Fun in the snow

Stillwater has been getting slammed with a "wintery mix" (freezing rain, sleet, snow) since last night. This morning it turned to snow, so we took Margaux out in it. We could only stay for a short while because she's getting over an illness, but she thoroughly enjoyed herself. Here are a few pics and a video:

This is our yaupon holly, which looks kind of pretty with its icy branches:



And here's me and Margaux playing:



Here's a good pic Cindy took of our little snow angel:



Finally, here's a short (2 min) video of Margaux playing in the snow:



We've stocked up on firewood, food, hot chocolate, and DVDs. Hopefully we won't lose power. It's supposed to snow through tonight, and maybe again Monday. Sheesh. Hugs to all. Stay warm.

Some beach footage

Hey, all. This is a short (1 min) video of Margaux running toward the surf at St. Augustine Beach. The tide's out, so she has to run a lonnnng way to get to the surf.

Cake

One of the things that happened over the recent holiday season is that we celebrated Cindy's birthday on December 12. We got a most excellent chocolate cake from a friend of ours who is a caterer and shared it with Margaux. She thoroughly enjoyed cake.

Here's the before shot:

And here's the after:

Winter Break

I'm posting the following for Cindy:

"We had quite a journey over the holidays. We left Stillwater on December 17th and drove Margaux to Fort Worth to stay with Dan and Tamara. Mike and I hopped a plane to NYC and celebrated our 40th birthdays with Christmas shopping in Manhattan, lots of good meals, a Broadway musical, and a good old fashioned blizzard. We returned after a long weekend and spent Christmas with our Reese family in Fort Worth. It wasn’t the same without B and there were some pretty rough moments, but I think we managed to do more than just get through it by creating some happy memories and starting what might become new traditions. Margaux and Maddie’s enthusiasm for Santa’s arrival helped keep everyone’s spirits up. A few days after Christmas we headed east once again, this time to Florida to celebrate Christmas with the Melancon family in St. Augustine. Our experience there reinforced what we already suspected, Margaux is a beach lover. When we came up over the dunes and she saw the long stretch of sand and then the ocean, she put her hands in the air and took off running saying, “Woohoo!” all the way to the water. It was good be with family. Mike and I love watching Margaux play with her cousins and the doting grandparents, aunts, and uncles give us a lot to be thankful for. After three weeks of travel, we are glad to be home and are gearing up for the new semester. Over the next several days, I’ll post pictures from the holidays. With the context of this update, you should to be able to figure out what’s what. We love to get your comments, so leave us some notes!"

Thanksgiving

We had an amazing Thanksgiving break. Some friends from Fort Worth allowed us to borrow their house in Pebble Beach, California. The house was beautiful and so perfect because it already had lots of baby gear (high chairs, pack-n-play, etc.). We had a week of fun and lots of good family time. Margaux loved the beach. In fact, a couple of days after we got home, I asked Margaux what she wanted to do that day. Her response was, “Airplane. Go see sand?” Just like her B, she’s always ready to head to the airport. Here are some of the Margaux pics from the trip, and I’ll post some more in a few days. Most of these are from the Monterrey Bay Aquarium and Point Lobos State Park.

Halloween

This is a little late, but I wanted to share a couple of pictures of Margaux from Halloween. Dan and Tamara bought her a super cute Halloween dress and bow. I did my best to get a lot of wear out of it by taking her to a different church every week in the time leading up to Halloween. Good thing we didn't visit one of those churches that doesn't like to acknowledge Halloween, or if we did, they didn't have the nerve to share their disapproval with me.
In addition to the dress, Margaux got into the holiday spirit in her pink poodle costume, which she called her "dogfit" - a combination of "dog" and "outfit." I had been procrastinating on buying Margaux a costume because I couldn't decide what I wanted her to dress as. One day I thought to myself, "Well, you better make up your mind or your kid is going to be the only one not in costume at the preschool costume parade. It's not like someone is going to knock on your door and hand you a costume." You know what happened? That very afternoon our neighbor, Mrs. Park, rang our doorbell and handed us a costume. She said she found it at a local shop and thought it might be Margaux's size. And, it WAS her size, which is amazing because Margaux is petite and hard to fit. All in all, Margaux loved Halloween. She doesn't quite understand why she can't wear her dogfit to school these days, and who knows, I might just let her. If you can't dress up as a pink poodle just for the fun of it when you are a toddler, when can you?

Agritourism

Mike, Margaux, and I had our first experience with agritourism this weekend. Agritourism is a way farmers and ranchers can make extra money by opening their land to tourists. We drove about 30 minutes to a farm between Stillwater and Ada, OK. We got to go through corn mazes, hay bale mazes, a pumpkin patch, dig for bones in a giant sand pit, and pet donkeys, horses, and miniature cows in a petting zoo. The bone dig and the petting zoo were not my favorites. My urban upbringing did not prepare me for the ick-factor. Margaux loved it all, though. We went with our friends, Tracy and Claire. Claire is in the pictures with Margaux. She’s Margaux’s age but is a lot taller. They are best buddies and are really cute together.
P.S. I don't know what is up with the underlining above, but I can't get it to go away.