Fun Christmas Season

We had such a wonderful December spent with friends and family. This Christmas was so special to us because we got to share the season with Layton. Children make life so much sweeter and we are so thankful for everyday we get to spend with Layton. This is a big post of a lot of pictures from last month. We did a lot of family activities and some I had to leave out because I left my little camera in Midland. When I have some **free** time (yeah right!) I will upload some of the pictures when Santa came to visit Layton in Midland. This little cutie was such a big helper when it came to wrapping gifts during the month of December. He did not **wink, wink** tear any paper, eat any tape, pull on any bows....he was the perfect little wrapping angel and left all of my gifts alone;)

Santa was so good to Layton and brought him some fun, FUN new toys that he plays with daily. He got this really cute ball popper that uses air to make the balls pop all over the room. He really enjoys this toy. It is neat to see which toys he likes the most....some stuff he plays with a lot and other stuff he could care less about. I think I am getting this boy only clothes for his birthday seeing as his birthday is around the corner.

We traveled to Midland this Christmas to be with my Mom's side of the family. We had such a great time. Layton enjoyed having a new house to explore and plenty of people to spoil him. He is sporting his new Red Raider hat.

Check me out on my new wheels................

Santa brought me a 4-wheeler oh yeah!! Bonus it is battery powered and he knows how to use the "go" button. It is so funny watching him ride it around the house. Now if he could just steer it in the right direction we would be all good. I can't believe my precious baby is big enough to know how to operate this thing on his own.....where did this year go?? Oh and my little man took his first steps on Christmas Eve. That was like almost 4 weeks ago and he is walking all over the place now. He still crawls but he is walking more and more each day and he can go all the way across the room with no problem. I never thought he would be walking at 11 months.

We took a family trip to the Gaylord Texan to see Snoopy on Ice. It was REALLY cold but REALLY cool to see. I don't know if a trip to see it every year is necessary but seeing everything carved out of ice was pretty neat. Layton had no idea what was going on so we could have left him at home....plus WHO knew you could not use a stroller there so taking turns carrying a 24lb boy was just so much FUN!!

Mom and Layton...the big jackets swallowed him but he needed it took keep from freezing!

Next week took Layton to Santa's village in Richardson. If you have never been you should take the kiddos. It is free and on the weekends Santa arrives every night by firetruck....lots of lights and sounds and they make it a cute production. Then if you want to wait in line you can have your picture made with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Here Matt and Layton are watching Santa's arrival. Layton was so cute as he followed Santa with his eyes all the way to his house. I don't know how he really knew who to watch but it was cute.Love this picture....my favorite "little" man!!

Layton meets Frosty!

I took Layton to North Park to visit Santa.....based on the look on his face waiting in line this might have been just for me:) I think he was over the long wait in line to see the guy with a beard.

In his picture with Santa that the photograhper took he is giving us a half smile. This picture Matt took with our camera and he looks a little disappointed:) Hey at least he is not screaming.

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Rewind!!

Well I feel like I need a rewind button on parts of this year. I like to make sure that I blog several times per month so I can save these precious memories. Well with all the craziness of the past few months, I have just fallen so far behind. So for those of you eating a candy cane and singing Jingle Bells in your head while reading this post.... sorry b/c I am going to be talking candy corn and all things spooky!! Here is a picture of our pumpkin all lit up on Halloween night....its on the left if you can't see which pumpkin it is. Matt and Layton... mainly Matt...was so proud. Layton loved every bit of the pumpkin carving experience. Can't wait until next year when he can tell me what he is thinking.

Love this little pumpkin so much. Man it is like a game to get Layton to look at the camera at the same time mommy is looking at the camera.

Up close picture of two of the cutest pumpkins! Layton was a duck this year and the striped leggings were hilarious on him. He really was one cute duck! We took Layton to our church carnival and he had so much fun looking around at all the kids, animals and of course tasting some yummy food.

More pictures of the pumpkin carving madness...sorry they are out of order. I am working on precious nap time and this Mommy has no time to redo this post. Layton of course stuck the pumpkin and the seeds in his mouth...because that is where EVERYTHING off the ground goes...in the mouth!

watching Daddy carve....he was so good about sitting right there and watching and sampling some of the pumpkin of course.

Oh mom....you are going to regret this!!! Might I add he loved the few bites I gave him so much that he was making a sucking noise with his lips after each bite. I was so funny to watch.

These two precious animals are the best of buddies. They are only 4 days apart and they always have so much fun every Sunday night playing together at our Bible study group. Little Kaylee makes one cute little elephant!
Silly picture of Layton at our neighborhood carnival

Well that was a very fast preview of Oct. more of Nov. to come later this week!

Missing them already.....

