Happy 9 Months!

We celebrated Hayden's 9 month birthday in Texas, right before Christmas! Just a few weeks before he hit 9 months, he FINALLY started crawling. Taryne crawled late, but walked early and it looks as if Hayden will follow suite. He is cruising and crawling everywhere and loves to touch everything. One of his favorite things at Christmas time was touching the Christmas tree and our fresh wreath on the front door. Every single time we were at the door, unlocking or locking the door, he had to examine the fresh wreath. I was particularly excited that he was at this age for his first Christmas. He could interact with everyone and open (well sort of, anyway) his own gifts. Taryne was almost out of the "bump on a log" stage when she had her first Christmas.

We haven't made it to his 9 month check up yet. I failed to get an appointment made right after we returned from Texas, then school started and now he has been sick. We are scheduled for that appointment in a few weeks. But at his sick appointment he was 22 pounds. Down a little from before, but he is a very active little guy now.

This little boy absolutely adores his big sister!! He can be the fussiest little boy and if Taryne aka "Sister" comes in or sings him a song, he is all smiles in no time flat. This was very helpful on our return trip to Tennessee. There were a few dodgy moments where the car ride was getting to us all! These two spend lots of time together playing with Hayden's new toys and laughing and rolling a ball together. Really anything Taryne can find for them to do, they are doing it. It is going to be awesome once he is walking and not trying to eat everything!

Happy 9 months sweet little boy!

Here Comes Santa Clause

As previously mentioned, we did not have our normal family Christmas morning festivities on Christmas morning. But, Santa still visited Taryne and Hayden on Christmas....he just has to travel to Texas instead of Tennessee.

I like to get a picture of them with the milk and cookies they leave out for Santa, but that proved to be a bit difficult this year with a mobile 9 month old (and I still need a post for that "birthday" too, wow, I am behind).

Finally a good one of them together!

Hello Kitty!! (sleeping bag)

Leap Frog play table!!

It is a good thing we have Pixie. I know she let Santa know that we were in Texas for Christmas this year!

Our Little Christmas

We have had a rule the last  few years since Taryne was born: we spend Christmas morning at home for our own family Christmas. It has worked the past few years, but this year would be different. Since we were going to Texas, there was no way we were going to be able to spend Christmas morning at home as our own little family. So we had our little family Christmas the night before we left.

We had our Christmas breakfast: waffles, sausage and eggs. I decided to make the waffles a little more festive and incorporated an idea from Pinterest. What on earth would we do without Pinterest these days?

I took some pics of Taryne and Hayden and one big group picture earlier in the month with the tree and our snazzy Christmas jammies. Normally we have a group picture after church, but I think we might start the Christmas jammies pic tradition instead. Then it can be silly!

And then it was time to open gifts...

She is all about using the "safety" scissors

Stickers!!!!

Can I just keep the ribbon?

So...FAIL on the stocking photo this year!

I am so glad we were able to have our own little Christmas, even though it was not on Christmas morning. Hopefully in a few years, we can talk our family into having Christmas at OUR house (where ever we are living) and we can get back to our little tradition. For now, the time we get to have Christmas as our own little family is priceless...no matter what day it happens.

Sweetwater Valley Farm

During the Thanksgiving break, we took a trip to a local dairy. I started hearing commercials for this particular dairy on the radio and how they make fresh cheese. So we decided it would be fun and Taryne would love it.

When we got there, we soon realized we could go in the retail store or the educational area, but there was no place to actually see a real live cow. Apparently the walking tours are not during the winter months. Oh well, we will definitely make a trip back next spring.

For some strange reason (and yes, I know this is strange because the amount of work in a dairy farm is unreal) I think it would be pretty neat to have a dairy. Not sure why since I don't drink milk. At. All. However, I have always been fascinated with dairies. I would also like to have a Christmas tree farm or a tulip/cut flower farm, but some might say those are just as crazy.

So we visited the retail store and tried tons of varieties of cheese and then we visited the educational area. Lots of good information. The video was amazing. The amount of technology in dairy farming today is just mind blowing.

Watching the video on dairy farm technology

I tried to get her to "milk" the cow, but she didn't seem to quite get it!

It really was a neat display. I cannot wait to go back and you can't beat fresh, farm made cheese. The cheese is made on site with milk from their cows. The food for their cows is grown on site, so this is a very green dairy.

Stroll in the Park

We are definitely enjoying the seasonal weather here in Tennessee. I just love that we have a great park and walking trail right by our apartment.

They are such great friends!

I love the look on his face...I wish this was not so blurry, but oh well!

He really thought he needed to lick the play equipment

Running in the leaves...

This was just one of the fun activities during Thanksgiving for the Rode's in Tennessee!

Our Elf on the Shelf

Meet Pixie....our own little Elf on the Shelf.

She has had her share of mischievous moments already! Here are some of the silly things she has done so far....

Snacking on the Pop-Tarts

Drawing all over Taryne's mirror

Hanging upside down...

Partying in the fridge with the Sock Monkey...it was "fun" cooking with green milk...everything was green: the french toast, corn bread muffins, etc.

I guess she needed some chocolate...

First day of our Advent calendar....more on that later.

Marshmallow bubble bath in Taryne's play kitchen sink

As you can see, she likes to have fun. Some days she is just hanging out on the shelf or in a basket and nothing to silly, but other days it is just crazy. We have already had an "elf emergency" and had to have a Santa send a "magic recovery kit". Thank goodness we only had to do this once.

Taryne loves looking for Pixie each morning. So far, the reminder that she needs to be good for Pixie's report has worked most of the time. This will be interesting as we get closer to Christmas and we will be traveling and not home. I wonder if Pixie will be able to find us each morning....

Things I miss...

...besides my family and friends, of course.

We randomly talk about the random things we miss from Texas. Some things you never think about until it is not there or it is different.

I can promise one thing (and hopefully my family will be okay with this), we will be eating Mamacita's as much as we can when we come at Christmas.

Things we miss (in no particular order)...

Mexican food (that is edible...we do have Chuy's but I need a little variety)
Shoulders on the roads
Whataburger
Breakfast tacos
Kolaches (fruit and meat)
Rudy's BBQ (and Inman's for my Llano peeps)
Fuego (my College Station peeps know what I am talking about)
Macy's (they don't have one in Knoxville that I am aware of)
Our family doctor in College Station (Taryne asks if we can see him instead of our pediatrician)
Shipley's Donuts
Access roads and turn-arounds at highway exits

I know there are other things, but I just can't think of them right now. We definitely DON"T miss the weather in Texas. Today is supposed to be "hot" with highs in the low 70's. I will take that any time for December over the 80's I know my College Station friends are experiencing right now.