Christmas Pictures

We're up to at least 12 games of Settlers of Cataan so far... the boys like to play with the extra pieces.

Peter's advent calendar of stickers.

Patrick had at least as much fun with the paper as with the presents.

Mat had to tap all of his engineering skills AND his superpowers to figure out how to put the toys together!

Handsome Christmas Boys

Little Drummer Boy

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Notice the one poor branch holding up 7 ornaments...

Zoolights

Emily and I took the boys to the zoo for the holiday lights, including a
ride on the carousel.

Getting Ready for Christmas

Cutting the Christmas Tree

Peter and Sam splashing in the mud.

Patrick wanted to play in the mud too, but his balance isn't so good yet. He didn't have quite as much fun.

Girls' Night Out - Leavenworth, WA

The Farmer's Wife

The farmer and his wife were chasing the gingerbread man... She was trying to cut off his tail with a butcher knife. That big round thing on her head is a hat. We had lots of fun making cookies this afternoon - and eating them too!

The newest member of the family

This is at about 10 weeks, which means he's about the size of a kidney bean. We could actually see the heart beating and the arm and leg buds moving around.

Edisto Beach, SC

Sunset from the kayak. The porpoises were out fishing all around us.

Peter's big catch. "The pole was bending a whole bunch!" Open the picture to check out his facial expression.

We had to keep a close eye on Patrick, since he would take off at top speed with his crab crawl, straight into the water.

Bounty of the Sea! We took Peter along shrimping (in the middle of the night), and I'm not sure if he more enjoyed catching them or eating them!

Patrick gets his first taste of fresh fish, and he ate the whole thing!

Digging in the Garden

The boys certainly had fun building roads and bridges in the garden today!  Civil Engineers at work!

Patrick's Birthday Cake

Beater-Lickin' Good

I finally got around to making a birthday cake for Patrick, and the boys greatly enjoyed licking the icing, although Peter was a little disappointed that he had to share a beater with his brother! Can you say blue drool? Maybe we'll actually eat the cake tomorrow.

Birthday Boy!

We had a few moments of sunshine today, so we enjoyed it by playing in the leaves. Patrick took a couple of steps voluntarily, so it won't be long now before he's just motoring around wherever he wants to go.

Pumpkin Patch

We made a trip down to Schilter's Farm to pet the baby animals, ride the tractor, and play in the pumpkin patch. It's becoming a family tradition!

This little calf was only a month old, and thought my hair tasted pretty good!