T-Day with the Gross'

With so much cooking to do, its always a good idea to kick off the day with mimosas!

Earl and Rose were the chief choppers!

Lisa working on the stuffing! 

Chief and Elliott supervising the cooking!

Centerpiece crafted by Nan Mickie is the name of our "Elf on the Shelf"

Our little monkey after dinner, at the Ice Sculptures at the Gaylord Hotel

This was made out of ice!

The exhibit was a cool 9 degrees inside.... what way to warm up afterwards?  Jump in the heated pool and warm up by the firepit!

Fort Worth with the Piekos'

We had so much fun with the Piekos!  We are saving the tourist type things for when we have family and friends in town, so this was a perfect opportunity to check out the cattle drive in Forth Worth.  They have two cattle drives twice a day.  I would highly recommend this, as it is free and fun- you feel like you are stepping back in time, and there are lots of fun shops, bars and restaurants to see.  We missed Dan- hope you can visit us soon! 

Grandpa Bob and Elliott

I love riding my train!

Watching the cattle

Waiting for the cattle

The cattle drive

Happy First Birthday

Elliott turned 1 two weeks ago!  His daycare had a birthday party for him and we also had a little get together at our house.  Elliott is getting to be so big.  He is in the 90th percentile for height and 30th percentile for weight.  He is learning new words and tricks daily.  He is getting his molars in, and has 10 total teeth.  We took a big step last week and stopped using bottles!! Yay for Elliott who has finally learned to accept the sippy cup- Yay for mommy and daddy who no longer have to wash and tote around bottles!  

Yummy cupcakes at daycare

Mommy and Daddy both made it to the party!

Blue cupcakes at my party

Yeah- its fun to stuff your face

Fun presents!

Puerta Vallarta

It turns out that hurricane Rina was going to hit Cozumel the exact days we would be staying there.  So, on Tuesday the day before we were supposed to leave, my good friend and Chris were on the phone working tirelessly to re-reoute the entire trip.  We ended up in Puerta Vallarta.  We had an amazing time!

Great weather, good food and drinks and fun times with our friends.  Elliott did pretty well, despite having to experience day light savings time the week before and then again in the US.  I strongly recommend not booking travel to the Carribean during hurricane season- no matter how tempting the rates are and even if you think you are just on the "edge" of the season.  Here are some pics from the trip.

Poolside

Elliott loving the water

Pass the baby swimming game

View from our hotel

Family photo- Chris' new "look"... no that is not just for Movember

Walking on the beach

Who needs toys when you can hid in a luggage rack?

Halloween

We had a nice time in Puerto Vallarta.  The weather was amazing!  It was so wonderful to get away from the daily grind and spend time with our good friends!  ....

So, I started this blog entry on November 6th.   I'm just getting around to it again right now.  With all of our family from the Midwest visiting, we have been having fun and time is slipping away.   Let's see, we went on vacation, had Halloween, my mom's birthday, Chris' mom's birthday, Elliott's birthday, Thanksgiving.   I have three trips planned across the US between now and and then end of the year before we fly back home to the Midwest.... throw in Christmas shopping and chasing around a 1 year old... whew, deep breaths!   I am going to committ updating y'all on all the festivities that have happened and adorable pictures we have.  

Our little man was a monkey

And a ninja!

In Mexico with Daddy

Time for a passport

We got Elliott a passport so we could adventure to Cozumel and meet up with our Chicago friends.   It turns out that Hurricane Rina ruined our dreams of relaxing in paradise, so we re-routed to Puerto Vallarta- thank God for Chris and his awesome ability to follow up with travel agents, airlines, and hotels.  We are just going with the flow on this trip and hope to get a lot of R and R in!   Stay tuned for the update of our adventures!

Mum's the word

Since living in Dallas, I found out that there is a homecoming tradition built around "mums".  I thought this was just a fall flower, or a British term for mom, but there is a whole new meaning of "mum" here in Dallas.  I heard about this tradition at work, saw it in person at Michael's, and then confirmed it with our babysitter.... it is true.  Basically, if you live in Dallas and attend homecoming, you will get a "mum".  The mum is a gigantic flower and it has little trinkets on it like teddy bears, lights, beads, glitter, words, streamers.  It might weigh at least 10-15 pounds and is the size of a small person.  Ladies wear these around thier neck.  Men wear a slightly small version around thier arm.  Apparently, the bigger the bettter- after all everythings's bigger in Texas.  The boys mom's usually make them for thier dates- wow, this is what Elliott and I have to look forward to in the next 15 years!

Here's a Dallasite wearing her mum- WOW

Alright, enough about Mum's.... what's happening with Elliott?  He went to a friend's first birthday party this weekend and then a playdate with our neighbors at the pumpkin patch- what a popular guy!

Having fun at the party

Bootcut or skinny?  Who's jeans are cooler?

Tiny swing for a tiny guy!