A Visitor!

At the end of January, our friend Sarah visited from South Carolina. We got to open a few Christmas presents, attend a few basketball games, eat lunch with Grandma, Grandpa, and Pa, and spend some time just hanging out at the house. We had a great time and were sorry to see her go!

Christmas, Part III

My mom came to visit in January and we decided to give Beckett another one of his gifts. We were trying to wait to give him his big gifts until both of my parents could come, but we weren't sure when that would happen. For some reason, he insisted on wearing his hat inside. 

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He was a lot more interested in the stickers than he was the blocks: 

Christmas, Part II

This was Christmas with just Blake, Beckett and me at our house. Blake and I try to keep Christmas presents a little low-key at our house. Beckett has been blessed with two sets of grandparents who spoil him tremendously, so we decided that we would get him a few small toys (puzzles, books, clothes, etc) since he would be getting showered with gifts from his grandparents. I haven't really ever been one to buy him a lot of toys, although this became a little more difficult this year with all of the cool toys out. I kind of feel that if he has too many toys that the majority of them get abandoned anyways, and we end up just wasting money and space. Blake and I did get him two bigger gifts (Legos and a basketball goal) that we gave him later. We spaced his gifts out because I didn't want him getting all of the big gifts at once. I'd rather spread them out and have Christmas (and the silence of him playing alone) last longer. Crazy? Maybe, but it's what works for us. 

He would have been a happy camper with just his stocking stuffers.
Goldfish and cookies, what more could a kid want? :) 

Our friend, Sarah, mailed us gifts from SC.

His Curious George shirt from Sarah. He loved it! 

My Carolina shirt from Sarah :) 

This is his concentration face. Not sure why his cheeks look 10
 times bigger while concentrating :)  He wanted to trash each small
piece of paper as he tore it off. Opening presents became more time
consuming that we had planned! 

Puzzles and books

Elmo pajamas!

Heritage Hall

On New Year's Eve, Blake, Beckett and I, along with our friends Rob and Krystle, spent the day in Stillwater and attended the Oklahoma State basketball game vs. Gonzaga. After the game, we took Rob and Krystle to see the sports museum (Heritage Hall) inside of the arena. We took a few quick pictures before they closed for the night. 

Grandpa, Beckett, and Grandma posing with the Big 12
Championship football trophy from last year

Daddy and Beckett posing with the trophy

Daddy and Beckett posing on the game benches

Wooden Stool

Blake's grandpa built him a wooden stool when he was growing up. His parents have kept it all of these years and Beckett's grandpa (Blake's dad) decided to make a tradition of building all of the grandkids a stool and giving it to them on the Christmas after their first birthday. Not only did Grandpa make Beckett a stool, but he re-did Blake's old stool and gave it to him on the same day. It was a special moment for the both of them.

Trying out the new stool

Thanking Grandpa for his stool

Grandpa giving Daddy his old stool

Beckett and Daddy sitting on their stools

Daddy showing Beckett how to use the stool as a table

Christmas, Part I

This year we headed to Ft. Worth for Christmas. Blake's brother, Chris, and my sister-in-law, Kari, just had a baby three weeks ago, so we decided to do Christmas at their house this year so that they wouldn't have to travel. They were kind enough to open up their home for all of the Christmas chaos and we all had a blast. Beckett had so much fun playing with their boys, who are ages 2 and 4. It was so much fun to watch them all play together. 

The boys hanging out with Grandpa

Sporting his new Elmo slippers
from Grandma and Grandpa. 

I got some cuddle time with my sweet niece, Campbell. 

The boys got a pretty neat tent from Santa.

The dogs "bunk-bedding it" on the couch. 

Daddy and Beckett snuggled up in the OSU blanket that Grandma made.

Beckett got this awesome Harley from Grandma and Grandpa.

Grandma spoiling Campbell. 

Watching Curious George while I was trying to take the picture.

Giving Campbell kisses. Campbell looks a
little worried and I can't blame her.

SC State Fair

The day after the wedding, my mom got tickets for all of the family to go to the SC State Fair. A lot of our family came from out of town (Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana), so it was fun for us all to be able to hang out together. Chad's family is from Indiana, so I don't think they have ever seen anything like the SC State Fair. Thankfully, Chad and Serah had already signed the wedding license, so they're all stuck now ;) 

The best part of the fair: watching the ducklings
slide down the water slide 

Gamecocks!! There was a lot of
cock-a-doodle-dooing in this building

Beckett and Kaki probably rode the Carousel about 15 times

The gang entering the fairgrounds

Daddy, Beckett, and Seth enjoying the race cars

Can't go wrong with a bucket of fair fries 

Elizabeth and Beckett riding the train

Aunt Linda introducing Beckett to an elephant ear.
She quickly became his best friend. 

Then she let him lick the powdered sugar. I think she
safely earned her title as his Great-Great-Aunt Linda.