Wagon Ride

"Sure Lana, I can pull you and take you for a wagon ride!"

Thanksgiving, Part 2

We got on the road this morning and headed east to Nandad and Nana's (Tim's side) for our second Thanksgiving feast. Thank you Nana for making everything and giving me the recipes too! It was delicious!

Here are the cousins sitting at the kiddie table!

Nandad and Nana couldn't resist lovin' on Lydia

Mema with her grandson and her great granddaughter. You are such a blessing in our family. Thank you for loving me as your own granddaughter.

The girl cousins have to stick together! Mallory and Lana played so well together all day long!

Aunt Amanda ('Manda) with her three and our two:

The cousins: Kyler, Lana, Lydia, Addison and Mallory


Nana and Nandad

The love you have for your grandchildren is incredible. We cherish the times we share with you! Love you!


Mema and her great grandbabies

We are thankful for the day we all spent together, for the meal we shared and the memories we made!

Cocoa and Cookies

It was a cold and rainy day after Thanksgiving. No shopping for us! We spent the day

lounging at home,

putting up decorations,

eating gingerbread men cookies,

and drinking hot cocoa!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

We headed over to Maw and Paw Paw's house this morning to celebrate Thanksgiving!

Lana loved watching The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade while Lydia collected kisses!

We enjoyed great food, watching the girls play (and nap!), and being together on this day. We missed Daddy being at the station; but we have Thanksgiving Part 2 to celebrate together on Saturday with everyone on the Baker side!

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Lots of pics with the turkey!

Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. Psalm 95:2

We are thankful as a family for so many blessings....

Pies by Tim

A tradition at our house is to bake yummy pecan pie at Thanksgiving and Christmas. These are not baked by me, oh no, these can only be baked by Mr. Baker himself (love the pun?). For this is a recipe handed down to him by his Mema. I was never a big fan of pecan pie UNTIL I met Tim and had the sweet goodness of this pie! Now I look forward to this annual event!

He and Lana went to the store today to get all of the ingredients. Here they are together gathering the items they will need.

Mixing everything together...

After spending time in the oven, they came out looking perfect!

The bad news is that these pies will actually travel to the fire station and be consumed by 10 hungry firemen!

The good news is Tim will be making one more that will stay at our house to be eaten and enjoyed with a big glass of milk! I love my Baker man!

Melt

This smile melts my heart!

Lana Singing

Lana loves to sing. She sings in the car, in the bathroom, while she's playing, and when she's going to sleep. She sings the ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Jesus Loves Me, the clean-up song, and many made up songs. I took a clip of her singing Jesus Loves Me (in which she repeats the same verse over and over. You can also hear Lydia trying to sing in the background) and another song she has been learning at school that has these words: Father thank you, Father thank you, once again, once again, for our many blessings, for our many blessings, Amen, Amen.

You'll want to pause the music at the bottom of the page so you can hear this clip.

This Is Me

I have been tagged by Susan to do a "me" entry. This post will be entirely devoted to me! Things you might or might not know about me! I haven't even started yet and it feels completely self-indulgent. I wear a lot of hats -- wife, mother, daughter, friend -- but the hat that I rarely try on anymore is myself. Here goes!

My name is Tara Elizabeth. I was born in Pennsylvania on January 4. I am an only child. My parents divorced when I was 3. My mom met my step-father and the three of us moved to Texas when I was 4 1/2. We lived in Dallas at first and then I consider that I grew up in Richardson starting at age 6. I loved school and was an excellent student, but every August in the weeks leading up to the first day, I would get really anxious and couldn't sleep. I don't know why I feared it so much, maybe it was the unknown. Then, I grew up to be a teacher -- go figure! Thankfully, I didn't have that sleepless anxiety past my elementary school years! Went to UNT, graduated magna cum laude. I have taught 1st and 2nd grade.

I have fond memories of my childhood summers. I would fly to Pennsylvania to spend a couple of weeks with my maternal grandparents and then from there I would spend a few more weeks with my paternal grandparents at their cabin on Kashawakamak Lake in Ontario, Canada. Even as a child, I appreciated the solitude, quiet, tranquility of this lake setting. I spent the days swimming in the lake all day long! I guess you could say I have a fear of leaches because of some instances where I had a few of those critters "attached" to me after I swam around some undisturbed parts of the shoreline. Using a flame to get them off my leg was the only way to get them off. Yes, you could say I have a fear of leaches!

I married at age 29. I knew on our second date that this was the man I would marry and spend the rest of my life with.

I have traveled to many places! Europe -- London, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, France. Mexico: Cancun, Puerto Vallarta. U.S.: Hawaii-- Maui. Colorado-- Colorado Springs, Boulder, Estes Park. New Mexico-- Santa Fe, Albuquerque. Las Vegas. Mississippi--Vicksburg. Florida-- Destin, Orlando (Disney World), Daytona Beach, Tampa. South Carolina-- Charleston. Boston. New York City. Pennsylvania--lots of small towns where relatives live, Philadelphia. Michigan-- Grand Haven, went to Lake Michigan. New Orleans. Arkansas-- Little Rock, Hot Springs, Eureka Springs. Missouri--Branson. Arizona: Grand Canyon (twice), Sedona, Phoenix, Scottsdale. And almost everywhere in Texas!

I would love to travel to Washington DC, Montana and California.

