Yikes! Its been awhile!

It has been quite awhile since my last post and its not because I wanted you all to watch that video over and over! (Even though I think I could!) I just got busy I guess. In November we celebrated my birthday with a trip down to Great Wolf Lodge in Texas. We had tons of fun as you can see. I will say it would be better to go when Mark is at least 42 inches tall (can ride big slides with mom or dad).

Lets see.... we had a great Thanksgiving, but I forgot to take the camera. And we had a Life Group christmas party....also forgot to take pictures of that! We decorated the house for christmas. Here is Mark helping...




John and I went to Austin for a wedding this last weekend (yeah, no pictures from that either) and I was describing Mark to a friend. I think I used the words, "handfull", "onery", and "defiant". Okay - so that sounds bad!! I say those things lovingly as only a mother can! I think he is just the most perfect angel in the world, but he is a boy that's a toddler and I think that is what I was describing. So for all of you that have heard me describe Mark that way I would like to retract that statement and replace it with, "He is busy, determined, and creative!" Doesn't that sound better?

But as an example of Mark being pure boy I will tell you a little story. The other day I saw Mark leaning over his little table with his head just inches from the table top. I said, "Mark, what are you doing?" He said, "I spit." What? And yes indeed as I got closer there was a large puddle of saliva collecting on the table! Seriously? Girls just don't do that! So I said, "No!! We don't spit! Go get a kleenex (he can reach them) and clean it up!" Which he did, and then continued to make spit puddles so he could then clean them up! Lord help me for what is in store the next 18 years!

Here are a couple pics of Mark being a quiet peaceful child...I actually have proof!

So I have been meaning to upload this video for a couple of weeks now. We happen to think it is hysterical...our own little Sinatra! Please excuse my singing!

Snow Boots

Mark found some hand-me-down snow boots in his closet the other day and insisted on trying them on. Thought you might like to see him model them. He's also worn them with nothing else on but a diaper but I won't show you those!

October Festivities

Well October was all kinds of fun. It was great to be home again after spending most of last month in OKC. Although I will say that no matter how much time I have off it never seems to be enough! I figure thats how it is with everyone though. Anyway we started off October by going to the fair. Mark loved to pet/feed the goats but the animal he was most interested in petting was the ostrich of all things! And thats the one animal that mommy didn't want him near! (They're scary!)

The best part about he fair, as you all know, is fair food. And Mark figured that out right away. He started off with an ice cream cone, then onto an entire corn dog, then the potato spud thing, then part of dad's turkey leg, and he wanted the corn on the cobb but we cut him off!

Also in October Mark got another cousin!!! Baby Barrett was born October first and after Mark and I got over our colds we finally got to visit. And Marks' new favorite thing to do is hold baby Barrett, "I howd him." We are excited that for at least a brief while, Mark is bigger than Barrett!

We also carved our pumpkins the night before Halloween. Mark got his very own pumkin from Aunt Brenda that he got to carve. He did really well scooping the guts out but got mad when he couldn't hold the knife. And as you can see, he helped John carve his Jack O' Lantern too.

Hot Dog, aka baby Barrett, came over to visit on Halloween! He slept the whole time in his hot dog and didn't even notice all of our laughter. Mark had to "howd him" of course so we tried to get some cute pics of the two cousins in front of the pumkins.

We celebrated Halloween by trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. It was fun, but Nemo was a little to focused on his sucker and not trick-or-treating, so daddy had to carry him home. My favorite part of Halloween was greeting the trick-or-treaters at our door. Eveytime the doorbell rang Mark would jump up and yell, "oh no!" and sprint to the front door. He even started handing out the candy and saying "thank you" to all of the kids. It was pretty funny...he was VERY enthusiastic. Well these are some pics from throughout the month, sorry I'm not a very good photographer!

Mark was sick yesterday...can't you tell? John said he looked up and Mark had done this all by himself. Is he proud of himself or what?