The Flesher's have been pretty busy over the past few weeks and we have shed a lot of tears. Over the past four weeks we have lost two very special people to Matt and I....my Pappy and Matt's mom, Barbara. We praise God that they are both believers and they are both in Heaven which eases our pain a little, knowing we have entrusted them to the Lords care. We still miss them dearly here on this side of Heaven. It is not for Matt and I to understand the why of the loss we have had to experience this past few weeks but we are thankful for the peace the Lord has given us during this difficult time. Here is my sweet Pappy...this is one of the last pictures I took of him while visiting him at the end of Aug. We celebrated his 87th birthday with lots of family and good times. He was a die hard Auburn fan and one of the best men I know. He was kind, funny and a hard worker who loved his family and his life. I always tell people that a lot of the qualities that my Pappy had I see in Matt....which makes me one lucky lady. I will never forget the endless stories that I have growing up with my Pappy. He has always been there so I know there are going to be a lot of firsts without him that will be hard. Pray for my Nana as she is missing her sweet honey. They had a wonderful marriage and one to be admired. My Pappy worked as an engineer until he was 80 years old and everyday when he left for work he left my Nana a love note by the coffee maker....he was just a jewel of a man. We will dearly miss him. He went to be with Jesus on Oct. 10th.

This is Matt's Mom Barbara who passed away this past Tuesday from a year and a half long battle with cancer. She has been sick for awhile and it was hard watching the disease take her from us. I think Matt and I will be grieving her loss for awhile. She was way too young and such a good grandma to be gone already. We miss her....plain and simple. We are sad that Layton won't know his "Babs" like we knew her. But, we know that the Lord blessed Matt and I with Layton at just the right time during Barbara's cancer. She loved Layton so much and the time she got to spend with him was so very precious. Matt and I cherish that we got to spend so much time with her at the end of her battle and were with her when she went to meet Jesus. She was such a generous mom and I must say she raised two fine young men.

We love and miss you dearly Pappy and Babs. If you think about our little family would you send a little prayer up for us. Over the past few weeks all of this loss has defiantly made me hug my family a little tighter and tell them how much I love them even more.

8 Months and lots of FALLing around our house!

Layton is now eight months old and boy he is getting so busy. Not only can he crawl but he can pull up on everything and loves to use ANYTHING in the room to stand up. Thank the Lord for the helmet he wears because I lose count of the amount of times he crashes on our hardwood floors each day. Falling, falling and more falling is the theme of each day. But Layton is so determined and I love this about him. He has even stood up in the middle of the room using something light and then falls down quickly. Here are a few cute pictures of Layton from the past few weeks. Loving some fun pictures of Layton with all the pumpkins at the Arboretum. He had such a serious face the whole morning...almost as if he was thinking "what are all these orange things everywhere!!!" I made him a shirt for some fun pictures in the pumpkins...it turned out really cute and I can't wait to make him some Christmas ones.

Layton would hardly look up at the camera once I put him in the pile of pumpkins. He was trying to eat the hay and was WAY to interested in the pumpkins to look up at mommy for a silly picture.

Layton and Mommy....I love this sweet boy! He is getting so interested in everything around him. He wants to touch everything and then put it in his mouth of course. I have never cleaned my floors 3 times per week EVER...but here lately that is what it takes since this little one will clean them for me and then put whatever he finds in his mouth. So far last week he had a wood chip, piece of tape and a leaf that I had to dig out of his little mouth. He is so quick!! and seems to find any piece of dirt or trash on the floor that I have missed.

Layton still wears his helmet everyday all day. I think he is nearing the end of treatment:) Matt and I can't wait! Layton has been in a helmet since he was 4 1/2 months old. We took his helmet off to take some pictures at the Arboretum.

Layton got his first bad cold last week and it lasted FOREVER...I thought we were never all going to get well again. Here are some fun pictures playing in the family room while we were stuck inside. Love Layton's serious face:)

Here he is showing off..............

Aww....I wonder what he was thinking about???

Layton loves going outside....as most kiddos do. I am so glad that it is not so hot outside anymore so we can get outside and play more.

I feel like I have not posted on my blog in so long. We have been so busy lately. Matt and I took on the big project of giving our 1950's kitchen a face lift and it has been quite the undertaking with a baby running around me in circles. It is coming together and going to look great when finished. I will post some pictures soon:)

Update:

My brother-in-law Todd is still really sick. We are hoping he will have surgery in the next few weeks to remove his tumor. We still don't know if the tumor is cancerous or not yet. The doctors were unable to reach the tumor for a biopsy last week. We are praying for it to be cancer free.

My boy loves the swing!

Layton and I walked to Height's Park down the street and we had a ball just swinging in the cool weather....or cool morning I should say:) Here are some fun pictures from last week.

This is just my monster face....I am practicing for Halloween

hold on tight....mommy swings really high!!

I got my new helmet on the same day....Mommy did not decorate it yet. Yep...I had to get another helmet! Can you believe it?