Sunday, January 29, 2012

She crawls

Despite our best efforts to the contrary, Lily Jane is now mobile.



I put her on the floor in the middle of her room and turned my back to her to clean out her closet. Only a few seconds later, I felt a little tug on my pants, and I looked down to find a Lily Jane looking up at me!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Conversations with Tate

Talking with Tate is getting more and more interesting lately....two conversations from this weekend follow:


CONVERSATION NUMBER ONE:

Tate and Lily Jane were both in the bath looking up at me. I decide to take the moment to begin planting the seeds about my future nursing home...

Me: Tate, when you and Lily Jane pick a place for Daddy and me to live when we are old, what kinds of things will you look for?

Tate: It should have lots of balloons.

Me: That sounds nice. Anything else?

Tate: And a bounce house.

Me: Ok, sounds fun. Anything else?

Tate: (thinks for a moment)  No, that's it.

Me: Well, I hope you come see me a lot.

Tate: If you have a bounce house, I will.



CONVERSATION NUMBER TWO (PUN INTENDED):

Today, Tate yelled for me to come see him in the bathroom...

Tate: Look Mommy, I went poop in the potty!

Me: (looking in)  Oh, that's "diarrhea."

Tate: (looking confused)  My poop has a name?!?



Sunday, January 8, 2012

Happy 40th Anniversary to Mia and Big Guy!

Forty years ago today my parents became known as Mr. and Mrs. Robert Dodson. 




But today they are known more affectionately as Big Guy....


...and Mia. 


Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!


Monday, January 2, 2012

Christmas 2011

Christmas this year was so great because it was Lily Jane's first Christmas and also the first Christmas that Tate was really into it. And I mean REALLY INTO IT. We tried to do it up right for him.


There were Santa visits...



 And house decorating....

We decorated our house with wreaths and candles in the windows, but that wasn't enough for Tate. It it were up to him, we would have multiple inflatables and multi-colored lights that changed to the music. He asked me repeatedly why we didn't have a giant Santa in our yard and took to calling our house a "party pooper house."  When we drove by the houses with inflatables, he called them "party people." 


Christmas parades....

We went to the Grapevine Christmas parade with Tate's favorite friend "Frank" (his name is actually Henry, sometimes "Hank," but to Tate he is "Frank" and Tate is not letting it go). The boys had fun with a light saber/nun-chuks(?) fight. Side note: While doing this blog post I asked Rob how to spell nun-chuks. He gave me the prior spelling and then, after a pause, said "wait a minute, why are you writing about nun-chucks on our blog?" Another side note: I still don't think his spelling is right. Last side note: I'm too tired to look it up myself. Have you noticed I just did 9 blog posts in 24 hours?!?)

The boys loved the parade. And then it rained, giving Tate the perfect opportunity to tell everyone he saw "It rained on my parade!!" 


And there were Christmas card photo shoot fails....



....and more fails.




And Christmas cookies...


Note my 8-months-pregnant sister Nancy rolling out the dough with a wine bottle. That's how the Dodson sisters roll (literally) when it comes to baking.

Lily Jane presided over the cookie making.
Tate demonstrates why the Grinch is his favorite Christmas story.



There were family gatherings.


We hosted Christmas Eve Eve for my extended family at our house. Lily Jane loved every minute of it. (dress handmade by Linda)
This is the first gift Lily Jane ever opened, and she knew exactly what to do with it! She tore into that package and then looked for others.

She was a natural.
Tate was there, too. (Rob was, too, but we can't find any photographic proof.)

There was reading of "Twas The Night Before Christmas."

Tate had a blast with Nannysippi who spent Christmas at our  house.


And then there were gifts. Lots of them.


Tate told Santa he wanted a microphone for Christmas. When asked why, Tate would always say "because I want to be a rock star."  Oh yes, silly us. He got several microphones. Everyone who bought him a microphone will be getting a performance outside their bedroom windows at midnight.


And finally.....Santa came!!!

Tate's loot from Santa. to the left are his rock star theme gifts.

Lily Jane's loot from Santa.

Lily Jane thought this whole Christmas thing was pretty cool.

