Blue Bird Gap Farm

When we were kids, we spent many a day at the Bluebird Gap Farm. I remember victoriously climbing a large and intimidating hill there, when I was finally big enough to keep up with the big kids who could master the hill, and of course when I returned as an adult it was just a smallish mound of dirt. Erosion probably played a small part, but mostly it was my young mind and sense of proportion. I also remember once getting bitten (gummed really) by a miniature horse named, fittingly, "Surprise."
My dad loves to take his grandkids there, so during our Christmas visit, he took Josh. Here they are visiting and feeding the animals.

Some Christmas Gifts

Josh's new ski bib and goggles:

Santa baby (rockin his new legwarmers):

Josh in his new Spiderman pajamas and Logan in her "Josh" shirt and Spidey hat:

Josh driving Logan and Sela's new jeep (we have some great pictures of them driving, they had such a great time. I'll have to find others that are in focus to share but will go ahead and post this one too):

The robot family (because of all the red eyes I'm not removing, which perhaps won't be so obvious in a smaller size on the blog):

Freedom

We are all feeling a little freedom today. First, from the stomach bug that has laid us low since Jan 1, circulating through the family. Finally, as of today no one has it. Keep your fingers crossed we do not repeat.
Second, John has finished his work sample for his first semester of student teaching. It is a 50+ page write-up of his student teaching experience, buttressed by another 50-100 pages of appendix of all the material he produced and used during his teaching stint. It is an impressive project, one he worked hard on, and he struggled to complete it. I am proud of him, and I'm sure he is really happy to have it behind him. Of course, he still has to do another one for this semester's student teaching, in addition to his large research project, so it will be a busy spring, but for now he can take a breath and relax.
Third, Lucas is learning how to be mobile and is granting himself some freedom. Observe below, his ability to stand for minutes at a time. He is also learning to crawl.
Well, this post is getting cut short. Lucas has awakened, gotta run.
Will post Christmas pics next, now that the computer is "free" for me to use!

The Differences Between the Sexes

Or between John and Monica, anyway

So, I was so excited for today's kick-off of the election season. Last night, I frantically rummaged through all our various piles of clothing--the Christmas gifts we opened before our trip and left in the living room, our still-unpacked luggage, the dresser, the laundry--to find Lucas's "My Mama's for Obama" shirt for today. This morning, I read the political blogs; this afternoon, I watched the CNN "pre show." When John got home, I mentioned that it was an exciting night and asked who he thought would win.
His answer?
"Kansas."*


*vs. Va. Tech, in Orange Bowl

Merry Christmas!

The first of the Christmas presents

This driving game was the first present Josh opened. He loves it! For a few weeks now he's been asking if he can drive the car when he gets bigger, so we knew he'd love the simulator. Unfortunately, like his love for hitting his golf balls into the water in Golden Tee, his favorite thing to do so far is drive his car into the wall. With a little practice, I should be able to beat his resulting lap time.

Sleep like a baby

Luke has developed a strange habit of sleeping with his face pointing directly down. He puts his little hands on either cheekbone, and puts his face right down on the mattress. Our friend Mandy babysat for us last weekend, and called when he went to sleep to check on this seeming safety issue. But, no matter how much I turn his head, he goes back to this position.

The Polar Express

We rode the "Polar Express" train out of the Mt. Hood Railrood in Hood River, Oregon on Dec. 12. Everyone was served hot chocolate and cookies, as in the book, and we had the added advantage of being seated in the cocoa car, which means we got the leftovers! We traveled out about 45 minutes to the "North Pole" (a depot decorated with lights to look like a little village) while listening to the audio book, then picked up Santa and his elves, who rode back with us to our starting point. The elves dispersed among the train cars to lead carols, as Santa made his way through one by one. It took a long time, especially for us in the second-to-last car, but to Santa's credit he sat at each and every table and spent as much time with each child as it warranted.
Here are two of Santa's elves as we departed:

Josh enjoying his cookie:

A look down the train car at Daddy, Lucas and Josh:

Santa!

Josh asked Santa for a bell (just like in the book), and was ecstatic to receive one. Here he is swinging it around wildly:

We had a really nice time.

