My Second Christmas- Part 2

Oma and Grandpa came to visit!

We went to a local wildlife park and saw lots of animals including bison, moose, bears, elk, and even a skunk!
I'm really getting the hang of this gift-opening thing!

I even helped Oma with her gifts!

My Second Christmas, Part 1

This is the first installment of Christmas pictures. I had a lot of fun this year. I liked helping everyone open their gifts, and loved all of the goodies! I have an incredible reach when it comes to getting food off the trays on the table!

Wesley and Aaron came all the way from Mississippi to celebrate with us! I played with farm animals with Aaron...
...and made beautiful music with Wesley.
I got a new scooter from Santa. Elsa and I rode our scooters around Grandma's kitchen while wearing our fancy hats.

We also had a birthday party for Elsa. She got a new kitchen! We created delicious meals...

...while Daddy and Uncle Joe created masterpieces using her new playdough set. Those silly dads were pretty serious about their work!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

I helped Mom and Dad decorate a gingerbread tree today. I really liked the frosting... and the cookies... and the little candies that go on top.

I ate a bit of frosting (see my mouth if you click on this picture), but I shared, too!
After we were done, we thought we won the prize for most obnoxious frosting decorations!

Snow Days

We have snow! This afternoon we measured 7 1/2 inches in our yard. Since then we've shoveled the driveway twice and it's still snowing!
So what else is there to do except go snowshoeing and sledding?! Mom also went X-C skiing on the trails by our house. We are glad to have so many trails in our neighborhood to explore during this unusual weather.

These are my happy faces. I really was having a good time.

Winter Fun

Tonight Daddy grilled fish in the snow!
Then Santa arrived on a firetruck right outside our house!

After an evening like that, what's a boy to do except kick up his feet and relax?!

Well, it's official. At 15 months old and 30.25 inches tall, I am half of Mommy's height. It won't be long before I'm carrying her around!

All bundled up for zoolights. Will someone tell Mommy that I can't move my arms?

So Many Toys and Books. So Little Time.

Busy Thanksgiving

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving like I did! Turns out, I'm a big fan of Thanksgiving dinner (just like my dad). In addition to our big meal, I was pretty busy!

Great Grandpa and I traded places. I used his cane and he wore my fireman's hat.

Grandma gave me my first haircut. We don't have an "after" picture, but let me tell you--I look great!

I read to Grandma.

After all this excitement, who can blame a kid for sleeping at the table?!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Daddy's home! We have that and so many other things to be thankful for.

Dancing

Another video for Daddy. This time I'm dancing. Mommy is sorry that she couldn't figure out how to turn the video right side up. But it's pretty good if you watch it with your head tilted to the left. Mommy will be offering free physical therapy to anyone who gets a kink in their neck from repeated viewings.

Peek-A-Boo

Mom took this video for Daddy, but it's too big to attach to an email. So now everyone can experience a game of peek-a-boo at our house. We had already been playing for about 10 minutes, so I was tiring out. You should have seen me run at the beginning!

Daddy's Trip

Daddy's been cruising around the Orient. Even though he misses Mommy and I a lot, he's still having a great time. Here he is at the Zakimi ruins on Okinawa. Its a good thing there is no Sergeant Major around to yell at Daddy for having his hands in his pocket. Mommy thinks that Daddy looks kinda studly in this picture.

After the ruins, Daddy, Jaime, Chris & Curt ate sushi with Yoshihachi. Konichiwa!

On their day off, Daddy, Curt & Jason took a trip to the world's largest aquarium. Here they are posing with the famous shi-shi dogs. Who let the dogs out?

I miss Daddy. So tonight I pulled out all of his shoes and put them on.

I helped Mom with the weeding. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you'll see that I liked eating dirt. Mom cleaned me up, but after the third time, she thought maybe keeping some dirt in my mouth might deter me from eating more. Not so! It didn't stop me! She was very strict about me not eating worms, though, and said they can only be eaten if they're fried.

I had lots of fun with Oma this weekend!

Daddy and Grandpa built shelves in our garage this weekend. Daddy declared it a hard-hat area!

I am a big helper!
After a long day's work, we were finished!

Then it was time to play!

We also visited Mommy at work. She took me to see the swans.

Fun at the Children's Museum

I'm in constant motion, so it's pretty hard to get a picture of me that's not blurry these days. My favorite activity at the children's museum was "driving" the produce delivery truck, but I wouldn't sit still enough for Mom to capture it on film. Here are a few pictures I would sit still for, though. (Sort of.)

Trick-or-Treat

Waiting to go outside.

Mmmmm.... There's good stuff in here!

Maybe I can eat it without hands!

I actually did my trick-or-treating at Daddy's work the other night. What I liked best was running after the other kids, which is okay because my parents won't let me eat the candy anyway. Last night I dressed up and helped Mom and Dad hand out candy and Teddy Grahams (which actually got a groan from a picky pirate). Halloween is fun! Now, if I could only get the wrapper off of the lollipop...

Haunted

We caught a ghost on film! Tune in tomorrow for more!

Cousins

I spent the weekend with cousins. Aren't we cute?! If you look carefully at the pictures on the shelf behind us, you'll see one on the right that is the same crew last December. Look at how much we've grown!

I helped Allyson gather shells on Grandma and Grandpa's beach.

Look Mom, one hand! (And no feet! Thanks for the push, Grandpa!)

There's no significance for this picture except that Mom thinks I am so darn cute!