EXTENDED HOLIDAY

It really was a holiday season for us this year. 

We began our celebrating in the beginning of December and just wrapped up this past Saturday, with the Rose side.

Cole & Rian swapping toys.  Though 7 weeks or so younger,

I think that Cole has Rian beat as far as weight goes.

More presents.

Rian really took to Uncle Bryon--she would smile every time she saw him!

Michael and Carina had a blast playing with Grandpa's chair and remote.

A snack..

(Rena wanted "more STRAWberries" but the chocolate had to come off)

A game of Phase 10..

And that concludes our holiday season.

THIS IS THE WAY..

..Carina has taken to sleeping in her bed.

Directly on top of her pillow.

Whatever works, I guess.

PRESENTS WITH THE KIDDIES

We had gifts for the kids and this year we opened them on New Year's Eve.

They knew it was coming..and so after asking all day if Daddy was coming home yet,

I had them move the boxes n bags into the living room.

After that was done, Mike still was not home...

so they decided to sit and watch the packages.

All in all they were very patient.

Finally, Mike got home.

 We had dinner and quick baths.

Then they each picked a spot of floor.

Michael said that he wanted to open up books.

(Thats my boy!!)

Its funny, cause I held off on books this year--I think he only got one.

We're running out of room to store them!!!!

Stockings first.

Daddy made chocolate covered pretzels for the older kids.

Rian did pretty well ripping off paper..

only problem was, she wanted to eat it after ripping it off.

So many firefighters in the family...

Michael "needed" his gear too.

He informed me the other day at breakfast,

that he was going to go to a fire with Daddy..and he needed to wear his hat and his belt and his axe.

It was cute.

Can't have gifts for Rena without SOMETHING Dora.

Our Princess.

Princess #2

(you'll never guess who else wanted to be a princess!!)

.

.

And our lil firefighter all ready to go.

Michael and Carina are at a fun age..

Michael, especially, really got into the whole present thing.

Watching them is present enough for us.

WHILE WAITING FOR THE BUS

Michael asked so nicely this morning if he could walk in and pick up the snow..

I couldn't say no.

Even though his fingers got cold and his shoes got a mite wet

(despite our efforts to stomp them off every 2 minutes)

He had fun.

I was really hoping for a snow day.

Really, really.

No sense dwelling on it though, huh.

It is not a snow day.

MOVING..

I would say that she is crawling..but she is not crawling in the conventional sense..

Rian is definitely a mover though.

She has her own unique style.

I'm sure it will soon turn into "normal" crawling.

She is getting faster everyday..

and into more mischief everyday.

Pardon the dust.

(you know the saying, "the more dust, the more love"--yeah, it works for us)

Caught ya!

Of course, she gets into everything.

She got stuck between the organ and the bench legs the other day..

Chasing the vaccum cord is fun too!!

Almost got it!

Downside is that she is fascinated by the screen we have around the woodstove..

Big no-no.

So it means constant supervision till she learns the ropes.

A FEW OF HER FAVORITE THINGS

#1)  Pulling her sister's hair.

#2)  Pulling her sister's hair.

#3)  Pulling her sister's hair.

PEEK-A-BOO