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.