Friday was Ugly Christmas Sweater day at Tillman’s school. Since we don’t choose to buy him ugly clothes, and since I wasn’t going to buy him ugly clothing for this one occasion, I simply bought a red fleece and some Christmas stickers. His sweater was ugly, but now it’s just regular.
I have been baking cookies every few days. When I made the sugar cookies, Tillman wanted to help with the cutting and decorating. Here is a tree that we did together.
There is a park about 45 minutes away that is decorated like crazy for Christmas. We went this weekend. Tillman loves to stand up and stick his head through the moon roof.
Tillman and I took a toy to the fire department this year as a reminder of all the people with little this year.
We made it over to Leavenworth this year. We decided to stay in a hotel instead of driving back in case the weather was bad. We stayed in Wenatachee which is about 20 miles east of Leavenworth. It made the trip much more relaxing. The place was crazy crowded on Saturday, but when were stopped back by on Sunday, it was much less crowded and much more enjoyable.
We made our annual trip to the Christmas tree farm. It was a lot of fun – again. This year, Tillman was old enough to help saw the tree down and help carry it. When we first got there, we decided to take our time and look at ALL the trees. We put X’s next to the ones that we liked. We walked all through the place, and ended up cutting down the first tree that we marked. It’s perfect and glorious!
Here is James on his birthday, and all of us at the Space Needle hosted by my dad to celebrate our birthdays.
Tillman had Veteran’s Day off of school. He and I had a day of fun including doughnuts, painting a flag, decorated the house in red, white and blue, and building a fort.
We went to visit the troll and got some pictures of Tman being friends with it.
A few weeks ago, we celebrated our SEVEN year anniversary! SEVEN! What did we do…oh yeah, we sent Tman up to my mom’s for the weekend. We went to dinner, James surprised me with Daniel’s Broiler again. He made earlier reservations this year so we could see the Seattle skyline in daylight for a little bit, and it was perfect. We had the best table and good food. Our server was a little goofy and it was kind of a maze to find the restroom, but it was great. On Sunday, we went and painted some pottery. It was super fun. I am very UNartistic, but it was fun. Although there was another couple at our table and the girl was just beating her dude down. It was weird and James, I think, nearly punched her in the mouth. I think we did something else, but I can’t remember. Anyway, we have been married for a long time now. James says he’s feeling the itch…hahaha!
Today was “western” day at school for Tillman. He had to wear his uniform pants, but he’s all decked out otherwise. I had to run out last night for a gun because he left his at grandma’s. I ended up buying him a whole little set. It was just $15 @ Walmart.
I had Tillman’s annual photos done this week. Tell me, is my kiddo the biggest or what?
Tillman just participated in a “break-a-thon” at his karate dogo to benefit St. Jude’s. He raised $150 ($1.50 of his own money from his piggy bank). He broke 15 boards. They were obviously encouraged to wear their Halloween costumes.
I love the last picture because his cheeks still look like a little boy – not the big boy he has all of a sudden become.
Did I mention in the pumpkin patch post that Tillman chose a super giant pumpkin?
We went to the pumpkin patch on Saturday! YAY! We chose pumpkins, yes, but more than that, we did a corn maze, an apple slingshot, Tman rode a quad, and Tman and James rode a monster truck. We go to the same farm every year, and we love it. It’s small and not commercial, friendly and just the right size for us.
At Tillman’s karate dogo, they do belt promotions every quarter. The little kids don’t actually get belt advancements, but they do get a stripe on their belt to reward dedication and to motivate the kids to do their best. They all start out at a white belt. When Tillman started, he was close to the end of the second quarter of the year, so they didn’t “belt test” him since he was pretty new. A few weeks before this last belt promotion, his Sensei came over and talked to me and said that based on Tillman’s focus and leadership in the class, that he was going to go ahead and bump him up two belts. He should have gotten the white belt with a yellow stripe, but instead got the yellow belt with the white stripe. At the ceremony, the Senei went on and on about him and how much he has enjoyed having Tillman. We were proud parents, of course.
Here are a bunch of pictures that my sister took while she was in town. The one of Tman’s face close up – have you ever seen anything so handsome? EVER?
I’m very pleased with my new camera. It’s nothing fancy, but I like it.
ANYWAY, here are pictures of us all. The ones of James and me are taken by Tillman.
We went apple picking this weekend. It was a great day and we got a few apples – around 70 pounds (yes SEVENTY!). We are hoping to make some apple sauce, apple butter, apple whatever we can think of!
We stopped to try out Five Guys Burgers and Fries. They are pretty new to our area and there has been a lot of hoopla around it. We thought it was just okay.
Oh, and I did get a new camera, so no more poopy pictures hopefully – after these:
I have many thoughts. First, where did the summer go? Did I make it enjoyable enough for Tillman? Is he really old enough to be a first grader? What am I going to do while he’s in school? I’m already lonely. I’m sure I’ll get in a groove and it won’t be so bad, but today has been tough. I don’t know why I’m missing him so much. But, the day is almost over already and I can scoop him up and give him a big hug (when we get home, of course, so his friends don’t see).
Here’s this crazy handsome boy on his first day.
