Christmas part 1

For Christmas this year we flew to Florida, to spend the holidays with my sister and family. We discovered that trying to entertain a toddler on an airplane is rough duty-much more challenging than a newborn or baby! He did fine though, we just had to find creative ways to entertain him.

This picture is how we spend the majority of the flight-we started out sticking stickers in a coloring book, then when we got sick of that we started sticking them other places too!

We had a layover in Atlanta, and AirTran hired the Georgia Tech Glee Club to carol in the terminal, so Jayden and I followed them around for quite a while. His favorite song was We wish you a Merry Christmas/Feliz Navidad, because it was quite peppy and the singers would

clap their hands and stomp their feet, which Jayden would do as well. He'd stomp, clap, dance, wander around, come back, and then clap and dance some more. He's quite the show-off and enjoyed all the attention.

After a while of dancing to/with the carolers, I took Jayden back to Brian and told him he should go find the carolers again because my phone doesn't do video. He did, and said that when Jayden walked back to his "spot" in the semi-circle, the Glee Club said "He's back! Let's sing his favorite song!" So they did, and here is the video. Sorry it's wobbly, it's a challenge to keep the camera still while keeping your eye on him and making sure he doesn't eat some random person's french fries!

Once we got to Jill's, this is how we found Jayden sleeping when Brian and I came in the room to go to bed one night. "Aaahh, this is the life!"

Here Jayden and Chloe are sitting in their rocking chairs, I think they were watching the Wiggles. They were quite the dynamic duo, and it was so fun watching them play together. Chloe was such a big help, she was so good at sharing, we only had to break them up a few times! ;)

One night we went to Christmas Lights at the Zoo, where they had the zoo all lit up and decorated. Jayden and his cousins had a good time peeking through all the little Christmas trees and looking at the lights up close.

Paige's orchestra class had a holiday concert, and here she is playing the viola! She is quite musical, and is pretty good at both the viola and piano.

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving! Brian's sister and her husband came over, and so did Jen and Jayden's best friend Ethan! We had yummy deep fried turkey, potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, salad, fruit salad, chips & dip, and pies and ice cream!

But the best part was after dinner! Jen brought a gingerbread train for the boys to make, and they absolutely LOVED it! They were eating away at the gingerbread while Jen and I figured out the directions and got the frosting ready. Although, the train wouldn't hold up too well because we were missing pieces, and the pieces that we did have were missing big chunks! Oh well, that's not what's important...

Eating a gumball with his green fingers...

It was so funny, Ethan would eat the candy, and would switch from decorating the train to eating candy. I could get Jayden to put the candy on the train, but then he'd take it off, suck on the candy a little bit, and then put it back and clap his hands. Too cute!

Here is a video of Jayden sharing his gingerbread with Ethan. If Ethan wasn't looking, Jayden would pull on his ear to get him to look his way so he could get the gingerbread in his mouth, and they'd both just giggle and giggle. They are quite the pair!

We hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving too!

Halloween Festivities

We did our best to fill our week with a variety of Halloween Festivities, although we don't really know many places or things to do here.

We went with Jen & Ethan to Bonnie Springs, and here we are riding the train!

Jayden & Ethan looking at the ducks and swans. Look at how Ethan towers over Jayden, even though he is only 3 months older. Poor Turner children are doomed to be short...

Here they are watching the dancing pirate skeleton. They were mesmerized by this, it was so funny.

They also loved this maze. It was just perfect for them!

A different day we went over to their house for dinner...here Jayden is sneaking a bite of Ethan's pizza...

...a little playtime...

...carving pumpkins...

...and giving the pumpkins kisses!

Now on to Trunk or Treating!!!

His favorite part of the evening was picking these ducks out of the water and putting them in his plastic pumpkin. For some reason there wasn't anyone manning this station, so we were there for quite a while. He kept filling up his bucket with ducks, then we'd put them back in the water, and he'd continue. It was so adorable.

You probably noticed that his costume is all wet down the front...that is because he was reaching so far into the tub to get the ducks that he fell in! Twice! It didn't bother him at all! Brian just picked him up, and he looked around for a minute and then kept going!

We hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! We sure did!

Jayden & the Apple Festival

On Saturday we went to the Apple Festival! We ate hot dogs, apple cider, and apples with caramel. We played at the park, saw lots of dogs, ran into some friends, and got to play some fun games!

Here we are catching "butterflies" in our net!

Showing his muscles with that hammer!

Fishing with Daddy

Look what I caught!

Look at those creepy faces on the pumpkins...I could have done without that!

Throwing the apples on the ground

Would you like one?

He likes the crunching sound apples make

A few days before we went to a pumpkin patch nearby, and here he is doing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider".

This picture is from a few weeks ago. He hasn't ever been attached to his pacifier, blanket, or anything really. Lately, he has been more interested in his stuffed dog. Sometimes he will snuggle with his dog in his crib, and here he is watching Blue's Clue's with it.

Some recent info on Jayden:

Things he can say:

whining + "me me"=Mommy

"guy guy"=bye bye

"dah"=dog

"d-aaahhh d-aaahhh"=Daddy

"go"=go

"pa" =park

"ta-ta"=toothbrush

"hi"=hi

"coo-coo"=Blue's Clue's

Favorite song: Happy Tapping with Elmo. He is also learning the hand motions to "The Itsy Bitsy Spider"

Favorite show: Blue's Clue's

Favorite food: watermelon (he had a cookie in one hand and watermelon in the other and he chose watermelon!)

Favorite things to do: Go to the park, get the mail, wrestle with Daddy, take baths, throw things down the stairs, play kickball in the driveway, and throw rocks. He also knows how to pray-as soon as we put him in his booster seat he puts his hands together to say a prayer, as well as kneeling to say his bedtime prayers.

He's a lot of fun, and we just love his personality!

What's for dinner?

On Saturday, Brian and I took Jayden to the Gilcrease Orchard. It was pretty fun, we walked in with our wagon, and got to pick some fresh fruits & veggies. (Yes, Jayden is in his mismatched jammies-oh well!)

We got some apples, apple cider, corn, a watermelon, a gigantic zucchini, a big squash, a medium sized pumpkin, and a ginormous sweet potato, which was the inspiration to the dinner I'll tell you about in a bit.

Phew! This is heavy!

Standing on top of the hay bales in the maze. Look at that little kid peeking his head into the picture...so funny!

Now onto our scrumptious dinner...I wish I could take credit for this recipe, but I found it on the internet. Nevertheless, it was delicious! It is now Brian's new favorite (and mine too, actually)!

It is Claim Jumper's Jamaican Jerk Chicken Sweet Potato!

And, in case you were wondering, it was heavenly!

What did you have for dinner?