Merry Christmas Part 2

Here is Part 2!!! This post is more about activities we did for the Christmas break, rather than the presents and parties. We were so glad to be able to visit so many of my family members this Christmas (and can't wait to spend time with the Heath families next Christmas!!).

How's this for super cute?! Derek has started throwing major temper tantrums, so I've started enforcing time out. He can climb out of pack n plays, so the next step is the nose-in-the-corner. He is so hard to discipline when he's this cute!

He always crosses his ankles - kinda weird

Tammy brought home Derek's first gingerbread men from the shop. He wasn't sure what it was at first, but it was one of his favorite treats!

Head-bite! That's my boy - He loooves bwains!

My beautiful mother had her birthday a few days after Christmas. She chose to go to Sip-N-Doodle (the same place Liz, Lanae, Tammy and I did our painting).

Tammy sent me with a Chocolate Madness cake for a special birthday surprise. Mom loooved it!

Everyone hard at work

Mom working on her background

Beth working on her super cute flower. Turned out great!

Aunt Jen and her A&M football helmets. Loved her background - looked like a crowd of students in the stands at a game.

Amy did a painting for her new goddaughter's nursery

Val did a super cute heart tree. Love the colors!

New Years Eve was kind of quiet for us. Mitchell had to work, so Jeff, Tammy, Derek and I went and played frisbee golf at the park. There were a ton of people there, so it was kind of hard to snap pictures at my leisure and play at the same time. I gave up keeping my score after hole #3 I think, lol, and snapped a few pictures before the sun started setting. After frisbee golf, Jeff and Tammy took us out to eat at Panda Buffet. It was really good food, but the sushi made me sick that night. Ugh. I was able to stay up and watch the ball drop in New York for the first time in years! The last ball drop I remember was Y2K. I'm sure I must have watched one or two more since then, but it's been a long time since we've made a big deal out of it. My sisters and I used to dress up in formal dresses and drink sparkling grape juice when we were younger, but now I just want to get to bed, haha! Anyway, here are the pictures from frisbee golf...

Derek had his own frisbee that he was enjoying throwing around... til the wind dropped mine into the river and then he and I took turns with that one.

Running, running, running!

Seriously, does this kid ever walk?

I love this picture, but Jeff thinks it looks like he's walking off into the sunset (as if in death) and Derek is chasing after him. Not my initial thoughts, but I suppose that's a valid interpretation. My first impression was that the sunburst and shadows look pretty... :)

Merry Christmas Part 1

Merry Christmas! We had such a good time hanging out with my side of the family this year. Next year is the Heath year and we can't wait to get together!! Colton (Mitch's youngest brother) will be home sometime in November/December and I have a new nephew due the 14th of next month (Woohoo Sereen! Almost there!), and hopefully we'll have a place of our own sooner than later. Yep, 2012 is shaping up to be a great year.

Papi (my stepdad) helps Derek unwrap a gift at Nana's (my mom)

Derek took his time trying to figure out how this Thomas the Train pop up fort works

He figured out how to crawl in the attached pop up caboose to get to the pop up Thomas engine

Derek was pretty protective of this Thomas toy

Opening presents with Ganka (Jeff) and Gankama (Tammy)

Everyone loved this car floor mat

Gammy (my grandma) got him a robot puppy since he couldn't have a real one - he loved it!

Another gift from Gammy and Papa (my grandparents) - this frog blanket is too cute!

One of the gifts from Grandpa and Grandma Bazemore - it's a toddler sized string-the-beads-on-the-lanyard game to help fine motor skills. Surprisingly, this is one of his favorite games.

Speaking of my Dad, Derek and I went down to Ingleside to visit for my Dad's birthday. We carpooled with my sisters and had a great time! Unfortunately, Mitch couldn't get the time off work but he had a nice, quiet week of sleeping undisturbed. ;) My Dad rented an entire house for us to stay at in City by the Sea, TX. It was such a cute little house! Two bedrooms upstairs complete with kitchen and living room and downstairs was a one bedroom stand-alone apartment. Derek and I slept downstairs while Kelly, Amy, Valerie and Denise slept in the two bedrooms upstairs. I loved the beach theme that was displayed throughout the house and the fact that the house was built on a canal that opened up to the bay. So cool! There were always birds out in the canal and Derek wasn't sure what to think of them. He loved to be taken out onto the deck to look at the dead fish in the canal though. Kind of weird.

Keeping an almost-2-year-old occupied for an 8 hour car ride is very tricky

Luckily, Aunt Val shared her headphones. :)



Derek is sad to see Shannon leave

Derek has his first crush! My friend, Shannon! Don't let the look fool you, I think she was flattered. ;)

We met Craig and Shannon while Mitch was stationed in Del Rio. Then Craig was transferred to Corpus to continue training. We're so glad we got to see them again (But Mitch was bummed he missed it)!

