Arkansas - the First Week

We were able to drive to Arkansas to spend Thanksgiving with my family this year. It was a 4 day drive - one long day and 3 shorter days. Daniel and Walnut both traveled great. Beautiful weather also helped!

We spent Friday night in Albuquerque with our friends Kimi and Tom. We even managed to visit the Albuquerque Zoo on Saturday morning. That night Daniel got to play in the hotel pool, sleeping for 10 hours afterwards to make up for all the fun for the previous 2 days!

This week so far in Hot Springs has been unseasonably warm, so we've been outside a lot. We went downtown, on a hike, and to a walking trail with a creek and playground nearby. This has been in addition to spending time with Daniel's aunts, uncles, and Granny and Grandpa!

Here are a few pics from the trip and week in town. Sorry if they get mixed up when I do this from my iPhone!

Fall Fun

It has been the most perfect fall weather this past week! Not until this weekend did it actually get really cold, with a light dusting of snow on Saturday night. Winds brought the cold front in so most of the leaves came off the trees over the last couple days. Daniel, Walnut, and I made it to the Holbrook playground on Thursday to enjoy the fall weather and I got a few pictures.

We went again to the playground this morning and found piles and piles of leaves on the ground. There were 3 other young boys there, and we all started to throw leaves. It was a lot of fun! It was a rare opportunity in Holbrook to have those fresh, clean leaves to play with. Daniel LOVED it, especially the interactions with the other boys. It was pretty cold, and their parents stayed sitting in the car. So I played with everyone!

Bed Time

On weekends when Richard doesn't have to go to work, he and Daniel get to cuddle in bed and read books first thing in the morning. Daniel loves it and will often go get books himself if I'm too slow!

Daniel has been in a toddler bed for a while now, and really has outgrown in. We have LOVED this crib and toddler bed! Now we love it as a full size bed! Yep, we got a very nice, brand new, full size mattress and box spring on Monday. The crib converted once again and the bed actually has a headboard and footboard. The only one in the house to have them! 

Daniel loves his new bed. The only bad part for him is that it's too tall for him to climb onto by himself! I sit on the side and my feet don't reach the floor; it's that high off the ground. So once again, he has something to grow into. And I love it because it will keep him from jumping on the new bed for a while longer! And since he has yet to fall out of a bed (except off a floppy twin air mattress at a friend's house :) ), I'm not too worried about him falling out of this one. Yes, Granny and Oma, I put some blankets on the floor next to the bed JUST IN CASE. 

From crib turned toddler bed...

...to full size bed! It JUST fit into his room. 

Now cuddle time in the mornings will move to Daniel's room where it is warmer during the winter. Richard might get a little extra sleep on the weekends, too. And I'm hoping that Daniel will learn to use his sheet and blanket (and even a pillow!) on his own so we can get rid of the space heater in his room. Bedtime has never been so good!

Halloween

Happy Halloween! Daniel went trick or treating last night for the first time. He wasn't sure about the whole thing, but we did OK. Then he spent an evening playing at his friend Isaac's house, which was fun for us all!

I failed to get any photos last night. Daniel was wearing last year's jack-o-lantern sweatshirt that luckily still fit, so no impressive costume. I thought I'd share these photos from when we decorated our pumpkins. We created faces with construction paper instead of carving them because it was too warm last week. I drew several different faces, and Daniel picked out which ones he liked best. So that's what went onto the pumpkins. But the best expressions are on Daniel in these pictures!