Christmas Time

Well, it's been a busy few weeks in the Ward house. Laura and CJ headed off to New Orleans and met the Smith crew where they all boarded the 'SS Caribean Cruise Ship'(or something like that)and from last report are having a great time out in the Gulf, hanging out in Mexico, swimming with dolphins, parasailing, and doing whatever else goes on out there. Clay, in te meantime has been very busy with flight training back in Oklahoma. His flight commander was really pushing him and three other guys in his unit to finish their Navigation Checkride before Christmas (The Nav Checkride is the last really big hurdle to get through before graduation). So in other words that meant that Clay would have to forego the cruise for training. The unfortunate thing was the weather came in this week right before the checkride and cancelled all of Clay's sorties(flights)for the rest of the week. Needless to say it's been a lonely week or so without Laura and CJ, and since training was halted, it's been a really slow week. Neighbors have taken pity on Clay (he's been invited to dinner about four of five times this week) and helped keep him company. Clay, Laura, and CJ will all meet back up in Idaho on Christmas Eve and spend a week or so with the family. I'm sure CJ and all of his cousins will have a blast over the holiday, and it will be nice to get back home after being away for over a year.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

With our 75 degree weather days in November, Clay was a little worried that he would have to wait until our visit to Idaho to experience snow. To all of our surprise, Clay didn't need to wait after all, last week....snow came to Enid! (just after a 75 degree day too...weird). Not just a trickel either...we got about 12 inches! Clay was excited beyond words. (PS..no we did NOT get a dog...it's the neighbors!!)

Clay was especially excited to get CJ outside and experience the snow. After an hour or so of dressing CJ, he was finally ready to meet the storm. (Laura demanded that he wear at least 20 layers! Just kidding.) But, after all that work, we stepped outside and CJ started screaming. It was still snowing and blowing - right in his face and well... let's just say, he wasn't too happy. So, the first outing was a short outing. But, we ventured out for outing number 2 the next day when the sun was shining but there was still plenty of snow on the ground. CJ was much happier!
It was so nice to have a couple of days as a family where we were snowed in and all we could do was play, play, play. Clay even got a couple of days off (now that doesn't happen very often!)

Enid's Annual Christmas Holiday Kickoff

It was the first time that we had ever seen a fireworks spectacular on the day after Thanksgiving, but then again it was our first 'day after thanksgiving' in Enid, Oklahoma. It was Enid's annual Lighting up the Plains. Like many other towns it was the event where all of the downtown businesses turn on all of their Christmas lights and the town gathers for a peek. But Enid tops off their festivity with an awesome fireworks show right in the middle of town. There were some pretty good fireworks that we had never seen before. In all honesty, the downtown Christmas lights weren't all that good, but the fireworks show made the trip more than worth it.

Turkey and Taters and Yams, Oh My!

This Thanksgiving the ClayWardCrew headed to the other side of Oklahoma to the cousins, Matt, Stacy, and Quinton, in Tulsa. It was a lot of fun seeing them again, especially since it had been three or four years since we last saw them. The food was the typical thanksgiving day grub.....awesome. However, the cleanup was a little bit more difficult than in previous years, thanks to fireman CJ, who was constantly either trying to hose down the house with the water spigut(I think that's a word) or turning the water off all together.
The next morning (commonly referred to as Black Friday) Stacy motivated Laura to head out of the house at 4:30am for the annual 'Running Of The Holiday Shoppers'. No good deal was left untouched as Stacy, Laura, and everybody else in Tulsa (except for Matt, Clay, CJ and Quinton) went to meet the Christmas sales with open arms.

Halloween Happenings

A couple of weeks ago, we decided to do a test run on the POOH costume. CJ hated it! He screamed the whole time it was on and kept trying to rip off the hat. Oh boy… When Halloween finally arrived, we were all a little nervous about how the whole costume thing was going to go over….but to everyone’s surprise and enjoyment, CJ gave Winnie a second chance! He loved it!

When it came time to take it off for baths, he didn’t want it to come off. What a difference…whew. CJ had a great time trick-or-treating with his buddies, Ty, the spider and Zach, superman. We went to Clay’s squadron building and then just to a few select houses on our street. It was sooo cold that Mom was ready to go in before CJ. CJ was so fascinated with the candy he would have gone to every door if we would let him. We brought CJ inside where it was warm and he had fun greeting all the visitors at the door and passing out candy. He was soo funny, after the kids chose their treat, CJ always had to dip his hands in the candy and choose one for himself too!

Hey Good Lookin', Whatcha Got Cookin?

Well here are our first snapshots of the little guy/girl. From the Doctors initial report everything looks good so far. He estimated Laura as being about 14 weeks along and pretty much dashed Clay and CJ's hopes of twins (they're coping the best they can).

I'm A BIGger KID NOW!!

About two weeks ago CJ made the switch from the crib to the bed. We were wanting to free up the crib for 'baby #2', and do it early enough that it wouldn't be a big shock for CJ. We were thinking that it may take some time for him to transition to the Big Boy Bed, but we were pleasently surprised. Right from day one he has loved it. We were also thinking that CJ's new ability to get out of bed on his own would present a problem with him 'staying' in bed when he goes down. We also lucked out on that one. He occasionally comes out after we put him down in order to inform us that he wants to "Rock" a little more in the rocking chair, but for the most part he stays in bed for the duration.

Bath-Time Buddies

Click on an image to make it bigger!

Last night CJ had lots of fun with his two buddies from across the street...Zach and Ty. They were hammin it up pretty good in the tub; water, bubbles, all that stuff.
The picture tell the stories better than I can.

