One More Gardner

On our way out of town for Thanksgiving we stopped at Chris's favorite pizza restaurant, The New Yorker, to have lunch with Ben Gardner. Ben used to be one of the kids in the youth group in Arlington and is now in the Air Force Academy. We met the new girlfriend and even liked her!

The Gardners

When Chris was a youth pastor in Arlington we made some great friends. One family, in particular, were the Gardners. Molly and Rebecca were in the youth group at the time and I am proud to say that they are both now at OSU and loving sorority life (thankfully they didn't listen to Chris' stories)! They came over Tuesday night for Casen and dessert - in that order!


Rebecca, Kim and Molly

Smiles

Laundry Day

Monday is laundry day at the Freeland house. Sutton loves Mondays!!! If dogs have a love language I think hers is physical touch. Anytime someone is on the sofa, she is curled up next to them. She loves to bask in the sun and her favorite thing is laying in a pile of laundry fresh from the dryer. This Monday, I decided to let Casen watch and learn how laundry is done. I sat him next to Sutton, ran to the other room, came back and this is what I found:

The Flying Game

Casen loves to be lifted up in the air like he's flying.
A lot of times we can even get a giggle out of him!

Play Time

My friend Crissy brought over her "award winning" (she was so proud of that) play gym for Casen to use for awhile. He is a big fan and loves smiling at the giraffe and elephant. He also gets excited when he looks in the attached mirror and sees a handsome little boy smiling back!

Casen

Lily and Casen

Last week we made a whirlwind trip to Oklahoma for my cousin's wedding reception. While we were there, I snuck in a quick visit my friend Amy and her new baby, Lily. Casen thought Lily was pretty cute, but I think he enjoyed playing with Noah, her big brother more!

Lily's big brother, Noah wanted to get in on the action. He was so sweet to Casen and gave him lots of hugs and kisses.

Casen's First Trip to Dallas

Last week, Casen and I decided to take a trip to Dallas. We had lunch at Chuy's with my friend Emily that just moved to Texas. After lunch we went by my current place of employment, Vintage Living, to see the ladies. It was fun to introduce Casen to my coworkers and I had a good time visiting with my friends!


This is Kimberly, whom I've worked with for the past three years. She is hilarious, honest and a ton of fun to work with.


This is Emily, who was part of the Campus Crusade for Christ ministry team that Chris and I and a few of the leaders from the young singles group went to visit last October in Florence, Italy. She recently moved back to Dallas and is working at my favorite store, Anthropologie!

The Zoo

The Fort Worth Zoo is home to one of the top rated zoos in the nation. It is a great place for moms to take their kids for a day out of the house. Last Friday, Casen and I went with some friends to check it out. I was truly amazed at the cleanliness, the excellent design and the beauty of the zoo and it's inhabitants.


Casen taking it all in.

Jackson admiring a bird on the ground.

Benjamin taking a ride in the cart.

The beautiful white tiger.

Brooke and Abram in the background and Crissy and Jackson watching the elephants.

The cooky ostrich and giant girraffes.

Casen, at the end of our adventure, pondering all of the perplexities he had taken in!

The Bumblebee Game

Last week, Chris' parents came to visit. Chris dad introduced Casen to the Bumblebee game, where you make your finger buzz around Casen and then tickle him. He loves it! We get a huge smile out of him every time we play the game and sometimes he even laughs!






Below...the Bumblebee game in action!

Nursery Time!!!

Since Casen received his shots last week, he was cleared by the doctor to go to the nursery. Sunday was his first experience and he loved it! Jen, one of the single girls in Chris' Eikon group, was one of his teachers and did an excellent job, as did all of the rest of the child care volunteers. It was fabulous to be able to sit in Sunday School and Church and actually concentrate on what was going on instead of focusing on my kid trying to keep him quiet! I'm so thankful that McKinney has such an excellent nursery!!!