Playing With His New Toys

Fischer got a lot more toys than shown here, since his birthday is just before Christmas, but here's some good pictures and videos I've taken of a few of them:

He wanted daddy to get in the tent with him, so he brought it to him!


All I have to do to get him in the tub now is say, "Want to play letters and numbers?" and he practically climbs in with his clothes on!


Getting messy with his bath paints.


Daddy taught Fischer how to kick his punch bag...and yell "hi-yah!"...Fischer didn't get the sound quite right, but he got the idea!

One of his favorite games after bathtime...if you listen close, you can hear him whisper, "Where'd Fischer go?"

Snow Day Part 2

Here's a few more snow pics and videos...plus the story of how we got stuck in a blizzard!

Fischer in our front yard the day after Christmas


He kept walking into the snow drifts, but got stuck every time!


A random fall tree amidst all the winter snow


Here Dustin takes Fischer for his first ride down the hill...Grandma follows right after. You can't hear Fischer in the video, but right after she finishes sledding he says, "E-maw, what doing?" (Grandma, what are you doing?)...he thought she was crazy!


A clip of Fischer's first encounter with snow:


And now the story of my first snowfall...also my first blizzard...also my first time getting stuck in a snow bank in the middle of nowhere. It's a long story, so you won't hurt my feelings if you don't read it:

We went to Duncan, Oklahoma (about 1 hr 15 min away) on the 23rd and planned on staying all day of Christmas Eve, but when we got up that morning, the weather reports were looking pretty grim. We decided to leave right after breakfast and beat the storm home (which you can probably guess by now that didn't happen!)

Just so you know we aren't crazy, this is what it looked like when we left OK around 9:45am:


A little ways into the drive it started snowing, a real pretty snow that I was enjoying since I have never seen snow falling before. Then it started snowing harder and harder...then the wind was blowing the snow sideways! But we were still going safely b/c Patrick's car has traction control tires (it's a fancy Lexus).

We finally crossed the Texas border, but by this time is was snowing real hard and we were passing cars and trucks stuck on the side of the road about every 500 ft or so. Thankfully there weren't any accidents b/c everyone was driving so slow. Then we started sliding a little here and a little there. We were about 20 miles outside of town when if finally happened...we slid sideways and got stuck. Dustin's pushing didn't help, so we started thinking of what we should do.

Just a few minutes after getting stuck, a big 4-wheel-drive diesel rancher's truck stopped next to us and two giant cowboys jumped out. They (along with one other man who stopped for a few minutes) managed to get the car turned straight and back on the road, but when put in drive we just slid right off the road again. So the men pushed the car completely off the road into a neighbor's drive, saying they knew the man and he wouldn't mind us leaving the car there.

One of the cowboys' grandmother (Nanny) lived just a few hundred feet down the road, so he first took Fischer and me, followed later by Dustin and Patrick to her house to warm up. They said they probably wouldn't have stopped at all if they hadn't seen we had a baby with us (which is true...we wanted to stop several times to help other people, but would have just ended up stuck ourselves, making more of a mess). Fischer made himself at home, since Nanny had lots of toys lying around for him to play with and Cheesy Puffs for him to snack on! We all got warm and waited for Travis (Dustin's dad) to come get us in his big pick-up truck. It took about an hour for a 20 mile drive in the storm, but he made it...they went and got some of our bags from the car and the carseat, then we loaded up and took the hour-long drive through a blizzard back home. It was 3:00pm at this point (we were pretty lucky...some people spent the whole night on another highway that had a jack-knifed semi on a bridge blocking everything...nothing like waking up Christmas morning in your car!)

Needless to say, we were very glad to be home...only to find that our power was out!! Thankfully, we have a gas heater in the fireplace and gas water heater, so we were able to warm up the living room and take warm baths. The power came on about an hour later, so we were finally able to relax! It was a Christmas Eve I'll never forget! At least we got to enjoy the snow on Christmas day, since the storm was gone and the sun was out.

And just so you know, this isn't typical north Texas weather. While it does snow a little bit every year, it rarely ever sticks to the ground longer than a day. Everyone our age says they can't remember a snow like this one...and the paper said Wichita Falls hasn't had a white Christmas in 83 years!

By the way, when I say we were "lucky," that's just an expression...I know it was God watching over us the whole time!

Christmas Part 2

Here's some more pics from Christmas as promised. The first set of pics are from our night in Oklahoma on the 23rd:

Fischer wanted a pillow just like Uncle Patrick to watch The Cat in the Hat.


Saying hello to Santa

Opening more presents!

He's in awe of this big one!

The Henry/Barry clan:

Standing from left: Melissa (cousin), Uncle Billy, Aunt Debbie and Uncle Gene, Grandpa Jack

Sitting: Me, Maw Maw, Paw Paw (Fischer's Great-Grandparents)

Floor: Dustin, Fischer, Uncle Patrick

(Billy's family and Melissa Brother were not present)

Excited about his stocking!

