Putting Up the Christmas Tree

I've been talking to Sutton about Christmas for a couple of weeks now so that he can get excited and maybe have a little bit of understanding about everything that will be going on in the coming weeks. He's really taken to the idea of Christmas and is in love with "Kih-miss lights." He gets so excited whenever he sees them, and on the drive home Tuesday night, he saw a "Kih-miss tree" in someone's yard and wouldn't stop talking about it. I told him that when Daddy got home, we could put up the tree.

He was pretty excited when we started taking the tree out of the box, but he didn't know what to do with himself.

He found these yarn letters I made last year and played with them. He even tried to hang them all on the tree once we got it up...not sure how he knew that you hang things on the Christmas tree?

Diesel photo bomb. :)

We plugged the lights in and boy, was that exciting!!

As you may know, this child is obsessed with airplanes. He stole this airplane ornament from Rachael and Matt last Christmas, and I'd completely forgotten we still had it!

Sutton calls every star he sees a "twinkle star" and so he dug through the box of ornaments to find all the twinkle stars.

He pretty much plopped himself right here and found a bicycle, tractor, boat, and airplane ornament that he kept putting on the tree, then taking off. Then putting on, taking off. Hours of fun. And he messed up all my tinsel and silver beads. I didn't have this problem last year...

Then he discovered this little mug ornament and took a strong liking to it. The rest of the evening, he carried it around, pretending to drink out of it and telling me he was drinking "cah-wee" (coffee).

He'd take a drink, then swish it around in his mouth:

..then take another drink or tell us it was "gwoss" (gross) and dump it out and ask for more.

Oh look, there's the bicycle again.

Drinking some more cah-wee.

"Wook Mommy! A wope!" (Look Mommy! A rope!)

"I dwink mo' cah-wee."

Each morning when he gets up and comes out of his room, he asks me to turn on the Kih-miss lights and he takes his bicycle, tractor, boat, and airplane ornaments off the tree and takes them over to the ottoman to play with. 

It's pretty great that he is aware of what's going on with Christmas this year and that he's excited about it. We talk a lot about how Christmas is Jesus' birthday, and he asks if he can sing Happy Birthday To You to Jesus. We talk about Jesus' mommy and daddy, Mary and Joseph. He loves saying Joseph. When we listen to Christmas music, he asks if the song is about Joseph. Or Nicholas (we watch a Veggie Tales movie about Saint Nicholas). And we talk about how Jesus was born in a barn where animals stay. He got stuck on that last part and often says "Where animals stay, Mommy?" completely out of context. :)

I figure we can get the basics in there now, and it will all start to make sense very soon! So for now, it's fun to see his little mind process all these things and to hear him pull out random pieces of information at the strangest times. He always keeps us laughing. 

The Laughing Video

Sutton was being extra giggly all night. It was fun. Usually, when I put lotion on him after his bath, he says "No neck! No neck!" because he's sooooo ticklish on his neck and he doesn't want me to tickle him.

But tonight, he asked for it.

There was some intense giggling going on, and I only caught the tail end of it. :)

At the end he's saying "I wanna see video," but I cut him off.

Things Sutton Says..

I was upset this afternoon because my iPhone wasn't working and when I tried to update it, it told me I needed to reset, it which meant losing all my info and contacts. I had my head in my hands...

Sutton: "Mommy, what doing?"
Mommy: "Crying."
Sutton: "Oh!" {Gives me a big hug.} "Happy Mommy?"
Mommy: "No buddy, Mommy's still sad."

About 10 minutes passed, and we were getting ready to leave the house. Adam and Sutton were in the car before me, and when I got in:

Sutton: "I love you Mommy!"
Mommy: "Oh, I love you too, Sutton."
Sutton: "No! I LOVE YOU MOMMY!!!!"
Mommy: "I love you too...?"
Sutton: {Getting angry.} "NOOOO!! I. LOVE. YOU. MOMMY!"
Mommy: {Looks at Daddy helplessly.}
Daddy: "Say 'thanks' ???"
Sutton: "I LOVE YOU MOMMY!!!!!"
Mommy: "Thanks buddy."
Sutton: {Calmed down.} "Okay. You happy now Mommy?"

Sweet little guy didn't want me to tell him I loved him in return, he was just trying to make me not be sad from earlier when I was "crying." How does he have that logic at 2 years old? He's so darn cute!

And as a side note, I think I backed up my phone, so I think we'll be able to fix it.

Playing in the Leaves

Friday afternoon, it was pretty windy, and the wind made a big pile of leaves in our front yard. Sutton has shown mild interest in stomping through leaf piles, so I brought him and Diesel outside for some fun. They loved it!

I told Sutton I wanted to try to get a photo of him and Diesel together, so he sat down and I plopped Diesel next to him. Diesel wasn't having it and kept trying to get away, so Sutton kept grabbing him and yelling "Dee-uhl! Dee-uhl! Come here!"

Then they had some fun moments together. We've told Sutton that when Diesel licks him, he's just trying to kiss him, so Sutton always giggles when he does.