Self-proclaimed King of the Chair

Poor Ryan didn't want to sit in the chair with Denise and Derek

My cousin Suzie (Ryan's Grandma) helped him take a picture with Denise and Derek



Derek and Ryan played so well together! They certainly went to bed tired and happy that night. WARNING: turn your volume down - the kids are screaming

Derek was fascinated with my Dad's birthday cakes and I'm so glad to see my Dad happy! Happy birthday, Daddy!!



Blowing out candles with Grandpa



Aunt Val was a big hit again on the trip back to Dallas. WARNING: More screaming.

Saw these bumper stickers on the back of a 18-wheeler and my sisters begged for a picture. Notice one side says "passing side" and the other says...

War and Peace

One of my favorite Book of Mormon heros is Captain Moroni. In the painting below, he carries the Title of Liberty which he wrote to motivate the Nephites to fight against the Lamanites who's main purpose in life is to destroy the Nephites. On the Title of Liberty, Captain Moroni writes, "In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, our peace, our wives and our children." I've always believed there is a time and a place for war and battle, and often a valid reason. Captain Moroni basically listed all the reasons that it is right and good to go to war. It's not because we hate the enemy, it's because we need our families to be safe. We need our freedom to worship the Lord in peace. With that in mind, this was my thought today (that I turned into a picture!) as I read Matthew 5:39...

Motorcyle and Hats

Derek loves Dad Heath's motorcycle. Jeff has been trying to sell his motorcycle lately so the motorcycle hasn't been around - and Derek has noticed. Every time Jeff comes home, Derek makes his motorcycle sounds and Jeff has to tell Derek each time that, no, Grandpa doesn't have the motorcycle right now. Well, he brought it home tonight and Derek insisted on going out to see it. This is what he did...

He grabbed Dad Heath's helmet and plopped it on his head!

Hot Rod Heart Breaker!

I love how the helmet sits right on his shoulders!

He sure knows how to work that motorcycle!

Tonight he added the hood to the hat ensemble

Fish face!

Stink eye - reminds me of my drill team commander. :)

Santa, Snow and...Family Pictures.

Ok, so the title didn't follow the pattern, but we have a HUGE update coming. And two more posts to come! This month has been a pretty good one. I've lost 5 lbs... well, the 5 lbs I gained over Thanksgiving. WOOT! I refuse to be dampened. And I know one of my Christmas presents is related to exercise (Merry Christmas to me!!), so I'm even more motivated. My mom's new house is finally finished and it's beautiful!! My sister Valerie and I are going to collaborate on a large painting to be hung across from the stairwell. I haven't really tried my hand at abstract art, but some of the samples Mom picked out look fairly simple and straightforward (see samples below). They're in the process of moving in right now and we're excited to see the way the house morphs as they settle in.




Mitch is still working at Walmart. His managers refuse to let him transfer until after the holidays. Yes, it is legal. No, there is no way around them. Grr...but we're full tithe payers and that feels SO good. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we pay 10% of all our income, plus a fast offering once a month. The fast offering isn't a set number, just whatever you think you would pay per person to eat for two meals. There were so many times this year (pretty much every paycheck) when we could have rationalized reason after reason for not paying our tithing, but I know without a doubt that the only reason we've been able to make payments on all our debts and still have some pennies left afterward is because we made the choice to pay the Lord first. He has absolutely provided for us in both tangible and intangible ways. Other than that, it's been a rather uneventful month for us.

Derek sure does love his Daddy. They're best buds.

He loves it when Mitch tickles him.

We had the very first snow of the season on December 4th. Apparently Mother Nature decided that was all we needed because it hasn't happened since. I'm sure we'll have more by January and February. Derek was too young to remember the last time he saw snow, so it was quite the novelty to him. I love that he drove his car around in the snow! He was too smart to go down the snow sprinkled slide - even though I sure was trying hard to get him to do so.

He didn't like to put his fingers in the snow

That Hotwheels has 5-finger drive!



Experiencing snow for the "first" time... again.

Derek has figured out how to climb up on the barstools and usually isn't doing it very often. However, when the parents aren't around, you can pretty much bet he turns into monkey man and swings from chair to chair. And here's the proof!!

Derek took mouse bites out of this apple til he'd had his fill and then left it on the counter for us to find after he'd gone to bed. The little sneak! One step closer to being able to make himself a peanut butter sandwich though! ;)

Santa visited our ward Christmas party. Derek wasn't terribly frightened of Santa, but he wasn't 100% sure about him either. Santa even gave him a candy cane and this was the face I got...

My two handsome men!! Derek looooves hats.

Aren't they so cute! That was the hat we used last Christmas to take pictures with the little boys. He sure has grown since then!!

He makes the funniest faces! The next photo-bomber for sure.

He wasn't happy about Grandpa eating that cookie while he watched Grandma frantically try to make him look at the camera. Grandpa shared though.

Amy Darlene, this is SO your face!!

Any chance he gets, he goes into Grandpa's office and grabs his Marines' hat. This is his favorite way to wear it... and he puts it on all by himself.

I only asked for a smile! Instead I get the Hunchback of Navidad



Merry Christmas from Derek!

Here's hoping you have a fantastic holiday season and a wonderfully happy New Year!