These pics are back in Wichita Falls:

I have to get a yearly pic in the sleigh by the Christmas tree, since I started doing that when he was 4 days old...however, he didn't want to sit still this year!

He loves to be Rudolf!

A very strange Texas Christmas display: A cowboy driving his covered wagon with Santa standing by and a puppy and teddy bear sitting by him???

Christmas - Snow Day - Part 1

It's both Christmas day and the first snow day ever for both Fischer and me! Yesterday it was a blizzard around here and dropped about 8 inches of snow, but many of the drifts are waist deep. Today it was beautiful and sunny, but still cold enough for the snow to stick, so we took advantage of it! Here are some pictures of today...I plan on adding more later, but it's late and I'm tired from all the fun...so enjoy these for now! (oh, and we don't have very many Christmas pics from home b/c my camera is still stuck in the car on the side of the road about 20 miles out of town...the few Christmas pics I have were taken with our video camera...the snow ones were with my mother-in-laws camera, so I was able to take more...I'll tell you about our "adventure" with getting stuck in the snow next time).

Texas does not have hills, but luckily my in-laws live at an overpass (I'm standing in there front yard taking this pic, so we didn't have to go far for some great sledding!)


Dustin took Fischer for a run...the snow was too thick and powdery for a sled, so we're using cardboard!


My turn to take Fischer for a run!


My first snow angel! (actually, it was my second...Fischer ran through my first!)


Happy snow day and Merry Christmas!

Our house in the snow:

Our backyard:

My car:

Dustin's truck:

Fischer got a Radio Flyer tricycle from Nana for Christmas:

But the playdough set was one of the favorite gifts...he played all morning with it!

Happy Birthday!

Happy 2nd birthday to the sweetest boy in the world! You make your daddy and me so proud to be your parents every day. You give the sweetest hugs and kisses, and we just can't get enough! These have been the best 2 years of our lives and we're looking forward to all the future years we have with you. You are the best Christmas present we could ever get!

Today, when I woke you up and said "happy birthday," you replied, "watch TV, chair, milk!" which meant you wanted to watch TV in the rocking chair with me and drink your milk. You are so smart and so verbal and expressive. We can't help but smile and laugh every day at all the funny things you do and say. You love to be the center of attention and to say "hi" and "bye-bye" to everyone (including strangers), and you love to play with your toy cars ALL the time! What a sweet gift you have been to our family. We love you!

Here are some pics and videos from Fischer's 2nd birthday party:

Here's the birthday boy with his new basketball!

Collin liked basketball too.




Pierce sitting pretty in the cozy coupe!




Check out those gorgeous blue eyes!




Fischer jumping with the girls (from left): Dee, Haylee, and Abby.




Dee is enjoying a break on the bounce house.




Abby insisted that Fischer eat with her...and he only ate potato chips!




Haylee, her mom Tabitha, and Dee.




Fischer still didn't quite understand the opening part of the presents, but he definitely loved the toys afterwards!






The birthday cake.

Fischer immediately wanted McQueen and Mater off the cake when he saw them.

He had no problem figuring out how to eat the cake this year!

The aftermath!

Dee enjoying her goodie bag :)

Fischer enjoying one last bounce after the party was over.

Jumping with the girls...we have no idea why he's making this noise every bounce:
Jum

He loves to be the center of attention when he realizes everyone is looking at him!

Oblivious to everything but the cake:

Facebook entry 12/17/09

I think Fischer thinks our two dogs are named "Zeke hush" and "Zoe no"...that's what he calls them :)

Facebook entries

I'm going to start posting some of my facebook entries here on the blog because I realized today that that's where I usually write all of Fischer's funny antics. Since this blog is sort-of an online scrapbook, I figure I ought to post them here as well so they aren't lost forever...then Fischer can go back and read them oneday when he's looking back. I'm going to try and go back and find some of the past ones to add later as well.

This was today's entry:

Fischer was playing with my hairbrush today, so Dustin leaned over and said, "Brush Daddy's hair." Fischer proceeded to brush the hair on his head...then his chest...then his belly! I thought it was hilarious...Dustin didn't think the belly part was very funny :)

2nd Birthday Portraits

I can't believe Fischer is going to be 2-years-old in just a few days! (Dec. 21st)
Here are his 2nd Birthday portraits:

This was the best one...he was so happy!

Here's his stinker face again :)

Playing with his cars made him much happier for the pics...and he's have a Disney Cars b-day party too, so those are the cars you'll see in the pictures.

Aren't the boots so cute??

He wouldn't cooperate for the next two...he kept picking up the letters instead of smiling for the camera:

What a sweet boy...and he still sticks his tongue out when he smiles!