Walkin' in High Cotton

While our photographer in the family, Bonnie, was in town for Thanksgiving, she wanted to shoot some pictures of her kiddos in the nearby cotton fields, which aren't a common scene in the Huntsville/Conroe area. It was picking time and there weren't too many fiends left unharvested, but we were lucky to find one just a few minutes from our house. As usual, Greyson was not up for the group photo idea, but the tears dried with the promise of candy and he did great once we got there. Bonnie did a great job wrangling all the kids and getting some cute shots. Thanks Aunt Bonnie!

Thanksgiving

Blake and I hosted our very first Thanksgiving this year. The Butler crew began arriving Thursday morning and quickly began prepping for the afternoon feast. We had a surplus of food, including turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, Nana's sweet potato casserole, deviled eggs, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, broccoli & rice casserole, dinner rolls and of course, a couple of pies! The kiddos all enjoyed playing together and the guys enjoyed a loooong board game of Risk. The Volkers brought an unknown guest, a stomach bug that unfortunately caused Brad to spend most the of the weekend in quarantine, aka the RV they brought for the weekend. Wyatt caught the bug the same day, but bounced back much quicker. Addison caught the bug Saturday morning, just as we were preparing for her birthday party. Aside from the stomach bug, we had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving with the family!

The crew has arrived!

My littlest Indian!

The Kids Table chowin' down on some turkey and dressing (except Wyatt who preferred a non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner of PB&J).

The crew, minus Addison who was taking a PRE-Thanksgiving dinner nap).

Addison enjoyed her first Thanksgiving with real food!

Cousin camp-out

Sibling love

Snacks with Nana

Blake and Jason's game of Risk was getting pretty intense.

New Media Console

Check out the latest project out of Uncle Blake's Workshop..... our new media console! Since we moved into our house just over a year ago, we knew our current TV stand/media console was not big enough to fill the space of the open living room. We searched high and low for a design that we loved and could tweak to accommodate our specific cable boxes, speakers, etc. (Blake knows all the technical terms for all the "black boxes"), but it also had to be something Blake was able to make. The very first one I picked out had flush mount doors, something Blake wasn't crazy about making since the measurements, angles, etc. all have to be spot-on. After browsing furniture stores and Pintrest for several days (weeks?) we came back to the original one I saw in Home Goods store months ago. We decided on a two-tone finish to brighten up the living room with its dark wood floors and leather furniture and added a beadboard backing for a little bit of texture. Blake even added dowel holes for adjustable shelving. It turned out awesome!! The size, color, everything is perfect... even the flush mount doors (Duh, my husband is a perfectionist!). We still need to add hardware, but we aren't in a hurry to do that since the lack of handles prevents little hands from opening the doors. We had a Thanksgiving deadline since we were hosting the Butler Thanksgiving this year, and Blake finished just in the nick of time a couple of days before our company arrived. 

Before

After
(I say we need more decorations, Blake says we need a bigger TV.)

No project is complete without our little helpers.

I love how it turned out!

Happy Birthday, Addison!

Addison turned ONE on November 22! We celebrated the day with cake and presents at home. Addison enjoyed the cake (mostly the icing) and received her first baby doll. Greyson was a great big brother and helped her open her presents and eat cake. I have always heard the saying that life goes by fast, and really started to understand that when Greyson was born. Now that we have TWO kiddos, life seems to be passing by in fast forward. I can't believe it has already been a year ago that we became a family of four. It's been so fun to watch Addison grow and continue to learn new things and see Greyson become such a great big brother. They are starting to play together (civilly, most of the time) and it it awesome to see them interact and laugh together. We love our Addie Sue and are so glad God chose us to be her family. 

George Strait!!!