 Telling secrets. (LJ is wearing Tate's hand-me-down PJs from his second Christmas. I happened to see the exact same PJs for sale again, so I bought them in Tate's size for this year.)

Tate's favorite gift was this arcade "Claw" game. He plays it over and over and over.

And the big Santa gift this year was a swing set in our backyard! Rob calls this picture "Nesting Tot, in his natural habitat."  






Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Lily Jane's Baptism

Lily Jane was baptized on November 27 in the same church and wearing the same gown as when I was baptized 35 years ago.  The 100-year-old gown was first worn by my grandfather, Robert Dodson, in 1912. It was then worn by my cousins and me and now our children. Lily Jane also wore a gold cross necklace that belonged to her great-great-grandmother, Lillian -- the mother of my grandmother, Mama June, and one of the women for whom she is named. It was a special occasion!


In the heirloom gown with the heirloom necklace

Tate says "hey hey hey, will somebody buy me a sports coat with longer sleeves?!?"

All eyes on Lily Jane
Four generations

Thanksgiving 2011

Happy Thanksgiving! (pretend I posted this in November instead of January....catching up on the blog so I at least have these posts for posterity....)




Sunday, January 1, 2012

Soccer

Tate did not get his kicks out of playing soccer in his first season, but he sure looked cute...



His favorite part were the snacks!
 
Don't let this action shot fool you. He scored two goals all season, and both were for the other team!

We're focusing on T-ball this Spring...

Halloween 2011

Halloween continues to be my favorite holiday and rather than write a lot, I will just post some pics....

Tate wanted to be Darth Vader, and this is his very homemade costume. The control panel is a shoebox lid that I painted and pinned to his shirt. The light saber is a pool noodle that he got as a favor at a birthday party, and the cape was sewn by Linda out of black fabric.

Our little pumpkin.





Pumpkin patch visit
Punkin Chunkin

Couldn't resist matching skeleton shirts

Also couldn't resist lots of Halloween outfits for LJ!

At the fall festival at her preschool.

Lily Jane is 6 Months!

Sweet Lily Jane turned six months old on November 2!

Her stats:
Weight: 20 lbs, 10 oz
Height: 27 2/4 inches

Head: 44.5 cm

She is wearing size 12 mos right now, and just keeps growing!



At six months she loves rolling and scooting to get to where she wants to go. She makes lots of sounds, including the words "da-da" and "ma-ma," although we can't truly claim she knows what she is saying.



She is generally very happy and loves to jump in her bouncer and be held. She laughs a lot and adores her big brother.
 


But our VERY favorite thing is that she gives hugs and kisses now, in her own baby way, and it melts our hearts every time. 


Like our update on Tate at four years, she does NOT love napping, getting ready for bed, sleeping in her own bed, going to sleep or letting us sleep. She also does not love pears or bulb suctions.


Happy Six Months Lily Jane!




One Monster of a Birthday Party

Tate's 4th birthday party was held at a pumpkin patch with a monster theme. With a young baby and a new job, I didn't put as much effort into this one as I have in prior years, but I still had a little fun with it...

The Monster theme was carried through in the invites and thank you notes (done by my friend Eleanor at Pink Peppermint Paper...love her work!)...
Real googly eyes were used throughout. The thank you notes have a cyclops and say "Thanks. I've had my eye on that.""


The tables were set with polka dot tablecloths and the centerpieces were pumpkins and gourds painted like monsters.


 


(The food table had monster fingers (cheetos), eyeballs (grapes), and monster theme cupcakes.)


 The pumpkin patch offered plenty of entertainment, and the kids got to:


....ride tractors...


 ...go on a hayride...


 ...feed some animals....


 ...and feed themselves...
(I love this pic of cousin Blake)


 Tate had a blast with his friends!



His favorite present was a real Darth Vader helmet from his Aunt Brooke


Some of Tate's friends from school came. 






  And Lily Jane was there, blending in with the pumpkins.


 Each kid got to pick a pumpkin, which they took home in a monster bag as their favor. 

And at the end, Tate said (completely unsolicited), "I had so much fun today, Mom and Dad. I want a group hug!"  And we were happy to oblige!