Santa came...

We had a quiet family Christmas. Everett was truly in the spirit of (opening) gifts and the magic of St. Nick.

Things I don't want to forget about this Christmas.

Matt was the first one up, with Jack, preparing breakfast and coffee... waiting for Everett and me to wake up.

Everett reciting 'The Night Before Christmas'. "To de top of de porch! To de top of de wall! Now dassaway, dassaway, dassaway all." Which one is Dassaway?

Singing jingle bells over and over and over again.

I'll add more as they come to me.

I've been trying to get out holiday and thank you cards, and it's been excrutiatingly impossible. I have high hopes that this will be the perfect venue to reflect and cross reference events - almost everything that happened this year is in this blog - and maybe produce a card. As for Thank you notes... hold on to your hats, they will trickle in. We're trying for one a day or so. We have a lot to be Thankful for.

more! snow

SOOOOO much snow. It's amazing. Not too cold, but it's hard to walk in.

Everett scaled a snowbank next to a tree and was able to climb onto it's lower branches. He bumped it while climbing, and a huge dusting of snow fell and fell and fell around him. He didn't like it, but it was amazing to watch.

wish lists...

Hello dear gift givers. Everett has a list and well, I thought I'd share it with everyone so that they know what he's into. I totally have mixed feelings about this, but his list is sweet and it doesn't take a lot to make a kid excited about Christmas. And well, if Everett gets a list, Jack gets one too. You'll find them on the side bar.

Do you have a list? Can we see it?
*Also, if you have chosen something on this list and want me to remove it or make a note, I will.

We're pretty excited about Christmas around here. It's hard to get anything done, but we're trying. Today Matt put up some outdoor lights. Yesterday we made a Gingerbread house (a kit) and some gingerbread cookies (not a kit).

Jack has grown and changed so much. He's still concerned, and cries if he's had to much to nurse...:( but the other day he just started kicking and smiling and cooing and gooing. When he smiles it is just so genuine and direct. I forgot how completely absorbed I become by my baby's smiles. Here he is at 7.5 weeks.

Wintertime.

In this picture, Jack is 6 weeks old. We go on forest walks altogether. We went down a different path and found this shelter. We collected spruce cones and alder cones.

We've been making lots of snow people in the front yard. These two are Fiona and Molly.