Christmas around our world

After Abigail saw that the tree was decorated and lit she decided we were ready to start with the festivities.

Samuel sat at the table thumping his fork and knife on the plate, thereby notifying us of his readiness to eat.

Abigail enjoyed the presents and wrappings alike.

Some present wrappers get a little too tape-happy so Abigail nominated her Papa to assist on more than a few occasions.

Samuel postulates as to what the big box contains.

Good guess. Samuel bussied himself for the rest of the day by plowing the driveway.

These winter months...

are hard for out of work garden gnomes of all ages.

Rewind

Rewind to a mid October.

Cottage.

Samuel pictured here sporting a ten-gallon stocking cap.

Abigail kicks back with Papa.

Bike ride

We stopped for a snack on the bike trail. Abigail gave one-thumb-up to the pretzels.

Abigail advances

Abigail quickly mastered 2-D navigation, and now feels ready to add a third dimension.

Log Blog

Samuel and Sarah built this log cabin using logs harvested from a stand of pine behind our neighbors house.

A conversation.

It is a funny thing to have children at different ages. Age difference becomes specifically obvious in the realm of speech development. Samuel is now a three year old with a conversation level vocabulary. He can answer questions appropriately, and interact with you through discourse. We have become used to this level of interaction with our offspring.
See the thing is that the modus operendi of sweet little Abigail is mostly dahdahdahdahs, mamamamamas, and hoooohhs(with slobber).



So I sat down with her the other day:



ME: So...how is all this going here? Do you like it?

ABI: Dadadadadamamamama.

ME: Yeah, that's cool.

ABI: (non-verbal and trying to eat a dolls head)

ME: Good talk Sweety.

This week in pictures.

In our neighborhood you have to have a bit of an edgy look.

Hey!! Hay.

I have heard that the fluttering of a butterfly's wings can effect climate change on the other side of the planet.

Samuel goes to camp

This past week Samuel went on his first camping trip.

Sand Lakes Quiet Area was the destination.

Several discoveries were made throughout the trip. Some by Samuel (the wilderness isn't plumbed with flush toilets, and it's encouraged by my dad to go pee in the woods), and some by myself (pyromania is linked to the Y chromosome, as is whacking things with sticks and throwing rocks into perfectly still lakes).

Good bye 2, bring it on 3!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMUEL!!!!!!!!!!!!

We celebrated Samuel's 3rd trip around the sun with a bulldozer cake this month. Thank you to Samuel's mom and his Aunt Liz for the cake. It looked and tasted great. No less than nine Tibetan sherpas were required to carry in all the frosting for the cake.

This birthday ushered in a new phase of present opening. For the first time in his short life Samuel has more interest in the thing wrapped than in the wrapping paper.

Those in attendance were Ohma, Aunt Hannah, Aunt Liz, Grandma and Grandpa, and Nana, and Papa .

Samuel, Abigail, Sarah, and I capped off the day with some pizza and The Little Mermaid.

Hmm...

....ahh yes here is the page I was looking for.

It seems to me that if I could just pull myself up onto my hind legs like these well dressed gentlemen I could cover so much more ground.


Yeah..I've just..eh..eh..about..ehhh.. oh nevermind. Anyone know a good rickshaw puller?

Smile

So glad to see you all.

Celebrating the achievements of life.

Can we all give Samuel a big high 5 for keeping em' high and dry!

Got Milk???

Curls by genetics,

Mustache by milk.

GGRRRAAAAAHHLLLGGG!!!!

Was that scary?

I have been trying to develop a rougher, tougher persona.

If it looks like a duck...

Samuel sets off in search of the answer to the question that has been vexing him for several moments now.

Does a duck have teeth?

A hot dog at the ballgame beats roast beef at the Ritz.

Monday Grandpa Wagner took the family to the ballpark.
Hot dogs, popcorn and fellowship were shared by all.
Samuel and cousin Peyton enjoyed the rides more than the game,
but that should change when Samuel develops his curve ball and can locate his change-up!
Tigers lost 2-7.

Fishing at Grandma and Grandpa's

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.

~Henry David Thoreau

The Cottage

Our weekend at the cottage.

Samuel doing some birding.

There are wild raspberries right across the road from the cottage. They seem to have more flavor than garden grown berries. This explains why Samuel had a ring of red around his lips and we ended up with about half the berries we picked.
The turtle trap. Samuel, my dad, and I built this gizmo a couple weeks ago and it has proven to be irresistible to the shelled beasts. We caught 7 turtles over its first weekend of use and another 5 this past weekend.
Samuel snacking on a boat ride. (Not pictured here is the Mason County Sheriff who kindly persuaded us to put a life jacket on Samuel.)

We built and hung a tree swing. It doesn't take too long sitting in a swing to come to the realization that it is a cottage essential.

A more aesthetic view of the swing.

A more aesthetic view of the family.

Sunday best

Making dots look good!

Phone call

Abigail orders a pizza

"...no, I'm serious. The coupon says 'free 2 liter of pop with medium pizza'...All I want to know is can I get breastmilk instead??......"

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving” Albert Einstein

Samuel masters the bike.

Click here to see video of the 2029 TDF champ.

...

5 month statistics

Abigail had her appointment with the doctor yesterday. She received her second round of shots. Here are the numbers.

Wt: 15#0oz.

Ht: 25 1/4"

65th percentile for weight

75th percentile for height

The data seem to be telling us that Abigail will pass Yao Ming in height sometime around her 5th birthday.

Weekend Adventure

With our driver chomping at the bit early Saturday morning we were off to Uncle Nick and Aunt Joy's cottage on the Muskegon River.

Loaded up on java, we were ready to point the motor-coach north.

The weather was beautiful and Great grandma kicked back with Abigail.

Samuel, Sarah, Owen, and Uncle("boppa" to Owen)Nick catching minnows and crayfish in the river.

Huckleberry fin times two.

During lunch Abigail evaluated what was soon to be converted to breastmilk and made available to her.

"Hey, you guys!! I bet we could package some of that milk stuff into a handsome container for casual drinking. These chairs seem to be already outfitted for holding the containers....neat!" Abigail.

If all of these babies ever realize how much they out-number us we could all be in big trouble.

On the way back we stopped by Ohma's house to say hello. Ohma took this opportunity to make a wish on Abigail's head.

A big hug and kiss for Ohma and it was time to hit the trail and head for bed. It was a long day.