It's not easy being Daddy

Christmas tree farm 2007

In the middle of lots of cold, or rainy, or cold and rainy days we were lucky to wake up last Saturday to a beautiful day with clear blue skies. We headed out to our favorite Christmas tree farm (Terry Bradshaw's, though presumably not the Terry Bradshaw you may have heard of) and the hunt was on. We think we found a pretty good tree:

Josh helped Daddy cut it down. Mommy and Lucas provided the useful shadows:


O Tannenbaum:

Who took this picture?

Deck the halls

The first ornament:

Our elf and his decorations:

Six Months

Lucas turned 6 months old on December 4. He is a happy and healthy baby. He loves music, other babies and kids, and putting things in his mouth (as he is desperately trying to cut in a tooth). He is beloved by Josh's classmates. He can keep himself seated once he is put into a sitting position, he can hold his body up when lying on the floor, and he can roll on demand, even across the room if he needs to get somewhere. He is trying to crawl, but only ends up scooting backward so far. When he gets excited about play, his whole body shimmies, with arms flailing and legs kicking. After we finally broke down and resorted to the "cry it out" method of sleep training (after everything else failed) at the end of November, he is now sleeping well, though he continues to awaken at midnight and at 3 am for feedings. Unfortunately, he has dropped to the 10th percentile for weight, so not only must we continue the nighttime feedings, we need to find a way to get more food into him during the daytime as well. Some of this is the consequence of his decision back when I returned to work to start refusing the bottle, which limits the amount he can eat during the day. But now that he can eat cereal and some baby foods, hopefully we can add in another daytime meal and help boost his growth.

He may be small, but he has a big smile:

Dance, baby, dance:

His idol:

Next step: crawling!

November 2007

Sorry I have not posted anything for several weeks. We had a number of reasons--camera batteries died, John's been dominating the computer with school deadlines--but also I've just been really tired. 6 months of sleepless nights have taken their toll and most nights I fall asleep on the floor in the boys' room when putting them to sleep and miss the chance to do anything on "my time" after they go to bed. But today I uploaded the photos and realized I had more than I thought, so it's time to dump them into a few big posts.
I'm dating these for when they happened, not when I'm posting them.
This is the collective November group.
First is just a cute picture of Josh and Lucas. Note the hand-holding.

One of Lucas's teachers has been making him really laugh hard at school by yelling "boo" at him, the louder the better. He laughs and laughs. Josh got wind of it and spent a consecutive 72 hours yelling "boo," before he started saying, "mommy, it's not working." I had to explain the concept of moderation. Here is a photo when it was still working, mid-boo:

Gammy and Poppa visiting for Thanksgiving:

Josh takes the "controls" on Lucas's exersaucer and flies it like a spaceship. Mostly, Lucas thinks this is great fun. Sometimes, though, it gets a little too aggressive for his liking. Josh is so expressive in his play.

Trick or Treat

We went trick or treating with two other families in our neighborhood. Last year we did that because Josh was still a little scared of halloween and relunctant to trick or treat. This year, we needn't have worried. He was all about trick or treating. Of course, he still had to figure out exactly how it worked. The first few houses, he would run up (always running up!), ring the bell, jump up and down with unfettered excitement the whole time he waited for someone to answer, and then yell, "I want a treat." I tried not to be embarrassed at how rude this would otherwise sound, given that essentially "trick or treat" means the same thing, but with a threat of vandalism attached. But it still sounded funny. He eventually caught on that he was supposed to say "trick or treat." The running, jumping, and excitement stayed constant. He also started ending each visit with "happy halloween," which sounded so cute with his 3-year-old inflections.
Luke made for a very cute tiny Tigger. The weather was dry and not cold, perfect for trick or treating. We all had a fun time.


Action shot:

Spiderman (Josh) and Batman (Leo), born 12 days apart:

Superheroes are all the rage with Josh and his pals (and cousin!).
Happy Halloween!

Children's Museum Costume Party

The Children's Museum hosted a members-only costume party Monday. John and I left work early and took the boys. We had a fun time, but Josh was exhausted by the time we left (6:45), after a long day of hard play at school and then another couple of hours running around CM. He was also drenched, after spending a lot of his time in the water room. Here he is playing with water, in his spiderman outfit but without the mask (which proved much too difficult to play in).



Luke bubbling out of the fountain:


Josh with the overly-cheesy grin; Luke unhappy at being made to sit still for a picture. Such are our attempts to photograph these two! Rarely successful.