Goin' on a Tree Hunt!

Today Daniel suggested we go look for a Christmas Tree!  I was surprised because as we are between residences and planning to spend the bulk of our holiday with my parents... I assumed we would skip a tree this year.  Apparently I was wrong!

So after a breakfast of cinnamon rolls, John was bundled up and we headed over to the property to do some tree hunting.  We decided to get just a small tree to decorate.

John is snuggled!  Mom is having her morning coffee.

Closeup.  John was really excited, even though it was nap time!

The tree John picked out

He's getting so big!  When he wears his hat I can't really see over him.

Daniel sawed down our "little" tree and we headed back to the barn to decorate.

He was so enamored with the tree he wouldn't even look at his dad!

Looking at it very very carefully.

The finished product!  Not bad for a "woods" tree.  We also didn't put up all our breakable ornaments... the risk of bumping them in this environment is really high.

He loved touching the tree. 

True to form, he had to try to put it in his mouth.

His hands smelled like Balsam after all this exploring.

All lit up!

Then on the way home, John got to drive!  (On the back roads).

He loves to drive...  He makes his excited noises the whole time!  He also practices his "broom broom" car noises.

Hands at "10 and 2!"

So Happy!

The peanut gallery

Funny face at his mom.  "Watch the road, John!"

"Ok mom!" 

"Am I doing it right, Dad?"

Practicing some one handed driving....  good thing dad is here!

He has a good right turn but his left turns not so good.  That's ok, he has a few years before he drives on his own. :-)

He went home to have a two and a half hour nap.  It was a big day for a little boy!

Black Friday

I am not a Black Friday shopper.  Instead, I drank some wonderful Black Coffee from Granddad!  John went to the farm with his dad.  When I got there about an hour later to pick him up and take him home for his nap, this is what I found....

John-Dear tractoring!  He loves it!  

Muddy day out on the farm.

Tractoring with dad and the dogs!  John "steered" the tractor down The Mile Road.

So Serious.

Hi Mom!

Back to work...

Hehehe.

Making his "tractor sound."  (Bffftt)

Using the knob to turn the wheel.

Holding on to the steering wheel.

My favorite.  <3

Having SO MUCH FUN!

Obligatory Brass photo.  She's so pretty.

Barley dog lays on the floor by Daniel's feet.

Packer lays in between Daniel's legs.

John had a great moring driving the big John Deere.  Such a fun time that he napped for 1 1/2 hours!  A huge accomplishment! 

First Thanksgiving!

John Grover had a marvelous first Thanksgiving.  Daniel got home from trucking in time to hang out with John before his nap...and after his nap, John put on his Thanksgiving duds.

Brass likes his shirt.  

He rolled over so you could see his cute turkey bum!

Then, we watched The National Dog Show.  John really loves the dogs in person, but he was both excited and distressed by the dogs on the TV.  That is, until the Corgi came on.  He really liked the Corgi, squealing and talking to it.  After that, he had a ton of fun watching all the "funny" dogs.  He thought the Old English Sheepdog was hilarious.  (But he still preferred the Corgi).

Watching Brass lick.

Watching the dogs on TV.

Then he took a break to play with his ball and book.  Yes, that is a Halloween book... but he loves it!

Our very own Chesapeake Bay Retriever.  Love her!

Playing with the ball from Grandmommy!

You can't really see here, but he's pushed up on his toes into a bridge position.  He likes to do his Yoga.  This is a modified version of downward facing dog.  (Note the pacifier he placed into his own mouth.  This is one of his favorite "toys.")

He also likes to do pushups.

 When naptime rolled around again, we decided to go see Daddy at the barn, and bring him a snack!

Who is that guy hiding behind Red Mouse?

JBGR of course!

All snuggled up with his nookie and Red Mouse.  Wearing his fleece hat made for him by Cindy Steiker.  It has cowboy boots on it!

 John fell asleep in the car on the way to the barn.  He's doing that more and more often now.  When we got home, we cooked dinner.  Originally we had planned to have dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Rector, Aunt Dail and Uncle Josh, but since Grandma Rector was sick, we postponed it.... and so we had a small Thanksgiving with just the three of us!

I made a chocolate pie while John played in his bumbo.  Then, I made green bean casserole--but I had no mushrooms!  So, I made a lovely garlicy cream sauce instead.  It turned out heavenly!  John helped cut the garlic up, make the sauce, and buzz the topping in the food processor (whenever it was running he'd rest his head on my chest.  Aww!).  He also helped prepare the sweet potatoes for roasting.

Then he had a nap.  I got the mashed potatoes ready, got the chicken breaded (almond meal, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper). I put John's chicken in the toaster oven to roast and cooked our chicken, made gravy and reheated the green bean casserole.

Daddy got home around 7 and John was ready to eat!  Daniel kept saying "Gobble gobble gobble!" to John and he'd laugh hysterically.  I have a video of that I'll have to post.  Then we stripped John down to his diaper and prepared to eat!

Laughing at Daddy saying "gobble gobble gobble!"

He's so hungry!!!  Green beans, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and chicken.  Daddy said this was "Dinner Heaven."

Trying the green beans.  He kept making a face but then would eat more!  

First time with mashed white potatoes!

Inspecting the mash.

First time with chicken.  He loved it! 

Baby salute!

Inspecting his green bean.

Every time he eats, the whole time, he points his left toes.  So cute!

Chicken... yummy yummy chicken!

Mashed taters!  Chicken! 

More inspecting.

Chicken mouth.

Two hands. 

Look at that sweet round head. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Going for more sweet potato. 

Taking a break before diving in for more. Gotta rest that belly!

Sweet Potater.

The carnage that remained.
The dogs also had a very happy Thanksgiving meal.

After Dinner, John got his bath, and went to bed... although all the exitement proved to be a bit too much as he woke up around 10:30 very very sad... he cried for about half an hour.  Not a mad cry, just the "sad, tired" cry.  He also got the weird transient rash on his face that he gets at times.  After listening to Raffi, DMB, and some Greg Brown he settled down to sleep.