Cheeeeeeeetos!!

so this is what I found when I walked into the kitchen the other morning, a very cheesy face and fingers, and a very content and happy Elizabeth with her Cheetos in the pantry. It is official, she is definitely ours. Brandon and I too have quite a soft spot for the very manufactured, processed cheese snack. With her new discovery, the peas, carrots, green beans, are only devoured with the promise of getting cheetos if she eats the above mentioned. hmmmmmm, and i said i would never bribe my kid, that went way out the window. I also find that for ice cream and a drink of "mama's or daddy's drink" aka Diet Dr. Pepper from Sonic, other tasks can be accomplished. I guess it is just this growing up stuff. wow. it has flown by, i can't believe we are already planning her 2nd birthday. Can't they just live at home forever and stay this age!! Well, she would have to get a little bit older to take care of Brandon and I when we are old and weary.

As we are planning and talking about her birthday we have accomplished holding up 2 fingers when asked, I also asked her "what do you want for your birthday" elizabeths answeres in no particular order "birthday cake, green" "purple fish" "kitty name it puppy" "open presents" "a puppy," " another kitty I want it mama" little does she know she is getting a pink tricycle that was held over from christmas from us, i think that it will do just fine instead of a purple fish or a kitty!!!

We recently had a playground built in our subdivision, well we didn't build it, but the city of fayetteville did, pretty cool, it is very nice and cushioney, to prevent trips to the ER i am assuming. Brandon took Elizabeth there on Sunday while i was celebrating my sister's birthday with our mom. Here is a short video of Elizabeth on the slide, she is quite the pro!!!!!!

Also, a note for today, I am proud to say I had the opportunity to watch the inaguration of President Obama with Elizabeth, she kept saying "obama" "Obama", pretty cool..... (apologizes to our Republican family/friends)

question

So, I have had a few days off for some thinking, brandon thinks that is sometimes not such a good thing, but i have, I wonder, does the environment you live in and the people you are around truly affect your future? My opinion, it doesn't matter if you live in the most gang ridden, murderer infested, bad dude area, you can still turn out pretty good, if you are taught good morals, ethics, 10 commandments, etc. I always though have flash backs of the movie "Trading Places,", but, Eddie murphy was surrounded by people with those good morals, soooooo,,,, back to my opinion. I just think and ponder some days that we are raising Elizabeth right, teaching her good v. bad, etc, etc, i know we can do our best and she still might vere, veer, spelling please, head in the wrong direction every now and again, as did I and Brandon and every other normal teenager, kid. I just pray that she will always be safe and will come to us with any problem she has. And we are banking on her being some famous neurosurgeon so she can take care of us when are too old to work, since we had her so late. Anywho, i digress, Maybe we will win tonights 120 million powerball and get to move to mexico and have lots of babies........ with a few mojitos on the side. mmmmmm sun,,,, beach,,,, naps,,,,,, ahhhhhhh. come on powerball!!! anyway, i ramble, maybe i shouldn't have had that 2nd glass of wine, but it does help while putting together a workbench. Joy!!! okay, off to bed I go my 2 Ibuprofen and my new obsession, the "Twilight" series. Vampires, Werewolves, and Bears, OH MY!!!

MerryChristmasHappyNewYear!!

so, alot has happened in the last 3 months, and rather to bore you with all of the hoopla, here is the last of the year in pics! We started christmas 1 week before the actual day and finished up on new years day. wow, extended family is great! we are doing well, working, playing, and sleeping somewhere in between!!!!!!!!!!

Our new pre lit christmas tree, so worth it!!!

Elizabeth's own tree that she helped decorate, and undecorate again and again, so it was moved up high!!


A not so happy side of little one, yes it does happen, believe it or not, not very much but it does happen!


The new stroller!! Yeah!!!! We went on many walks in the house while it was cold!!


Last but definitely not least, this picture was taken by my 15 year old niece katie, this was on New years Day!!!

Fish, Ghouls, and Goblins

Brandon has come out of reitrement from the State Fair basketball league, the trophy this year was a giant Nemo for Elizabeth!!! This was at the Arkansas State Fair in Little Rock. Wow, lots of fun, funnell cakes, and friendly carnies!!!! Elizabeth loved the Merry Go Round, in fact we had to ride it twice, mama almost got sick!!