Getting to see George Strait has always been a dream, but getting to see him in concert on a random Wednesday night after work was a crazy dream come true! The concert, "George Strait Returns to His Roots" was supposed to be a secret private event to launch his Strait Out of Box: Part 2 album. A press release earlier in the week stated that George Strait and his Ace in the Hole Band will take it back to an unnamed venue. Tickets were not available for the show, but as soon as word got out, I had tons of people offering me their firstborn child in exchange. The show was live-streamed by Wrangler Network, so I told them all to watch it there just like I thought I would be doing. The day of the show, the Hall was fenced off, large production trucks filled the parking lot and my co-workers and I found out there may be a chance we would be able to attend the show... and maybe bring a guest. I quickly texted Blake and my mom to see if she could babysit and was on pins & needles until we finally got word that we were in! Blake picked up the kids from daycare, met Nannie at the house and then met me at the Hall just as George was taking the stage. It was an awesome sight to see someone with such a huge career still be humbled by the place where he got his start over 30 years ago. He hadn't been back to play the Hall since 1982 just as his career was taking off (before Blake and I were born!). For over two hours, we sang along to all our favorite songs with the crowd, which included fellow musicians (who have all have their own sold-out shows on the same stage) such as Aaron Watson, Roger Creager, Kyle Park, Bruce Robison and a huge muscled-up dude... who we later found out was WWE wrestler, The Undertaker. There was only about 300 people in the invite-only crowd inside, but the crowd outside was even larger, all trying to get a glimpse of George Strait. The opportunity to see him in such an intimate concert, for free, with an open bar, with my honey was priceless!

Here he comes!

Most of the pictures below were snagged from social media articles and posts the next day because I really tried to put my phone away and just enjoy the show (very hard to do!) and because my hands were shaking so bad with excitement (exhibit A above)!

My date finally made it!

  

There was a bigger crowd outside than inside!

   

This is where the cowboy rides away...

Set List

1. Here for a Good Time
2. Ocean Front Property
3. Give It All We Got Tonight
4. Check Yes or No
5. The Breath
6. Arkansas Dave
7. Cold Beer Conversation
8. Goin’, Goin’, Gone
9. I Can Still Make Cheyenne
10. The Fireman
11. How 'bout Them Cowgirls
12. Kicked Outta Country (new song)
13. Gotta Go Through Hell  (new song)
14. Marina Del Rey
15. Mama Tried (Merle Haggard cover)
16. Workin’ Man Blues (Merle Haggard cover)
17. Give It All Away
18. Amarillo By Morning
19. Drinkin’ Man
20. The Chair
21. Take Me to Texas
22. I’ll Always Remember You
23. Troubadour
24. Unwound

Encore:

1. All My Ex’s Live in Texas
2. I Saw God Today (on set list but not played, played Take Me Back to Tulsa instead)
3. Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash cover)
4. The Cowboy Rides Away

Wurstfest

We made our annual trip to Wurstfest - the 10 day salute to sausage! Last year the festival was held just before Addison was born, so this was her first time to attend. We listened to some polka music while we ate our usual plate of sausage, karoffelpuffer (potato pancakes) and applesauce. Greyson spotted the carousal a mile away, so after we ate we made our way to the carnival area. This year, Greyson also wanted to ride "THAT big thing", aka the Ferris wheel (not a kiddie ride), which surprised both Blake and me. We asked him several times before we purchased tickets for the ride if he was sure he wanted to ride it, and some more while we waited in line... and then again as he boarded the carriage with Blake. I just knew my kid was going to be the reason the Ferris wheel had to be stopped mid-way through the ride. Blake said he was fine while the ride intermittently stopped and started again as people got on and off the ride, gradually going higher and higher. Once the carriages were full and the ride actually started, Greyson's eyes got a little wider and his grip a little firmer, but he did great the whole way through (Blake did too, even though he's not a fan of heights). Greyson had the biggest smile on his face when the ride was over.

Greyson was feelin' the polka music!

Shopping with Nannie

Blake had a guys' weekend planned with his buddy Swayze, so I called Nannie to see if she wanted to tag along with me while I ran some errands and did some shopping. I think Greyon likes shopping with Nannie... they got to eat chicken nuggets and play at Chick-fil-A, he suckered her into not one, but two rides on the mall train, and when she ran out of quarters, they got to ride the escalator! Nannie knows how to have fun on a budget. :) 

Hunting at the Ranch

While hunting at the ranch on opening weekend, Blake shot two deer. Greyson didn't go hunting with him, but he was excited to be Blake's little helper to process it. He made sure to put on his "deer hat" and "deer shirt" when he got dressed and rode around with me as I got ice chests, ice and whatever else Blake needed. It didn't phase him at all when Blake was skinning the deer and he was a little chatter box the whole time. He is excited to "eat the meat and fill my tummy up!" I can't wait for him to get to experience his first hunting trip!

Greyson wearing his "deer hat" and "deer shirt".

Addison got to hang out with Aunt Amy while we were busy skinning the deer and packing.