I love candles! I love coffee with cream and sugar. Fun creamers, like the holiday ones -- pumpkin pie spice, peppermint mocha, gingerbread-- yum! I love taking hot bubble baths. I love Mexican food -- salsa, queso, cheese enchiladas with red sauce, chicken nachos from Mi Cocina. I love Italian food -- pizza, spaghetti with mushrooms, baked ziti from Luigi's. I love the feeling of getting in the bed after a long day and sliding into the cool sheets/cool pillowcase. I love almost any genre of music and have music on all day long at home. No TV during the day except 30 minutes-hour for L. and the news at 6 pm. I love the morning hours; I am the most productive; I love the morning sun and the promise of a new day. I love getting little notes/cards/calls that tell me someone was thinking about me. I love dark chocolate truffles.

I laugh at random things. I don't really laugh out loud at things designed for that purpose like jokes or even comedy movies/shows. I must have a weird sense of humor. I do enjoy giving and receiving sarcasm and smart wit.

I don't get overly emotional. Can't stand drama. I'm a positive realist: make the best of a situation, but realize the reality of it. I am extremely private. It takes a long time for me to trust someone. Once I do, I am loyal and my love and respect for that person is fiercely genuine. Therefore, I do not have a million friends, never have. I have a few who really know me. And I would do anything for them.

I don't like veggies. I do eat them because I need to. I enjoy them when they stop being good for you and are bad for you again, ex. adding cheese, salad dressing, etc! I don't like confrontation or feeling cornered/pressured into something. I don't like getting somewhere late, going to bed with my make-up on, when cell phones lose their signal, going to the grocery store.

I wish my husband wouldn't have to work overtime, our house had just one extra room, 5 pounds would just disappear off my body! (There's my three wishes, where's my genie?)

This was so fun! It was almost hard to just think about me. In a nutshell, I love life! I wouldn't change anything from the past or present -- and what is wonderful is that I am not worried about the future, because my God is there, has the blueprint of my life and as long as I walk with Him, I have nothing to fear.

And now I conclude and as I continue to wear my different hats -- wife, mother, daughter and friend -- maybe because of this exercise, I will put on my "self" hat a little bit more!

I challenge you to this self-awareness activity. Consider yourself tagged!

Pappy's Visit

Pappy (my dad) came to visit us this week. He flew his plane all the way from Colorado! We went to pick him up at the Rockwall Airport and Lana ran right up and gave him a big hug (first picture). Then she wanted to stand on the plane's wing. She thought that was so neat. But, no plane ride for her this time; maybe next visit she'll want to go up in the air and fly!

Yesterday we went to Chuck E. Cheese's for pizza, lemonade, rides and games!

We also took him to storytime at the library and to the doctor for Lydia's ear infection visit. Lana provided the rest of the entertainment at home playing and talking Pappy's ear off!

Pappy went with us this morning to drop Lana off at school and then it was back to Colorado. We had a great visit and we hope he comes back to see us soon!

Q. What do you get when your baby is fussy, cranky and pulling on her ear?



A. An ear infection.




Took Lydia this afternoon to the doctor, parent intuition telling us that there might be an ear infection to blame for a crying, fussy, short tempered little baby girl.



Confirmed.



Antibiotics started this evening.



Much happier baby already. No really, she already seems to be feeling better! She's well enough to do this for the first time --

If it looks funny, it should. At 7 1/2 months old, it is a little early to be doing this! I think she is doing all she can to keep up with Lana!

Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving Feast Preschool Style!

It was so cute to walk into Lana's class today for their Thanksgiving lunch. They were all sitting at their seats with their homemade placemats, excited to share the feast with their parents! Lana got the biggest smile on her face when Lydia and I got there. Then I wasted no more time and made up her plate of goodies so she could partake!

After her lunch of chicken nuggets, carrots, cheese, grapes and a roll -- she was all about this cupcake! Note the icing all over her nose and chin! Her classmate Hannah is next to her.

Pictured with classmate Hadley and her "security object" from the classroom, a pink pig she named "Oink Oink." This pig has been reserved for Lana and only Lana to keep next to her in class; its purpose: to keep her from being sad and missing Mommy throughout the day. (I am so grateful to her teachers, for creating a loving approach to help her when she "gets sad.")

And here they are: Lana's teachers that are caring for, teaching and nurturing her:

Ms. Emily and Ms. Marisa

The homemade placemat that is now proudly displayed on our kitchen table:

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving feast - a preview to next week - a symbolic moment to celebrate and to be thankful for all of our bountiful blessings!

Still

"Be still and know that I am God..." Psalm 46:10

I know the meaning of this verse personally - to silence distractions, stop and really listen to God - to listen for direction, guidance and comfort.

Tonight I am taking a humorous meaning from this verse -- these girls of ours NEVER seem to be still! Lana is talking, chatting, singing and bouncing around constantly right up until bedtime. Lydia is always crawling or trying to pull up and is a wiggler even if you are holding her. Their energy is amazing. Even though I don't get to the gym, by the end of the day I feel like I have gone through circuit training!

So to make it light-hearted, here is my verse for today:

"Be still and know that I am Mom." Baker 11:17

:::You Name It:::

"Shh, she's coming over here..." could be a good caption...

What caption would you give this picture?

*This was taken a few days ago; before the cold snap!

Playing Catch

Lana loves her lessons from Daddy on how to play catch. Well, right now she's just doing the throwing part and "catch" will come later!

Sleeping Beauties

Sock Basket

While going through Lydia's sock basket (to weed out those precious ones that are now too small!), the girls played dress-up of sorts. Lydia munched on a tasty sock while she was fitted with the Longhorns hat that was actually a gift to Lana from Auntie Kara. And Lana made herself mittens from the socks. These are the kind of pictures I want to remember years from now -- just simply our no frills everyday stuff!