Happy Birthday 2 Year Old!

Well, he is 2 today.  I almost never get a picture of one of the kids posted on the actual day of their birth, but here it is today.  We aren't having a celebration for him until Friday, but I enjoyed paying extra attention to him and considering how much he's grown all day today.  He's had an genuine obsession with puzzles for several weeks now.  The kids are wondering how soon this will pass....  He has a collection of large floor puzzles that he loves to have out and be working on almost all of the time.  Mostly, he can't do them himself.  That's where the kids come in.  He's sort of constantly asking one of them to do a "puzz-le?"  with him.  If he has tears, it's usually over puzzles or food.  SO...today, on his birthday, he magically found that he was able to piece together an animal puzzle that has stiff wooden pieces, all by himself.  ("It's about time!" I think the children are saying to themselves).  He spent almost the whole day sitting quietly working on that puzzle.  What a sweet day it was, watching him doing that.  It just never gets old seeing your kids hit milestones and do things for the first time.  And how nice it was, that he figured out his capability on the 2nd anniversary of his birth!

And by the way, the baby laughed for the first time today too!  I didn't see it coming.  I hadn't thought about it and suddenly she just laughed a big laugh from her belly as I was playing with her!  Such a thrill!

Christmas Eve

 My midwife brought Bronwyn this First Christmas sleeper. 

 Frozen pizza for dinner!

 Samuel took some of his own money and ordered a subscription to a fishing magazine.  He'd been counting down the days until it's potential arrival.  He'd been checking the mail himself for about two weeks.  His first issue came on Christmas Eve.  Perfect timing.

 The children are watching Fantastic Mr. Fox.

 The reading of the Christmas Story from Luke.  Elijah loves to look at the nativity set.

 Christmas pajamas!

 I had fun working on the challenge of getting the girls matching nightgowns with matching pajamas for their dolls on Ebay.  It was tricky, but it worked out.

 Happy Christmas Eve, 2012.

 Bronwyn will get to join the fun next year. 

 After the kids were in bed, Mr. and Mrs. Claus enjoyed themselves some adult drinks.  I had some milk punch from the freezer with nutmeg on top.

 Joy to the World!  We lit all of the candles and everything was so cozy.

All is ready!  Off to bed.

Video of Bronwyn at 3 Months

Decorating The Tree

I'm finally going to try to dive into some holiday photographs.  Here's just a few of decorating the tree this year.  There must be a food picture, so here it is. 

I made ornaments for the kids this year out of scrabble pieces that I got off of Ebay. 

A favorite Christmas ball from Grammie.

We didn't cut down our tree ourselves this year, so it was a little smaller.  I always love the pine smell in the house though and it was beautiful.

:)  Our new addition.

I'll be back with some more photos soon...

This and That

She's neither bald nor blonde, as this picture makes her look.  :)

Elijah:"yijah.  yijah."     Me:"Yes, I'll take your picture too."

I spy...

...a little boy hiding!

Peek-

a-boo!

You might be noticing a pattern here.  Someone has learned how to "hide."

Little Miss Ingenuity took it upon herself to cut a picture of a crown out of her preschool workbook and glue it onto the baby's head.  Luckily this is the old baby that was replaced with a new one at Christmas.

Learning to read!  The first picture above is of a certificate that she got for reading her first words!  The bottom one is a worksheet she did for phonics.  Could someone look more pleased about reading?

New dolls from Grandma Betty.  (Yes, Millie slept in those braids for a few days.  One day I'll look back and see that I let her do that and say, "What was I thinking?")

It's not Valentine's Day yet?  Bronwyn got confused.

While we were waiting to leave to go sledding with friends on New Year's Eve, Will rocked The Sweetheart to sleep.

Can you have too many pictures of a sleeping baby?  OK.  Maybe you can.

Here's where she does most of her snoozing.

And yes, she's sucking her thumb these days, just like most all of my kids have done.

I just love this purple outfit.

Enjoying a school holiday, the kids did some dressing up the week of New Year's.

If you know the Toy Story movies, Millie is very Jessie-like to me in this picture.

Best flying goggles and hat, ever.  Thanks Mom.

Warrior-at-heart is my Benny.  He got that plastic knife in his stocking for Christmas.

Cecily tries, but doesn't make a very scary "Shee-tah."  (Cheetah)

A Moment In Time

While I was sitting in my chair in the living room, this is what was going on:  Cecily is coloring a preschool workbook page that she has already cut and pasted.

 Amelia is working away at cutting out her Little House on the Prairie paper dolls that she got for Christmas.

 Sweet Bronwyn in my arms.

Little buddy having a picnic by himself.