Walking has become a big part of our routine, if you can call our day to day flailing about a routine! Here are some pictures from a recent walk we took out at Two Rivers Park in West Little Rock. It was pretty chilly that day, and there was a brisk breeze along the river. Laedyn got to test the new snow suit that Grandma Audrey sent her for Christmas.
Mark brought Taz along too- needless to say, Taz was very happy to be there. He must have felt like he was back in his element even if he did have to be on a leash. He behaved very well as long as there weren't any other dogs coming along posing a threat to his little family. Luckily the portion of the trail we were on was relatively deserted.
We had one bit of excitement when the front wheel fell off of Brandon's tricycle. Jennifer and Brandon retraced our steps and found the missing parts and then Nick improvised and used his keychain to tighten the screw. The fix held up for the rest of the afternoon! As you can see, Jennifer was rather pleased with herself having found the vital missing pieces of Brandon's wheel. Hahaha - just kidding. Doesn't she look great? Her secret? About 1000 calories per day and alot of walking. She should be pleased with herself! Way to go JG!
Brandon brought along his tricycle and actually rode it the entire walk. I don't know how far we walked but it was more than 3 miles. He's such a trooper!
Of course, he didn't have to ride unaided. Nick found a big thick stick that propped very neatly into a notch on the frame and made it really easy to push. All Brandon had to do was steer. By the time we got back to the car and he got off of it though, he complained that his bottom hurt. I told him he was probably saddle sore from riding the tricycle so much - he thought that was really funny and proceeded to tell everyone we met for the rest of the day...

This area of the park has some relatively new trails that are being developed into various planned gardens. You can see the baby pine trees along the side in this picture. There are tons of saplings planted all along the path. They have a big posting board at the entry explaining the plan, complete with illustrations of how it will look over the course of it's growth. It should be rather impressive when it matures.

Laedyn dressed up in one of her Christmas Dresses

Laedyn's cold weather gear...Audrey sent her the little snowsuit. I bought the coat. For our walks the snowsuit has been much more effective. Laedyn is a Hudini when t comes to footwear. With the snowsuit she's out of luck as far as getting her feet bared. When she wears a coat, she can reach socks & slippers which then regularly fall on the ground. It's a miracle we haven't lost any. Luckily, Brandon is very observant & keeps a close watch for fallen footwear.

Jennifer doesn't have a hat. It was pretty cold this day when we went for a walk so she improvised...

2008 NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS:

Val - post more regularly than I have this past month!!! I'm also starting Atkins again tomorrow. Time for all the baby weight from both kids to GO AWAY!!!! We've been walking A LOT with Jennifer, so that will be a huge help. Jennifer & I are planning to train to walk in the Dallas marathon next December.

Nick - he wants to become a world champion MOTO RACER player. We had the Playstation out last night & had alot of fun with the racing games. Me? I like Crash Team Racing the best ...

Brandon - says he wants to run a 5K with Nick. His friend Jackson did one in December & Brandon thought it sounded like a great idea.

Laedyn - hmmm - how about learning to walk, talk and eat solid food???? Surely that's enough for any one person to undertake for one year???

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Some pictures from Christmas morning... Santa brought Laedyn a Lamaze flower garden. When she pushes on a blossom it plays music & lights up. She's been having lots of fun with it.
Brandon LOVED opening gifts. In fact, he wanted to do ALL the opening. The first package he found that was for someone else made him rather grouchy. He came around eventually though & got into the spirit of watching others open their gifts too.

Here's a cool puzzle Nick's Mom sent for Brandon. It was one of Nick's when he was a kid. She sent a bunch of Nick's old things for Brandon. He liked them all & it was fun for Nick to revisit his childhood favorites too.
Brandon's all about Matchbox/Hot Wheels cars these days, so he was happy to get some story books about them too.

Laedyn liked the ribbons and paper as much as what was in them. As you can see, she's doing pretty well with the sitting now. We put her in the middle of the Boppy pillow & she's fine for a long time. Without the pillow, though, she topples over within seconds...
She REALLY wanted to help Nick rip the paper off one of his packages.
Aren't these neat? It's a set of 3 and they connect together magnetically at the hands and feet. They also have different sounds (squeeks, rattles and crinkles). Of course, Laedyn had to taste them. She put EVERYTHING in her mouth - very different from Brandon as a baby.
Mamo (Val's Mom) got Brandon the shirt he's wearing in this picture. It's a kids running shirt. He was SO excited when he opened it, he stripped out of his PJs instantly and put the shirt on. He really loves to run with Nick, so now he can dress like his Daddy too. The backpack he's wearing is full of toy food & kitchen stuff. He loves to pretend to cook for everyone.