The Holiday Post

I think I had to do one large post last year too... at this time of year, things just get away from me. Between putting up the Christmas lights, tree, decorations, etc and the myriad of social engagments its a tough gig being a mom during the holidays -- I know many of you will agree. Now, if I could just keep everyone out of the Christmas tree! Especially the cat...

I will try to make this post as succinct as possible and bring you up to date.

The weather here has vascilated between 20 degrees and 75 degrees almost weekly. We take heavy coats and light jackets to school every day just in case.

Because it has been so cold outside, we've been trying to find fun things to do inside. Magic especially liked the showing of Wrath of Khan on a sheet/projector in the living room. He has a definite fondness for Spock...

To help save Mr. Spock, Eric and Daddy made Magic his own scratching post.
Sophia has really been growing! Not just in size, but in ability. She can do things now that Dan couldn't do until a year old. I think she is trying to keep up! She loves the kitchen...

And she has been holding her own lately when Daniel tries to take over her toys, the book she is reading, or anything else that happens to be in her hands. She squawks at him loudly and points her little index finger at him in a menacing fashion. She's learning.

But, they can play together nicely as well.

Here is Eric trying to teach Sophia how to walk the same way Mark taught Eric. He got down on his hands and knees and crawled around next to Fi as she held on for balance.

She even helps fold the laundry

Here is Woob looking unbelievably like the teenager he will soon be

We were lucky enough to have Grammy and Grumpy for Thanksgiving this year. Uncle Ken and his friend Christian came to share the holiday as well. Because it was Christian's first Thanksgiving, the kids were kind enough to share everything with him... sweet potatoes, holiday lights and strep throat (sorry Christian and Uncle Ken).

Sophia helped herself at her very first Thanksgiving.
This is her "What? Like you never ate with your hands before Uncle Ken" look:
Grammy got to experience the joy of following a rapidly moving Fi around the house as she attempts to put all foreign objects in her mouth. It was nice to have some backup for this duty for a little while :-)


Little Bear appears to have worn Grumpy out...

Daniel has had a very busy social schedule that has required the whole family to come along. He has had birthday party after birthday party. This one at the bounce house place was a lot of fun. Mark and I even got to play. I really needed that after a LONG semester of teaching a lot of classes!

Here Dan is obviously an old pro at this cake thing and wants to hurry the process along...

The kids also had their holiday party at school. Dan wore his suspenders and many of the children came up to him and said he looked like "Grumpy." Grumpy is a superstar at the daycare.
Dan sang and Sophia waved at him while he stood on the makeshift stage. Then Santa Claus came for a visit. This is the first year Dan would approach the jolly old elf.
Sophia's reaction was not as accepting.
However, she just looked so darn cute!

Finally, Little Bear was supposed to be an angel in the Nativity play at church. We did get him into his costume for approximately 20 minutes, but then I realized that asking a three-year old to do this is a little much. I didn't want him to get the reputation as the "fallen angel" so we packed it in before the play started. Next year he'll be old enough I'm sure.

So, we went to the children's museum instead, where Daddy got to pass on his love of cars to yet another child.

I finally was able to find a great spot for the awesome stained glass piece that Aunt Lynne gave us at Fi's baptism. It catches the light just right in the morning sunshine.

Dan has been able to spell his name (and many other words) for a long time now, but he is just beginning to learn how to write his letters. We're working on it.

I took the boys to go see the newest kids flick at the movies. It did have a catchy theme song which Daniel really seems to enjoy. This clip reminds me of one Emilie Gramly and her "pretty camera" dance...


Here is Sophia standing all by herself for the first time!


And finally, with the economy in the tanker, we have been trying to find ways to have fun around the house -- we are desperate!

We hope you all are having a very Merry Christmas and a very relaxed holiday season.

The Heffalump and Lion

I will let the pictures speak for themselves...

Preparing for Halloween

We love this time of year. The leaves are changing color. The weather is not sweltering humidity and we can leave the windows open. The footie pajamas come out. And we all eagerly anticipate Halloween.

This year Daniel helped me carve our pumpkin. He was very precise about where the eyebrows should be.

And, this year, we have the black cat to add to our Halloween decorations!

We went to a Halloween party today and Soph got to try out her costume.

Here are Sophia and Uncle Fred growling at each other. I think Fred was scared :-)

Sohpia has been practicing feeding herself. Here is her rice pudding face.

Eric and Dan had a good time this weekend at the Children's Museum.

Eric drove the ambulance.

They really enjoyed this new addition to the museum -- the mechanic shop. In fact, there were a number of boys (the girls were conspicuously absent) crawling ALL OVER that car. Even on top of it to get a better angle to work on the engines, windows, tires you name it. It looked like it was a lot of fun, but I did have to sit on the sideline with the dads and take pictures, so I couldn't join in.

Uncle Fred and his lovely wife Diane gave the kids inflatable furniture (thanks Alyssa for the donation!) It has become an instant hit in our house. Here are Sophia and Daniel enjoying their inflatable chair while reading a nighttime book (one of the finer Clifford classics).

Then, as often happens when two siblings attempt to share a book, a chair, anything, one of them looks at the other the "wrong way." (as Ken can attest)

And then it is on like Donkey Kong...

And, we leave you with this happy sound...

This one is for the grandparents...

I don't really have enough pics to post an entire blog entry here, but I thought you would want to see one of your grandchildren with enough hair before the age of 1 to actually wear a bow! No scotch tape! No magic tricks!

She is definitely the hit of the daycare with these bows. All the teachers crowd around her on the playground when we drop DanMan off. Soph is also eating ALL kinds of food now (burgers, cheerios, bananas, pancakes). It's hard to imagine she can chow down all that food with two little teeth, but man she packs it in!

This kids laugh hysterically when Magic (a/k/a our cat who thinks he is a dog) tries to eat our dinners. Argh.

Here is Fi wearing the hat that Aunt Lynne made her. It's actually quite jaunty... like a beret!

and of course, not to be outdone, Daniel wanted me to include this picture of him:

That Old Black Magic

Our family grew by one member last weekend. Last Saturday we adopted Magic from the Richmond SPCA. The SPCA is a great place to take a free field trip. Dan loves to get in the car and drive over there to see the cats and dogs, but we hadn't really looked seriously at adopting one. However, we both agreed it was time for Dan to have a pet so that he can learn what "gentle" means. His little sister has not been able to teach him this unfortunately.

As soon as they brought Magic into the room for us to look at we knew he was the one. I am NOT a cat person. However, Dan, Sophia and I have come to the conclusion that Magic is the bomb-diggity. He is gentle, brave, quick, and funny! He also lets Sophia swat at him and Daniel be loud and doesn't even bat an eye. We really lucked out.

And as you can tell, Mark thinks Magic is okay too...

Here is Magic surveying playtime. It is good.

Sophia has been moving all around the house. She has been low crawling everywhere. If you leave her for one moment she is across the house! At least she is keeping the floors polished!

This week she even crawled... to reach Magic.

And there has been lots of standing and pulling up as well.