allow me to introduce you to our little baby menace:
he's crawling up stairs, eating paper (bytheway, anna, if you're missing a few puzzle pieces from your christmas puzzle, um, i found them...), opening drawers and cupboards, emptying everything, getting in everything, chewing on everything, and pretty much just being the ever-exploratory nearly nine month old baby that he is.
epic sigh.
i keep thinking, "why don't you just play with your toys?" but you and i both know that no babies ever just played with their toys...
remember that time we bought our first house and had our third baby and bryan started a new job all at the same time? well, let's never do that again. like, ever.
other excitements of the year include summer growing out her bangs, afton officially making the switch from bagels and cream cheese every day for lunch to macaroni and cheese every day for lunch, caleb cutting six massive teeth and biting everything he can get his little baby hands on, emily returning to her roots as a kind of bona fide blonde, and bryan continuing to do whatever it is that bryan does and being totally awesome at it.
you've been good to our family, two to the twelve, but it's time to move on. lucky thirteen is waiting for us to show it who's boss.
highlights from this year's family christmas devotional:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dFBVfRnUoE
(ps - caleb slept through devotional and so did not get to share the dramatic reading he had prepared. ah well, i told him to hang on to it for next year.)
merry christmas all!
“He whose birth we commemorate this season is more than the symbol of a holiday. He is the Son of God, the Creator of the earth, the Jehovah of the Old Testament, the fulfillment of the Law of
Moses, the Redeemer of mankind, the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace. 'And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of
all, which we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we
heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father--- That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten
sons and daughters unto God.' (D&C 76:22-24) This is our testimony to all mankind. It is our gift and blessing to the world. He is our joy and our salvation, and we will find Christmas of greater meaning in our own lives as we share these truths with others.”
Feeling the heavy pressure of hitting my quarterly publishing quota on this blog, I conjured up an excuse to visit Hex Mountain via snowshoes on the darkest day of the year. Owen was kind enough to join me.
A view of Lake Cle Elum
At the summit of Hex Mountain
Turns out that shortest day of the year translates to longest night in the tent. After enduring roughly 15 hours of cold, dark togetherness in cramped quarters, we heartily welcomed the dawn and the chance to retrace our steps through the winter wonderland.
earlier this week, the fam ventured east to leavenworth for a snow play day, bavarian christmas cheer, and some bratwursts.
this is what i love about living in the pacific northwest. it might be raining (and how!) where we live in duvall, but drive an hour and a half and you've got yourself a white christmas.
daddy loves to take all his kiddos sledding:
danton looks like he's especially fond of the snow:
it's (likely) the last repetitive date of all (my) time.
also, little big man is eight months old today.
caleb has recently informed me that the cute little baby rompers i've been putting him in are getting his legs all tangled up and seriously cramping his oppa-crawling-style. he'll have no more of it.
sigh.
and so it begins.
first they want to wear pants, and then the next thing you know, it's time to register them for kindergarten.
really, you might be able to save yourself some trouble and just put a chocolate chip cookie on top of an oreo and eat them together, but kids go nuts over the surprise inside (and also because they're as big as your face).
several years ago, bryan and i (with the help of a well-meaning and cute-as-a-button five-year-old girl) noted how summer's favorite baby toys were quote/unquote "trash and junk." three kids and many bins of toys later, trash, junk, and i would add "various home and kitchen gadgets," remain the perennial favorites.