Next a quick torture session for Mobley that Mark likes to call, "Moby-horsey"

Number one Broncos fan!!! Thanks Bob for all of the gear!

Giddy-up!! Look at the the new horsey that Opa and Oma brought over for Mark! Thank you!

It's a hard knock life...

The next series of pictures is to prove that things aren't always easy as a Wingerter.


We only feed Mark wienies and lettuce.

You can scream as high-pitched as you want but we won't listen.

We keep Mark in this.

He earns his keep.

And he only wears hand-me downs...including my shoes.

Punkin Patch Time!

Yes, I know how to spell "pumpkin"! But Mark, like every other toddler in the world, says "punkin" and it is just too cute. So we went to the punkin patch last weekend and boy was it fun (and a rip-off says dad). Here is a pic from this year:

and here is a pic from last year:

Crazy!! I can't believe one tiny person can almost triple in size in just one year. I remember last year Mark was just learning to crawl so we could pretty much just pose him however we wanted for pictures. This year we brought in our special reinforcement, Grammy, the photographer extraordinaire just to make sure we could catch a glimpse of Mark and a punkin in the same picture!

We tried to pose for a picture but John handed Mark some corn and Mark loves to eat corn, right? So he tried a little bite. Sorry to whoever buys that ear with a few missing kernals.

So John says the punkin patch was a rip-off because 1) he had to buy tickets to the pony ride, tractor ride, and giant inflatable slide and 2) the punkins there are crazy expensive! Seriously! They are 10-15-20 bucks a piece. If you just want a staight up orange, round, punkin, go to Reasors where they are $3.99 each. This next pic is on the giant inflatable slide. Mr. Adventurous decided he wouldn't do this one without daddy.

Next was riding on a toy tractor. We did pay and ride on a real tractor ride but I was in that picture and you don't get to see it! I've decided I don't like my hair, sunglasses, new fleece I was wearing, butt, or shape of my face. Not that I'm hard to please but I'm just in one of those moods. I'm sure the girls understand. I like this pic because Mark is really concentrating on driving.

One of the most fun things at the punkin patch were all of the play houses. Maybe one of those should go on Mark's Christmas list.

Yes!!! Pony ride time! Mark wasn't so sure about Tonto, but they got along. Tonto didn't like us either...look at his ears laid back. Mark squeeked out a smile in this picture but don't worry, he had a death grip on my shoulder the whole time.

Mark's injuries and bumps

Here are a few pics of Mr. head bonk. As soon as one thing heals the next incident happens! He bonked his eye at the bookstore, fell into a tree and cut his lip, and then was bit by a mosquito on his ear...thankfully it didn't turn black!

I'm gonna get in trouble for this one!

But I just can't help it! I tried to tell John that it is healthy for little kids to play dress up, but he just won't listen! I will say that I did not encourage this activity, but Mark was putting on all the shoes in the closet that he could find and I just happened to get the camera out for this one pair. John threatened to delete every form of this picture that I have so my only hope of preserving it is putting it online!

Also, a funny story from yesterday. I was loading Mark into the car and he saw my stethoscope and said, "harpy". For the life of me I couldn't figure out what he was saying and then it dawned on me...."heartbeat!" A couple of months ago I got out my stethoscope and said, "Do you want to listen to my heartbeat?" And then put it in Mark's ears. So naturally, its now called a heartbeat!

Daddy Time

Since I am working in OKC this month, Mark and his daddy are hanging out a lot together. One of their new favorite activities is watching TV. At first I thought, "oh no! Not yet! I don't want to turn Mark into a little couch potato!" But other than in the picture above, they really just watch TV after bathtime and right before bed. And it really is cute to watch them snuggle on the couch watching football or tennis.

So I love reading my friend's blogs about the funny things their kids say. Well Mark doesn't really do that yet but he does say some stuff we think is cute. For example, he quotes the turtles in Finding Nemo and says, "Dude." He also is always saying, "I'll get it" or "I'll do it", or "I'll fix it." Mr. Independent I guess. But he does love to do things with his hands, like blocks or legos or stacking cups etc. He really is his dad's mini-me when it comes to working with your hands. John says its a German trait.

