We thought it would be best to let Leah get addicted to all sorts of bad habits at an early age.

Like watching TV... Scarface, no less. (Yes! Guns! Blood! Foul language galore!)

And playing video games with Jared! Here she instructs him on his next move...

And here she watches how it all plays out. They're a pair, aren't they? It's only a matter of time until Jared has a live-in Halo partner.

And here she's just being cute. That's not a bad habit, right?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We did some Christmas shopping on Friday night at the new Town Center. Luckily it was nice and cold, so it helped us to get in the Christmas spirit.

Jared's showing Leah all of the lights on the Christmas tree (notice the palm trees in the background... weird, isn't it?)

A family photo... with a ridiculously tired little girl.

Snow!

A rare thing happened last night-- it snowed here! I suppose I'm being pretty generous when I say that it "snowed" because we didn't get much more than a dusting at our house, but still, there were flakes falling from the sky! Of course such an event had to be documented with pictures...

The pups sat nicely on the bench for a photo op.

At first Leah wasn't so sure what to think...

And then she decided she did not like it. (She likes to accentuate her sadness by making her eyes look like frowns when she cries.)

I tried to make her happy by raising her up and down in the air so she would realize that snow is actually fun.

It did not work.

You're too late, Obama!

This is Jared. I recently exercised my right as an American and purchased an AR-15. More specifically, a Bushmaster M4 "Patrolman". It's a semi-automatic version of what the military uses, the M16. It's commonly referred to as an "assault rifle" by most folks. Most people will immediately think "Nobody needs a gun like that." Personally, I couldn't agree more. Right now, no one needs a gun like this. And I hope it stays that way. But who knows what the future holds, and the right to purchase this gun (and all guns if some had their way) will soon be gone, possibly forever, so I broke my own rule of only buying what you can immediately pay for and made the purchase. It's not that I wanted or needed the gun right now, it's just that I don't like anyone telling me that I can't ever have one. Besides, it's hella fun to shoot. That's why I'm giggling like a school girl whenever anyone around me is shooting it. I also learned why soldiers always walk around so hunched over. Even though the kick of a single shot isn't bad at all, continuous shooting literally pushes you backwards:

Even Gina took her crack at it:

Of the guns I have this is her new favorite.

One more reason to own the gun: who doesn't like seeing a pretty girl holding a mean piece of weaponry. This may be my new favorite pic of Gina, even with all the cute ones of her and the little girl on this blog.

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree!

To answer your questions:
(1.) Yes, we took pictures of Christmas tree buying at Home Depot.
(2.) Yes, I dressed our child in a snow suit, even though it was warm enough for me to leave my jacket unzipped... and we live in Texas... and there is no snow. To be fair, she is only wearing a onesie underneath, to make sure she doesn't overheat. I just wanted to make sure she got some use out of wearing the suit before she grows out of it. And she looks cute!!

It's a pretty sweet tree for a mere $35. Go us.

Nap time, Shmap time

Leah has been particularly tough with naps these days. I guess she just doesn't want to miss anything, but she seems to have a hard time falling asleep. When she does finally fall asleep, it usually only lasts for about 15-20 minutes, and the good naps are only about 45 minutes long. This makes for a particularly cranky girl by the time the evening rolls around, and she ends up crying herself to sleep because she is just SO over-tired. Poor kid.


This picture was taken during a lengthy (and extremely rare!) two hour nap. She completely crashed after playing with the girls next door for a few hours. She's also become quite the thumbsucker, which is so darn cute. Remind me of this, when we are paying orthodontist bills in the future.
And the subsquent post-nap photo. I look that confused when I wake up too.

In everything, give Thanks.

We spent our Thanksgiving this year at my parents' house here in Texas. My mom outdid herself again and cooked a delicious meal, and the pie I made actually turned out to be pretty good! (For those of you that don't know, my cooking/baking skills are slim to none. Thank goodness Jared knows his way around the kitchen.) We have so many things to be thankful for this year, and we both feel very gracious to God for everything we've been given.

Leah looks silly with her hair clipped out of the way. It makes her receding hairline quite obvious.

I know this picture is blurry, but they were having such a good time, I couldn't help but include it.