I tried to get some photos of the poor, neglected, overweight (though he doesn't look to bad in these) dog, but he was all "I'll look anywhere but the camera."

Happy Birthday Adam

Horrible wife award, right here. Adam's birthday came and went and I hardly even mentioned it!

So...a little late, but here we go.

Adam, 

I'm so glad you were born 29 years ago. How could I have ever known that I would have such an amazing husband? God has blessed me more than I deserve with you and I'm so thankful you're the one I get to spend my life with. If Sutton could, he would tell you the same...he loves you so much and you're the most wonderful daddy to him. We love you and hope you had a fantastic birthday! Here's to your last year in your 20s.

Adam's birthday was on a Monday, so he had to work all day. While we were at the Y that morning, Adam's (and my) friends Luis and Ryan texted asking about what I'd planned to celebrate. I told them we were just going out to dinner that night, so they decided to surprise Adam by showing up at the restaurant.

When Adam got home from work, I had him open his present. He'd sent me a link to a silk-screening starter kit a few weeks ago, so that's what I got him. No surprise there. He and Sutton opened the box and...

...it was the wrong thing. The company had made a mistake and shipped us a bunch of ink that was supposed to go to Atlanta. Almost double the amount of $$ that I'd paid in ink. Bummer. But we got it all straightened out and his kit came in the mail yesterday.

Adam chose to go to Pei Wei for dinner, and for once I didn't argue, since it was his birthday and all. I'm just not a huge fan of Asian food, and it's like his favorite.

We ordered our food and started eating. I was facing the door and saw Luis & Val and Ryan & Melinda walk in. They took FOREVER to order their food at the cash register and I had to just sit there and act like nothing was going on. Finally they came over and surprised Adam. They ate with us and then everyone came over to hang out and play a game. And Sutton kept calling Ryan "Rhino." Ha. Here's a photo of my yummy edamame. For not liking Asian, my meal was really good!

Happy birthday Adam Dreher! You're my favorite!

October Randoms 2

A little late, but...here is the second half of October happenings.

I came home from a photo shoot one evening to flowers that my boys had cut from the yard and a sweet note. Love them.

Sutton brings home crafts and drawings each time he goes to Kids Day Inn. Usually they do something with a letter of the alphabet. I believe he was the only one who glued the F backwards on his fish...

We stopped at Hobby Lobby one day after we were at the Y to pick up supplies for his Halloween costume. We browsed around a bit, and Sutton found these fake succulent plants that he carried around for awhile and kinda threw a fit about putting back before we left. He's since become obsessed with Hobby Lobby and sometimes asks if we can go when we're leaving the Y.

My cute Panera date one evening.

After Panera, we got ice cream and had a fun time eating it and snuggling on the couch before bed time.

We had to take lunch to Adam's class one day for a prize that some of the students had won. Adam wanted Sutton to show off his sweet dance moves, so he put some music on and Sutton taught the kids how to properly hokey pokey.

I went to a baby shower for Adam's cousin's wife and they had these super cute cupcakes that Adam's other cousin had made. I loved them! The whales are so cute.

A couple weeks ago, I had to make a whirlwind trip up to Kansas City for an engagement session. I'd had to photograph a birth here in Wichita that same morning, so we weren't able to leave for KC til around 11 or so. My co-pilot fell asleep early, ruining my plans of him napping once we got to our destination. Oh well.

Rachael was awesome and kept Sutton while I went on my shoot. We stayed with her that evening and got to spend some extra time with Baby Rowan. So sweet.

I'm a big fan of hers. She's just so sweet and cute all the time.

The next morning we had breakfast at her house and Sutton looked so little sitting at this big table all by himself like a big kid.

We walked to the park by Rachael's house and played a bit before heading home. We left KC right at nap time (I figured since he slept in the car on the way up, I'd take advantage of that and let him sleep in the car on the way home). BAD IDEA. Screaming and irrational requests for the last hour of the trip because it was 3:30pm and he still hadn't napped for the day. Agh!

After his nap that day, we went downstairs to have some down time and play. He made himself comfortable in his toy box. :)

Rachael had fed him plain noodles and peas for his dinner while I was working. He scarfed them down! So when we got back to Wichita, I promptly bought peas. The first time I made them for him, he ate several like candy before realizing his mistake and refusing them from then on.

Listening to tunes while eating breakfast.

On our way out the door one cold morning, I told Sutton to go get a hat. Not quite what I had in mind.

Snuggling and watching Veggie Tales on a cold day.

Trying on the half-way finished Timmy costume.

Ginger and I shot my last 2012 wedding a couple weekends ago. We went out for donuts afterwards to celebrate at the Donut Whole. Mmmm....

Being cute.

Sometimes when we go for a walk, Sutton insists on walking "on his feet" instead of riding in the stroller. So we often take short little walks around the block. This particular day, we decided to bring Diesel along. Diesel would stop to sniff every little thing, and then Sutton would go over to the same spot, bend down and smell it too. It was super funny, but I guess kind of gross at the same time. Ha.

And that was our October!