Cletis

In an attempt to make Mark a perfect clone of himself, John bought Mark his first bicycle this past week. It's actually pretty cool, it doesn't have any pedals so kids are supposed to learn how to balance on a bike at an earlier age. Supposedly they can then ride without training wheels sooner. We'll see. Anyway, Mark also got a new helmet and of course, it had to be a real cycling helmet...Giro. He actually likes to wear it because he always sees John wearing his. I burst out laughing every time I see this next picture...we really should have named him Cletis...



Does it look like Christmas morning or what? Mark saw me with the camera and said "Cheeeese!"

Oh my...as if they don't already look enough alike!!

We had some water fun this evening in the backyard. Mark climbed right up into his water table as John was filling it up. He's probably not allowed to do this at day care which is why its the first thing he did at home. Anyway I love this picture because it tells me that I have a great camera if I just knew how to use it.

Mobley and Rocky are so spoiled. Mobley specifically only drinks freshly poured water. They both had several drinks out of the water table while Mark was playing. Here's one of Rock...

Jackson Trip

John's grandfather, "Unc", passed away last year and his family had a large reunion last week to celebrate Unc. It was fun to get to meet some of John's family that I hadn't met before and catch up with some that we never see. It was even more fun that the event was in Jackson, Wyoming! BEAutiful. And to top it all off, my college roomate and her family live in Jackson so we got to hang out with them too!

By the way, I am intentionally saying "Jackson" and not "Jackson Hole" because apparently if you live there or are cool or something you know to call it Jackson. The town is offically Jackson and the surrounding area is referred to as Jackson Hole. Ya learn somethin' new everyday.

Well these pictures are all out of order now that I've downloaded them to the blog and I am too lazy to rearrange them...but here are a few from the trip.

John, Mark, Lindsay, and I took one last hike up SnowKing the morning before our flight left.


This is Mark's second cousin, Zoe. She turned two last week. Do you know how hard it is to get a picture of two toddlers while they are playing? I mean with both of them looking at or in the general direction of the camera. I figure you have all seen Mark's face so I would post this one of beautiful Zoe. We were actually at a cocktail party but as you can tell the little ones couldn't sit still for very long so we went out back to play with some sticks and rocks and stuff in our dress clothes.

This is Miss Hayden. My roomie from college's gorgeous daughter! We got to spend a few hours with them eating breakfast and they took us on a cool little hike to Sky Lake. We really want to go back and spend some more time with them!

We had a great little lunch out on a patio at the Teton Village ski resort. (Linds- what does Teton stand for again?) =) Here are Rick and Debi enjoying the great weather.


And here are Josh (Uncle CaCa) and Lindsay (Aunt Ninny) also enjoy the scenery. (They came up with their own names!)

We saw a buffalo!!! He was just walking down the downtown streets of Jackson!

We for real saw a moose! Mark learned the word moose this trip. So we bought him a stuffed moose who sleeps in bed with him at night. Mark has really started talking more and more and it seems to have cut down on the whiny-ness because I think he can communicate better. He has even said 3-5 word sentences!!! Seriously..and I'm not the only one who has heard it. So of course, we think he is a genious! =) But anyway, here's the moose.

One night John's family had a picnic/bar-b-que out at String Lake. The three of us took a little hike around it. It is beautiful and so peaceful out there. I didn't want to leave.

And last but not least my roomie and her family on our little hike. The pictures never do justice to the beautiful scenery but take my word for it, it was breath-taking! Speaking of breath-taking John has decided that Mark needs to go on a diet. After carrying the 30-some lb kid up a mountain we realized that Mark is definitly built "solid" there is nothing light about him. I kinda felt bad because as you can see I was the only one not carrying a kid! My roomie is 28 weeks pregnant! So I wasn't allowed to complain or ask to take a break...but I did. I just disguised them as photo opportunities!! =)