers... today, everything was 2, 3, 9, 10!! You change the numbers and pattern almost daily. You are almost able to spell your name, you just need a little help. At school you are also learning your shapes. You know circles really well and can pick out squares and triangles.

- You are going through the "NO" phase right now, and you are very good at ignoring your momma. Maybe it is selective hearing already... you learned that from your daddy :) You can through a huge fit, but you almost always make it better by giving sweet little kisses.

I could go on and on about the wonderful things you are doing these days. Each day I am surprised and amazed at something you say or do. You are my best buddy and there isn't anyone else I would rather spend my days with (aside from your daddy!). Your daddy and I have had the time of our lives watching you become YOU! What a special little guy you are and how thankful we are for the blessing you have been to us!

On the road again...

Crockett and I have become quite the Texas travelers these days! As soon as school was over this past Thursday, Crockett and I packed up and drove to Dallas. It was a LONG drive (5.5 hours!), but we knew we were in for LOTS of fun! He actually did so good on the drive, completely exceeding my expectations. We stayed with Rachy, or Riris as Crockett calls her :) I warned her about Hurricane Crockett, but she wasn't worried! He brought lots of trucks, tractors and cars to keep him occupied and Rachy recorded Mickey Mouse... what more could a 2 year old little boy need?? Not much, because he was wonderful!

On Friday, Rach was supposed to go get her car, but it wasn't ready, so we decided to take Crockett to the aquarium. I had promised him that he could see SHARKS, and he did not forget, so he was very excited when we got to see them. He really liked them, but did not want to get too close without momma. Rach and I got to pet the stingrays, but he wasn't gonna get close to that. We saw lots of fish, including Nemo and Dorie, a 75 year old turtle that Rach and I could swear was dead, and an octopus that was so scary/fascinating. We had such a great time! After the aquarium, we were all pretty hungry, so we went to California Pizza Kitchen, one of our FAVES! After a yummy lunch, it was naptime. We decided to stay in for the evening. We made some yummy dips and queso (Crockett's favorite!) and watched UP! What a fantastic movie. We all loved it :)

The next day, we got up and headed to Burleson for Rich's 2nd birthday party! It was a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party and we all had to wear pink or blue depending on if we though Rich was having a brother or sister! FUN! Rich and Crockett have gotten to see one another quite a bit lately, and it is so fun watching them play. Crockett asked me all week, "Where Ruch go?" So he was excited to get to play with him again and Nathalie and Emily (his other cousins) were there too! We all ate some lunch, the kids played, Rich opened his toys... although he would have stopped after his 1st gift (golf clubs!)! Rich is going to be a BIG BROTHER in January, so Sara and Chad did the baby's gender reveal at the party too! It was so fun! Rich's smash cake was pink or blue... too bad he wouldn't smash it :) Sara had told me she was worried about that happeneing! Sara finally had to shove his fist in to reveal that Rich was going to have a BABY _________!!! They are in New York right now and going to be in the crowd of the Today Show tomorrow (Thursday, Sept. 15) with a YELLOW poster telling the sex! So I can't reveal what Rich found YET!! SO happy for them :) It was a great party! Definitely one to remember!!! After the party, we headed back to Dallas with an exhausted Crockett. Or so we thought. By the time we were at Rach's apartment, it was 4, so I decided to try to keep Crockett up and not take a nap. I was a little worried, but didn't want him to stay up forever either. We thought we would grab an early bite to eat and bring it home since he was so sleepy. On the way, we stopped by Gap and oh my, they had the CUTEST clothes! We tried hats on Crockett, which he hates, and he just got the biggest kick out of this precious blue hat! So instead of being the grumpy toddler he usually is, he was this laughing, smiley, funny kid! Rach and I were amazed! We got dinner, went home and watched a movie. At about 8:30 that night, Crockett told me "Momma, night night." He was a real trooper that day! What an AWESOME kid I have :)

On Sunday, it was time to go home. We left pretty early since we had such a long drive home. I love spending time with my youngest sister. She is such a wonderful person, fun to be around, loves my baby... she is awesome. It is hard on her to be so far from all of her family. I am so glad we were able to go spend the weekend with her. Thanks for having us Rachy! We had a BLAST and can't wait to do it again! Love you!!

