The Snowman

It is a tiny snow globe in the shape of a snowman that flashes different colors when turned on. It used to sit up on the book shelf in Tristen's room, but now it resides in his bed, on the chair, on the floor ...never too far from our little guy, cheerfully blinking Christmas cheer into our little home.

We are slowly getting ready for the holiday - Trev, who is incredibly talented in many ways, is setting up the Vivarium (semi-aquatic terrarium w/ small creatures) for Tristen. We walked in from work last night and there was a 29 gallon tank sitting on the living room table. Tristen ran up to it, peered inside and yelled "Frog!!" Of course, there is no frog in it yet ... but there will be soon enough. I am so excited to see what it is going to look like. I have been researching terrariums and vivariums for months. We've gone to every pet store in the area, and looked at exotic pets online. I had high hopes of getting a red eyed tree frog, but it looks like I may have to wait on that until the vivarium is a little more established and we make sure we have the right species and plants living together. Somehow a redbellied tree frog for $7 is a little more expendible than the $59 red eyed tree frog we found. :) Trevor went out and purchased a couple of cool plants (venus fly trap and pitcher plant) and I'm going to get some ferns and other small plants that will do well in a small setting. We'll be sure to post pictures when our habitat is finished.

Merry Christmas everyone and have a beautiful holiday season.

Love,

Trev, Heather and Tristen

**TWO**

He loves choo choos, motorcycles and big trucks. He eats with a "poon" and fork and loves "brocci" , "chocate" and turkey/cheese snackables. He's learning to wrestle and loves to have tickle time with mommy and daddy. He's sleeping in a big boy racecar bed, courtesy of his girlfriend Ginger, but still loves his paci and blankey. His favorite movies are Tarzan, Jungle Book and Nemo. He begs us to watch these movies every day, at least twice a day. We start off with one and end with another. He likes to brush his teeth, hates getting his hair washed, and is a huge fan of smearing lotion all over his body. He talks ... and talks ... sometimes we know what he's saying and lots of times we just agree with him because he's looking at us like we need to do something other than stare at him in puzzlement. Our little man is TWO years old. Unbelievable. I'm torn between amazement and a just a smidgen of sadness. I can't believe time has flown by so quickly. I look at Tristen and remember, like it was yesterday, zooming to the hospital in labor. Having to wait forever for the darn epideral, and finally welcoming him into the world. It was a shocking experience, but one that God knew Trevor and I were ready for. If I could turn back the clocks, it would be to that precise moment in time that Tristen came into our lives. I'm not much of a person for change!

Our little guy is turning into such a fun person - lots of energy, very smart, and quite clever! He has dancing blue eyes and shaggy blonde hair. He's the spitting image of his dad, with his mom's fair hair and eyes. The two of us combined into one perfect little being. Thank you, God, for giving us this person to take care of and raise!

Tristen, Happy Birthday little man. We love you so much.

Mommy and Daddy

The Great Pumpkin

Thought I'd post a couple more from this weekend. Had a wonderful time finding pumpkins to carve - even saw a few "baby cows ... mooo" but Tman would have nothing to do with them. I guess he likes them from a distance - like seen in a field from our car going 65 mph down 220! Oh well. Enjoy!

Summer Update

Well, I'm a complete blog slacker these days. We have been busy, of course, and sadly I've not taken many pictures of the Tman this summer. I do have some from the last couple of weekends, though, so I'm going to put a few in this post.

Early last month Trev finished putting together the swing set we obtained when we first moved here. Tristen loves the slide and swinging. It's really cute set and it definitely makes being at home more fun. Usually on the weekends Tristen will play outside on the swing set and run up and down the "ramp" of Trev's trailer. He's really good at climbing to the top of the slide and going down on his own. Of course, he hasn't quite mastered his landing yet, but that's okay. He's got great form! :)

I've been taking Tristen to the library every other week or so and he loves it. We get lots of board books, because I found out the hard way that he's not quite ready for books with paper pages. Each night, after his bath, we sit on his big car bed and read books. Typically it is the same 3-5 books I've been reading him since he started sitting still long enough for me to read to him. The Barn book, Duck book and, of all things, the Nutcracker book my mom gave him. I think that one belonged to Tara or one of the granddaughters. Tristen loves reading about Clara, Fritz and the mouse king... and, of course, the "cacker" (nutcracker). I think bedtime is my favorite time of the day with him, because he actually lets me cuddle with him and he gives me lots of kisses (so he doesn't accidently fall asleep!) He sleeps most nights in his big boy car bed, which is awesome. He really likes his bed, as would I if I were a little kid. The front of the car is a toybox and the lid is like a slide. Whenever he wakes up he slides down the front of the car and wanders into our room. Sometimes he wakes up early and comes into the room to sleep with us. He has developed a morning routine that includes getting up, sitting in daddy's rocker/recliner with his blankie and watching one of his movies. He is NOT a morning person, which makes perfect sense to me. He likes to be left alone for a while and then he'll eat his breakfast and drink his milk. If we miss any part of this routine and just get him ready to leave for school, he is pretty hard to deal with. Makes the 45 minute drive into work pretty miserable. So, we stick to the routine. :)

Our other favorite past time is watching the same 3 or 4 movies over and over again. We opted NOT to get sattelite t.v., and cable isn't available out here, so we are limited in what we can watch. Tristen's favorite movies are Tarzan, Jungle Book, Cars and Madagascar. I think I know the scripts and soundtracks by heart - for now Tarzan is my favorite. Love Phil! :)

So, we've wiled away the summer by coloring, watching movies, playing on the swingset, playing with our toys and trains, and just settling into our new house. It has been an adjustment, especially the drive to and from work with gas prices being so expensive. But, that seems to be a problem for many people these days. We like where we're living - we are 10 minutes from church and Wally World - which is nice. We have very few neighbors (new neighborhood with two other houses being built and as of today it appears the one furthest from us will be occupied very soon), and we have enough property to keep the dog busy. Our outside kitty, Cali, has adjusted pretty well and stays close to home. I'm so happy she stayed with us - I was worried she'd wander off since she wouldn't be familiar with her surroundings. I guess she loves us. :)

Now that it's fall, I'm getting into the fall mindset. I'm anxious to go find a pumpkin patch and let Tristen get a pumpkin. We're thinking halloween costumes and Thanksgiving. Our little guy is growing so fast - he's at the right age to truly appreciate this time of year. I can't wait to share with him the things I remember my parents doing for us when we were little.

Well, that's about it for now. Here are the pictures I promised. Check out the little guy on his daddy's 4-wheeler. He loves riding with his daddy and has figured out how to turn the key, give the ATV gas and make it go "VROOOOMMMM" ... Thank God he can't push it into gear or touch the pedal and make it go.