Drew's Chia Turtle, Day One:

Tait got Drew a Chia Turtle for Christmas! I will be posting pictures of the progress, Enjoy!

Santa Came!! Twice!

For the first time since I can remember we had a white Christmas in Arkansas! Drew was stuck at the station because of the anomaly so Brett and I went down to Fort Smith on Christmas Eve, before the storm. I had a tough time leaving Drew on Christmas Eve, knowing that he would wake up alone on Christmas morning, but he assured me it was the best thing to do and that he would be working all night anyway. Of course, Nana was super happy that we were there early.. and Brett was too.. because Santa came to Nana and Papa's house!

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Scoping out the goods from Santa and Nana & Papa

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Lots of fun stuff under the tree!

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Still browsing the merchandise

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then narrowing in on the noisiest thing.. the xylophone!

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Brett loves his matchbox cars..

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and his four wheeler from Great Aunt Janie and Great Uncle Larry

(he actually got two of these, one from Aunt Angela and Uncle Brian)

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Thankfully, Drew was able to drive down on Christmas day because the roads weren't too bad.. we had a great lunch and enjoyed our time visiting.. Then, after two fun days at Nana's house we loaded up the car and drove back home.. and guess what?? Santa came to our house too!!

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Notice, almost everything has wheels?

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Daddy fighting with some packaging..

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Vacuuming with the talking vacuum from Lala and Uncle T..

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Discovering some cars in a package from Gamma Lynn and Grandpa Dave!

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Mommy got an espresso machine and some personalized notes from PF and Jo!

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Daddy got two new Paul Frederick dress shirts and a tie from PF and Jo!

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then, Mommy got lots of cooking stuff from Mom Lynn and Dave-0,

DVDs and books from Lala and Tait,

and a wonderful handprint mold from Brett that made me cry!

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Daddy showing off his Green Bay rugby and other gifts from Mom Lynn and Dave-o

and autographed Lance Armstrong book from Lala and Tait

(whilst Allie and Brady climbed on his lap).

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After opening our gifts we had our traditional "Burgoyne Christmas Day Breakfast" of German pancakes with strawberries, bacon and Orange Julius.. Brett really enjoyed the Orange Julius.. he drank most of Drew's! Merry Christmas everybody and Happy New Year!

Milwaukee's Best..

On our recent trip up north we spent a day in Milwaukee, my favorite city! Brett got to visit with Grandpa PF and Nonie Jo, open some early Christmas presents, explore a little bit of M-town and have dinner at our favorite Italian place, Tenuta's.

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Checking out the gifts from Nonie and PF.. yes, there were cars involved!

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Visiting The Domes.. three arboretums, each with a different climate

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handfuls of mulch in the holiday dome

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an ENORMOUS Christmas Tree

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trying hard to get a good picture!

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strolling with Daddy in the tropical dome..

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cool waterfall in the tropical dome

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banana trees with mommy.. and kicking those feet really fast!

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downtown Milwaukee

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happy boy on the way to dinner

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and conning Uncle Dave into holding the glass of icewater for him to play! (that's uncle Andy's girlfriend Amber looking on.. hi Amber!)

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As usual, we had a great visit! There's something about Milwaukee that always makes me smile.. it's such a neat place. We're hoping to take another trip to Chicago and Milwaukee this summer.. we will be DRIVING instead of flying :)

Chicago Adventures!

Last week was Brett's first airplane ride! We flew to Chicago for a wedding and to visit our family. We had a wonderful time and got to see some snow too!

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Brett did great with the flight! He liked looking out the window

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He finally fell asleep the last 30 minutes of the 2 hour flight.

"Minus one sock" says it all

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Sitting with Uncle Jared

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Climbing on Aunt Kendal

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Brett looks so much like Jared.. we call him "Little Jared" sometimes!

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Yay! Snow!

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Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman (Alan and Janel tie the knot!)
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Mr. and Mrs. Burgoyne at the reception
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Mr. and Mrs. Lindon (Brent and Heather our friends who live in Denver)
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Drew driving us to the airport in the snow
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This was what we flew out in.. we were supposed to fly out at 3:30pm. That flight was cancelled so we arranged to be on the 8:30pm flight. Needless to say our flight was delayed SEVERAL times! So after hours of fussing and waiting in the airport, waiting to be de-iced at the gate and waiting to take off, I just let Brett down out of my lap:
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He crawled under the seats in front of us and FELL ASLEEP! Was the floor dirty? YES! Did Mommy and Daddy care?? NO!
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Sleep tight little man..
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And he DID sleep.. through the take-off, 2 hour flight, landing and de-boarding. We carried him through baggage claim, loaded him in the car and drove 2 hours home. Then Mommy put him in his crib (at 3:00am) and he slept until 11:30am. Poor Little Guy!
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Stay tuned for "Adventures in Milwaukee" next blog..

A few Thanksgiving pictures..

Because every Arkansas fan should have a hog nose:

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Go Razorbacks!

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and a hog hat.. Wooo Pig Sooie!
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Smirk
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Super Brett!
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posing with Uncle BK, Aunt Angela, WeeWee, Uncle Christian, Aunt Angel, cousin Garrett and Uncle Tony on Thanksgiving.. while chewing a dog toy..
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Mad about something.. look at all those teeth!!
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I didn't take many photos on Thanksgiving.. what?! Will have to make up for it at Christmas :)

Holiday Fun!

Last Saturday we took Brett to the Fayetteville Square for the Christmas Parade and Lighting of the Square! He got a little impatient waiting on the parade to start but had a great time looking at all the lights once they came on.. and he enjoyed a couple of tootsie rolls :)

Posing with Mommy

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and then with Daddy

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checking out the lights close-up

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Today, we took a few pictures for the Christmas card.. eventually he chewed through the wrapper and enjoyed some candy cane..

I think he was belting out some Christmas ballad?! Go Brett!

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He was getting a little tired of the camera.. at least we got some cute pictures to choose from! Our favorite picture isn't shown though.. you'll have to wait for your Christmas card!