On another note, Sunday was September 11, 2011. As we were driving home, I listened to Fox News on my radio as they played stories about families affected by the attacks, parts of the memorials at all 3 locations, and some of the news from that day 10 years ago. So much has happened in those 10 years, yet as they were talking about all that happened that day, it was as if it was yesterday. I remember being in the Foreign Language building at Texas Tech and I remember watching it unfold all day and over the next months. I can't believe it has been 10 years, but I will NEVER forget. God Bless America.

Crockett and his Mummer

Crockett loves his Mummer. She is so special to him. He was so glad to see her last weekend. All week he said he wanted to go to Mummer's hooouuuusssse and when I would tell him that we were going in 2 days he would cry and go to the back door. He knows when he goes to her house, she will have tea (sweet tea ;), cheetoes, kit kats and BUMBO (Dumbo)! We love you, Grandmaw! Thanks for always letting us take over your house! We can't wait to see you again at Rich's birthday party! XOXOXO

B.W. Stone

When we headed to Holliday for Hotshot's birthday, we had no idea we would also be attending the funeral of Hotshot's brother, B.W. He had been sick for a long time, but had just recently taken a turn for the worse. On Thursday night at about 11 p.m. Chris got a call from his Aunt Brenda that B.W. was going to the hospital and not expected to make it through the night. Chris decided to go up to the hospital to see if he would be able to see B.W. Luckily he was able to see him and talk to him for a bit. B.W. did make it through the night, and Elwanda and I got to see him the next day... about 3 hours before he died. He had told his family that he was ready to die and he had such an AMAZING faith, so he knew where he was going. He was surrounded by his family (and there are LOTS of them :) and more love than most people will ever know.

Chris loved B.W. Hot shot and B.W. were close and did so many farming and ranching things together, so very often Chris would work for him as a child. As he got older, they always loved to talk shop. B.W. and his wife, Doris, lived down the road from us in Holliday, and I loved it when I pulled into our driveway and B.W. and Chris were talking. They could have the LONGEST conersations :) B.W. was such a kind and loving man. I have only known him for the past 6 or 7 years, but he was always one of my favorites. One of those people who just makes you smile. He and Doris loved Crockett too. They are both just very special people.

B.W. passed away on September 2. We are so blessed to have been there and been able to say good bye and show our love to him and all of his family. He will be terribly missed.

Happy 80th Birthday, HOTSHOT!!!

Chris's grandad, Hotshot, turned 80 on September 2. To mark this milestone, we (the daughters-in-law and granddaughters-in-law :) felt it was a great reason to celebrate! Hotshot is not really one for parties, or any kind of spotlight, but luckily he was a great sport. We decided to keep it fairly small (the Stone family is VERY LARGE!) and have BBQ and cake. We tried to keep it as "Hotshot" as possible. We decorated with boots and lots of pictures. We all got to visit and the kids got to play... they pretty much just ran in circles and played tag. They had a BLAST :) Crockett tried to stick some flags in the VCR... probably trying to get it to play DUMBO. Glad I caught him!! It really turned out to be a nice evening. It was a wonderful occasion for all of us to celebrate and show our love for Hotshot. Thank you for being a wonderful father, grandfather and GREAT-grandfather! We love you!

1st Day of School!!

It is hard to believe that Crockett has started his 2nd year of pre-school! This year I got to start with him :) He is beginning his year in the Kangaroo class with Mrs. Lindsey and Mrs. Carrie. I love them both and couldn't be more excited! I know he is going to learn so much and have a great time doing it. He even gets to go to Chapel and Spanish this year, as well as music.
I am working with the itty-bitty babies in the Turtle class. I love my partner, Mrs. Stephanie, and the kids are all so sweet. They range in age from 8 weeks to almost 7 months. If I don't have baby fever now, I am sure I will pretty soon :) We love all our friends at First Baptist CDO and are looking forward to a FANTASTIC year!!