Our Whirlwind Adventure in western WA

Our trip to Washington for Christmas was very quick but quite enjoyable. My pictures of people opening gifts never turn out so I'm posting pictures of memorable events instead. This picture of Luke is significant because Dad made many wonderful gifts this year, including bats turned from a fallen Maple tree in the neighbor's yard. Dad's year started off kinda rough and he battled some significant health problems. If you told me in May he would be turning bats in November, I don't think I would have believed it. We are proud of you, Papa! Thank you for making such thoughtful and creative gifts.

Grammie was able to get out and spend Christmas day with us.

Auntie Heather introduced Eli to the joy of texting. Then she couldn't get the phone back. How funny is that?

Our friends drove out to see us and we met at McDonald's. Jack and Luke greeted one another with noogies. Just like old times. Oh, how we miss our western WA playmates.

Our semi-annual attempt at a 'cousins' picture. We tried, Grandma. At least no one is crying. Everyone is getting so tall. How did that happen?

It was very surreal visiting a place we once lived. Every time we got in the car to go somewhere it seemed like we should just keep driving back to our old neighborhood. Andy kept asking about the yellow house. We deliberately chose not to visit our former stomping grounds. Too sad and too confusing for the boys. We did go into Seattle for one afternoon because Luke often comments that he misses the space needle. We went to the Children's Museum and rode the monorail to Westlake center. It was great fun spending the day with the cousins.

Waitin' on Christmas

Someone in Andy's life takes a lot of pictures. I'm so thankful. She captures a lot of great moments in the life of this little fella. It also gives me a little hint about what went down at preschool that day. They made these clever toy soldier masks last week.

Andy loves decorating the tree. He has a bit of a candy cane fettish, too.

What a cutie!

He is so eager for Christmas and has a lousy concept of time. We are trying the Advent calendar thing but I can tell he doesn't understand that it is a countdown to the big day. All of these fun activities at school makes the wait even longer, I'm sure.
Funny how when you are a kid it seems like Christmas is never going to get here but when you are a mama it seems to sneak right up on 'ya.

The Little Mister: day 365

Baybuh Cuckoo, as he is affectionately called by his brothers (and I'm sorry to tell you also by his parents), turned the big ONE. It was just another day as far as he was concerned. It is absolutely freezing here right now, but we braved the big chill and went to a local indoor play place for the 5 and under crowd. Andy had a blast but Eli wilted rather quickly. He enjoyed this car carrier for all of 5 seconds before he decided he was tired. He tried repeatedly to lie down on the floor and take a nap. So Andy and I enjoyed some Chik-fil-a for lunch and Eli slept away the afternoon.

Once Steve and Luke came home, the brothers were beside themselves with excitement. I don't think the video footage from this little shindig will ever see the light of day. Steve and I spent a ridiculous amount of time telling the boys to back off and let Eli open his own presents. Andy ended up in tears because he couldn't open anything. Eli had zero interest in his gifts and shoved them aside rather quickly. He did pause for a minute to chew on his new car.

Nothing says happy birthday like your brothers making you cry. They commandeered his new tool set and proceeded to poke, prod and irritate the little guy. Oh, the joys of being the caboose. Not at all interested in his red velvet mini cupcake. That's okay, your parents find them quite tasty. Your brothers swiped your toys, we'll take care of the cupcakes. Happy birthday, sweet fella! We are so grateful for you.