Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is here and Chloe is camped out in front of the old Christmas tree, waiting for a visit from Santa. (You can click on the photos to see a better, bigger version.)

Earlier in the evening she got a phone call from Santa, which Mom and Dad recorded so they can play it back later when she's older. She was so excited, and sang her ABCs to Santa.

Right before dinner, she and little brother Alex got to play together a bit. As you can see from the photo, Alex discovered there is a fine line between getting some attention and getting too much attention from his Big Sis. But Sis was careful and Alex ended up having a big time.

Well, we've all drifted off to sleep now in hopes that Santa will come any minute.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Thanksgiving 2006 Tour Continues

The 2nd stop on the Thanksgiving Tour was in Gepp, AR at Nana and Pa Pa Renfro's house, where Alex got to see his Grandpa for the first time.

Chloe and Alex also got to visit with their cousins.

Left to Right are Reagan, Chloe, Nathan, Haley, Alex and Logan.
Chloe takes charge of Kennedy's toys while Kennedy visits with Nana.
Chloe chats with Uncle Roger on his 40th Birthday.
Aunt Karen gets her turn to snuggle with Baby Alex.
Ella was so excited to see Chloe. They girls had a great time playing together.


































Alex is happy just to watch the girls play (for now).
Chloe gets all bundled up for an outing on Pa Pa's Rhino.
Due to a surprise visit from the stomach virus fairy, we slept in the RV Wednesday night to try and avoid getting sick, then started driving back home early Thursday morning. Chloe loves sleeping with one leg thrown over someone or something. I thought this was so funny. I just had to get a picture of it.

The photo above was taken on Thanksgiving Day, which we had to spend in the Hollywood Casino RV Park in Tunica, Mississippi. We hated that we had to miss having Thanksgiving Dinner with our family after traveling so far to see them, but it couldn't be helped. Eating Thanksgiving Dinner in an RV Park sounds pretty depressing, doesn't it?.....well....IT IS!! I'm just kidding (sort of). We really do have so much to be thankful for. Our good health, for example, which we all had when this photo was taken. We didn't get sick until later. Apparently, in spite of our best efforts to "Get the Heck out of Dodge" before contracting the stomach virus, we all (except Alex, thank The Good Lord) got sick anyway. Alex's first Thanksgiving certainly was a memorable one. Let's hope Christmas comes and goes without anyone spewing anything from anywhere.

Cuddly Cutie

Chloe is an extremely busy baby, and it isn't often that she stops playing long enough to be held. However, Mom was able to get an early morning cuddle from her little cutie before she really got cranked up for the day.

Story Time

Uncle Ron tells Chloe and Cousin Veronica a backyardigans story about Jungle Colors.

More Grandma Time

I do believe Grandma has only put Alex down long enough to eat and sleep.

Family Portrait

The Dobson and Woods families visited grandpa at the nursing home on Saturday and it was grandpa's first time to hold Alex. He held him for the longest time and Alex got in lots of talking.

Chloe and Veronica had the run of the place (and I mean RUN of the place), getting peanut butter cookies and talking to all the staff.

We were even able to get a family portrait, but as you can see it was kind of difficult to keep Grandpa awake. It was after lunch, when he usually takes a nap.

Choo-Choo Trains

For some reason, Chloe believes the sound of the truckers blowing their horns on I-55 in Blytheville sounds exactly like the trains in her home town. She spent quite a bit of time Saturday morning saying "Choo-Choo" as she looked out the window.

Dance Class in Blytheville

Chloe got to sit in on Cousin Vernoica's singing and dancing class at Arkansas Northeastern College on Friday. Boy, did she have a big time in her first college class.

While she was a little shy to begin with, it didn't take long for her to join right in when they brought out the instruments. Her favorite was the jingle bells, of which each child is supposed to get one. As you can see in the photo, it didn't take long for Chloe to get her hands on three and before it was all over she had about six.

At the end of class, the kids sing a goodbye song, but Chloe wasn't ready to go yet. So, she jumped up in the teacher's arms where she and Veronica were able to keep things going for just a little bit longer.

Thanksgiving 2006 - Blytheville

Well, we've made our first stop on the Thanksgiving 2006 tour -- Blytheville, AR -- to visit Daddy's side of the family. As you can see in the picture, it didn't take grandma too long to wrap Alex up in her arms.

Grandma also produced a photo from 1967 showing a Daddy as a three-month old and it looks like Alex.

Happy, happy boy

Alex was a really happy boy today -- smiling at everyone in church and really enjoying some quality time in Mom's lap.

Bathtime Is Fun, Fun, Fun

Chloe might seem a little worried about her brother, but she soon sees that bathtime can be just as fun for Alex as it is for her.

Tummy Time

Alex enjoys tummy time way more when he can talk to that adorable little guy in the mirror.

Baby Talk

Since babies love to see pictures of other babies, I thought I'd see what Alex's reaction was to a baby on a magazine cover. I took a little video and you can see him trying to talk to the baby by clicking here.

More Halloween Pictures

Here is a photo of Chloe getting ready to join her friends next door to hand out candy. If you can't tell by the smile on her face, she LOVED her DeeDee Doodle costume.
DeeDee Doodle and Snow White(Chloe's little friend from next door) share a laugh before the crowds arrive.
Chloe thought the fiber optic jack'o lantern was pretty cool.
Here she's doing the "Wobbly Woopsie" (a Doodle Dance) with Mr. Pumpkin.
Chloe takes a moment to check on Alex, her absolute favorite little brother.
The girls handed out a ton(literally) of candy. There were hundreds of kids out trick or treating on our street.
The girls take a little break. Aren't they adoreable??!!
This little Elvis has got to be the cutest trick or treater we saw all night.
As the evening was ending, a little cow crawled into the candy tub and helped himself to some chocolate. He was soooo cute with little bits of chocolate smeared on his face.

DeeDee Says Happy Halloween

DeeDee Doodle passed out loads of candy tonight. There are plenty more pics coming tomorrow, but I know some of you were dying to see a picture of her in her DeeDee Doodle Costume Aunt Debbie got her.

Also, you might want to see DeeDee getting down to her new favorite song - the Theme from the Exorcist - and sorting through the candy. Click here to see the MOVIE!

If you're having trouble seeing the video, you might want to view it on YouTube by clicking here.

Halloween Play Date

Keeping this many toddlers happy long enough for a group photo is just about the biggest challenge imaginable. This is our playgroups' annual Halloween Play Date. After the kids finished posing for pictures and could actually play, they had a great time.




Alex preferred to watch the craziness from the comfort of his car seat.
The group went on a hayride, which Chloe really enjoyed. She kept wanting to get back on the wagon when it was over.
Chloe and Kalyn play house. This was Chloe's favorite thing to play with at the play date. We'll have to get her one for the back yard.
Chloe wants the yellow ring...
...and Chloe gets the yellow ring!
"No, Cole. You can't come in. This is MY playhouse. MINE! MINE! MINE!"
"I'll join you guys in a minute. I just gotta take this call"
All a girl really needs to be happy is a rocking horse and a plastic shovel. Oh yeah, and a snack. You can see Chloe is still wearing hers on her face.
I'm so glad Chloe wasn't wearing her Halloween costume yet. It would have been a complete train wreck. There was just no keeping this kid out of the dirt. Her and dirt are pretty good pals.
I'm pretty sure that she not only played in the dirt, but ate some also. Oh well, at least she had a good time. Keep checking the blog. We'll post more photo's after trick or treating tonight!