Fall Festival

Thursday was Fall Festival on Base. It was a lot of fun with different booths that were set up, free food, K9 security forces dog demonstrations, and play areas for the kids. CJ really liked the blowup cages, so much that when it was time to get out, dad had to go in after him and fish/herd him out (Dad was hoping for an excuse to go in there!).

The Oklahoma City Memorial

Clay had the day off on Monday for Columbus Day, so the claywardcrew decided to take a trip to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. It was quite a humbling experience going to that place and remembering what happened there in 1995. Next to the memorial was a museum that takes you step by step through the events before, during, and after the bombing. It makes you grateful for the things that you have and makes you realize how precious life is; as well as how quickly your lives can change.

Just outside the museum is a chalkboard sidewalk where kids can draw and write their feelings about the memorial.

In Case We Forgot to Tell You

We Found out a few weeks ago that the Ward Family Trio is going to become a Quartet in or around the month of April. A you can see Laura is very excited about it(she's hoping for Twins!!!....isn't She? Clay's hope, Laura's headache! CJ's dream-come-true!).

Swingin' CJ

So here's what happened.
One day while Laura was in the kitchen, she noticed that CJ was exceptionally quiet, which is usually an omen that something is about to be, or has just been broken. So at the speed of concerned motherhood Laura ran back to CJ's room and found the little guy in his old infant swing, happy and swingin' and not quite fittin' in the seat. The swing was all set up when the Neals borrowed it for baby Brek, and I guess CJ wanted to take a spin in it for 'old times sake'.

Babies & Lego's

Last week Derek and Ali Neal were gracious enough to let CJ practice being a big brother with Brek, seeings how he's going to be a big brother in about six months. From all reports CJ did really well with Brek. Before he held Brek he was a little standoff'ish about mommy holding another baby. But once CJ was able to hold one for himself, all was good, and every time he saw Brek after that he wanted to hold/hug him.
Later that weekend CJ and mommy built their own real live robot that was programmed to hold perfectly still and then fall to pieces on command (CJ's command..MR. DESTRUCTOO.

Dollar Ride

This week Clay had his first flight in the Mighty T-1! It was a lot of fun to fly, and definitely a lot of work. It make you appretiate the need to have more than just one person in the plane in order to get it off of the ground. Clay was pretty wiped out after the flight, and after a 12 hour day anyways he just wanted to crash; however, the next day was another flight and another 12 hour day. It makes you appreciate the weekends just that much more!

Bubble Bath

CJ had his first experience with bubble bath this week, and he loved it....once he got used to it! He was a little confused at first when he couldn't see the water, but once he got some hand's-on experience he was 'good to go'.

Fun at the Fair

This weekend the fair came to Enid! So we came to the fair. It was your typical county fair with lots of animals, FFA, crafts, etc... We went with our neighbors, the Kilgore's, who also have two little boys. They had lots of fun chasing animals, riding tractors, and even digging for potatoes. In the corner of the expo center there were little pens of chickens, pigs, and a little sand box with buried potatoes in it. Next to each pen was a little display that showed different food products which come from those animals/taters and an explaination on how they become food. It was lots of fun for CJ and his friends. They also had a little petting 'ZOO' for little kids that was full of ducks, geese, and rabbits (a zoo because when the kids got in there they [the kids] went nuts).
The boys had fun playing on the tractors and fire truck and were making dilligent efforts to get the tractor started.

A Dozen Yellow Roses

The "Real" BIG Wheels

Grandpa took us all in a ride in the bailer! Yipee. Hold on tight, it's a bumpy ride.
Grandma gave CJ a ride on the lawn mover...CJ kept calling it a tractor... close enough right?






CJ's love of the trip, was the four-wheelers. Every time he saw them he would point and say "ride,ride,ride" and run over to them and start climbing on. He would be content if we were riding through the fields all day long. There was never enough "ride". So, when Kathy, Laura's sister, visited Dietrich while CJ and Laura were there, she also got snagged to take some kids on a ride. Laura, Kathy, and Joslyn (Clay's oldest sister) all went for a long ride on the four wheeler with all the kids. We got splattered in mud, almost ran over by a bunch of cows, push started a four wheeler, and whew.. we made it back safely.. What an ADVENTURE!

Old Ward Farm

The Power Family, neighbors and friends of the Ward's, were nice enough to let us come over and meet their baby cows...or to be correct, calves (as Laura was corrected.) Laura just loves the feeling of those calves sucking on her fingers and having them all slimed up..(actually, I really do..it's a really neat feeling!) CJ tried for a second to feed the calves their bottle and hand them their food, but he mainly liked to play in their buckets of water and "Moo" at them. It was quite funny.



Along with the cows, CJ got intoduced to the horses. We have been working on all the animal sounds with him, so it was really fun to let CJ see them up close and have him recognize the animal and say their sound.


And of course, Nia, the dog. CJ loves Nia. That poor dog took a lot of abuse by the end of the week. CJ would wrestle her, pull her hair, step on her tail, poke her eyes, you name it...he did it. And she still loves him - what a champ.

COUSINS GALORE!!

After a week, it was time to take another airplane ride and head to Idaho. CJ enjoyed the short flight by looking out the window, climbing over the seats, eating airplane treats, and waving "bye-bye" to everyone as they deboarded.


From left to right, Rhein, Kastin, Laura, CJ, Maydin, and Kelly. All the cousins had a great time playing together. They all especially liked ring-around-the-rosy on the trampoline.


Left to right, CJ, Maydin, and Rhein. (in the back is Nia, the dog.) In the short week that we were in Dietrich, CJ learned all essential the tricks. He learned how to Throw rocks into the ditch, wrestle with the dog, eat Schwann's thin mints, and spit. Oh boy....