Christmas Day!!

Christmas Eve

I had alittle wrapping elf helping me on Christmas Eve.

Office Decorating Contest

If you've ever been to the JCPenney headquarters, you'd know that it is a sea of cubicles and all visitors must be escorted because you get lost. When I found out that our department was having a christmas decorating contest at work, I knew I had to build a "house" so that for 1 month I could have a true "office". Below are the results. Sadly to say (and with much bitterness I must add) I did not win. The contest was slanted - but I am enjoying my house very much. It has also made for many interesting conversations with 1/2 the people in the building.

This is my support beam!

Here are the other 2 designers (both very good!)



Here were the winners:

Daycare Christmas Party

Here are the pictures from Natalie's classroom party last week. Natalie really liked the red cupcake. I wasn't planning on giving it to her BUT she dug her little fingers right into the icing when I opened the container SO that's what she got. It does make for some interesting pictures.

Misc. Cuteness

Natalie is a happy baby!

Natalie enjoys reading ANYWHERE!

She also enjoys climbing...... EVERYWHERE!

Driving!!

This has been a new thing for Natalie the last week or so. When we get home from school/work, she used to be sooooo happy to get our of her carseat and go inside. Now, as soon as I undo the latches, she makes a bolt for the driver's seat. She thinks this is so fun to run away from mom and explore the car (cause it's soooo big - ha!). And i think it's cute too (......for now at least).

15 Month Checkup

I will write more on her 15 month checkup - for now, this is just a place holder posting.

The meaning of Thanksgiving 2009

This year Thanksgiving truely was a celebration of being thankful for the things closest to my heart - my family, specifically my mom. As most of you know by now, my mom was admitted into the hospital via the emergency room the Thursday night before Thanksgiving. She had gone in for routine blood work for an upcoming eye surgery and she ended up being diagnosed with Stage 5 Kidney failure w/ a 5% kidney function. For those of you who know my mom's medical history, she has had her share of issues, but this time was different because we came close to losing her. She has started dialysis and is learning how to cope with her kidney loss. Since I always try and look for the positive in any situation, it naturally lead me to think about what I was THANKful for.

I am THANK ful that she decided to have cataract surgery when she did.

I am THANKful that we now have an understanding of what was making her feel bad for the last few years.

I am THANKful that Matt works for Southwest and Natalie and I were able to fly into New Orleans the very next morning.

I am THANKful to have wonderful family that will stop what they are doing to help out.

I am THANKful that I have a sweet little daughter that knows how to roll with the punches and gives me hugs when I need them the most.

I am THANKful that Matt loves us so much that he drove thru back pain and sleep to be with us.

I am THANKful that God has given my more time with my mom.

On a lighter note, Natalie and I got to spend an entire week together with Grammy which is always great. We also got to visit with alot of family (Uncle Aaron, Aunt Ginger & their cats, Uncle Roger, Aunt Peggy, Valerie and Hannah, and daddy). We also got to spend time with our church family in Houma and talked with a lot of relatives over the phone.

We made a special Thanksgiving meal with all types of foods my mom could eat (no salt added - just Mrs.Dash) Here was our menu:

turkey & dressing

sweet potato casserole (cooked special to remove potassium)

steamed squash

corn casserole

cranberry jello

rolls

bread pudding w/ rum sauce

Big "D" Zoo

It was a beautiful day on Saturday and Erica had a great idea for how the Zooks could spend it together. Before I knew it we were packing up the Toy-oter for a trip to the Dallas Zoo!


Natalie's safari adventure to Africa included giraffes and elephants. (She committed no poaching crimes FYI).

In the frozen Arctic, the penguins made Nat laugh. She wanted to swim with them and thought the glass was bogus.

In the Bayou, Dad heroically rescued Natalie from a marauding alligator [statue].

Not coincidentally, in the Rainforest, Mom fearlessly rescued Nat from a marauding gorilla [statue].

But the big highlight was when Natalie got as close as possible to a real gorilla. Kinda freaked her out (to her this thing must have seemed like King Kong) but she really liked it too. The Zoo was a good idea Mommy - what a great day!

Chill-axing

If you are chillin' because your baby is relaxing, then you are chill-axing. These diagrams illustrate proper chillaxing:

Halloween!!

Since Grandma Zook was visiting and could watch Nat, Mommy and Daddy actually got a chance to go out to a costume party!!!

Instead of buying new costumes, we had a "green" halloween (that's where you RECYCLE old costumes from the attic baby!). This resulted in the pairing of a very good Bad Witch with a very cheesey B-Movie Kung Fu Master.

Meanwhile, Grandma gave Natalie some kitchen knives and let her carve the pumpkin. Seriously, y'all know I'm kidding right?

It was Momma who did the carving, but Natalie did manage to run off with handfuls of pumpkin guts (a new favorite toy).

Natalie helped Daddy hand out candy. She'll get to do her own trick-or-treating next year when she's a little bigger (and it's not quite as obvious that Mommy and Daddy are just using her to get candy for ourselves).