Our next adventure this fall was to the pumpkin patch at Vanzants's a local fruit/pumpkin farm. We also met some friends that Elizabeth had a snack with. Check out our pumpkins that Brandon carved, i think he missed his calling. Elizabeth was Thumper this year, as she loves to hop hop hop!!! Trick or Treating was lots of fun, lots of candy for mom and dad! She could say "treat" and hold her bucket out for candy. The fire department was letting kids stand in the fire truck for pictures, Elizabeth thought that was pretty neat!!! She is just growing up so fast and we are enjoying every minute of it!!!

Cars, Candles, and Cake!

Happy Birthday to Daddy!! Brandon turned 38 on the 16th! Wow 2 more years to the big 4-0! Maybe we will celebrate it somewhere tropical! Elizabeth loved the candles but especially the cake!! She can't quite blow the candles out yet, but defnitely tries! This was a bittersweet birthday for Brandon, as he and his Gram shared the same birthday. But, we had a good night with some pizza from Gusano's and Coconut Cream Pie!

Well, I survived my first night at home alone! Brandon, Elizabeth and Brawny went to Hot Springs last Saturday and went to a car show/hot air balloon show with Gramma and Papa. Elizabeth had a lot of fun and daddy found his Cobra that he wants!!! (when we win the lottery)

Elizabeth has discovered how to take her shirt and jammies off, and loves to wear mommy's socks!! She is becoming quite the little toddler! Last Dr's visit 22 1/2 lbs, 30 1/2 inches!! She is going to be tall and thin like her daddy!! Dr was quite impressed with her vocabulary!! I have to be careful what I say when I am driving down 540 though!! Figuirng out how to climb on things to reach what she wants, i found her in the pantry standing on a box to get to her Nilla Wafers!! She also can reach our cell phones, so if any of you get some prank calls, that would be elizabeth!! Balloons galore, she absolutely loves them! We were at the store getting ballons for brandon's birthday and while we were getting into the car, it caught on the door, broke off and blew away, you would have thought the world ended, poor thing, she loves them!! Daddy always finds her one at the Dollar Store and she carries it around for hours!!!

Finally a picture of brawny by herself enjoying her evening snack of a peanut butter ball, spoiled rotten, I know!!

Labor Day weekend

Woo Pig sooie!!! Lots

of wins in the Masterson household, except Michigan, boo hoo! It just isn't the same without Coach Carr!! Anyway, lots of stuff done around the house, Elizabeth was a huge help, in the garage and climbing up ladders to help ch ange the air filters!!! She also has a new "fort" that her Mimi introduced her to!! We made lots of trips to Lowes, Bed Bath, and Beyond, and our favorite TJ Maxx and to Mimi's for grilled hot dogs on Sunday with Aunt Kelly.

Also of note, elizabeth went on her first car date!! elizabeth and Hayden took a drive down the hallway for some cheerios!! Don't worry they were home by 11, am that is!!!

Alligators, Cows, and Goats oh my!!!

Elizabeth has definitely had her fill of animals the last few weeks. We decided that the Tulsa Zoo just wasn't enough of the wild kingdom, so we took a trip to the Alligator farm in Hot Springs while seeing Gramma and Papa. The alligator farm was defnitely more than just alligators, there was a huge fenced in area with goats and deer. The baby goats were absolutely precious, and the bigger ones like to chomp on daddy's pants!!! Elizabeth loved feeding them bread! There was also an Emu that was trying very hard to steal some bread!! There were a ton of alligators that varied in sizes. There were even 3 snow leopards that were georgous!! There was also a timberwolf that looked just like Brandon's old dog "Nan". There were a few monkeys, turkeys and chickens, the chickens were pretty close to the snow leopards, hmmmm lunch?

As if that wasn't enough animal fun, Gramma and Papa have a new calf "Coco" that Elizabeth got to help feed!! She had never seen a bottle that big before!!! and of course "Shadow" or "dodo" the goat, that is always giving her kisses!!! Here are a few pics!