Merry Christmas!!

There's a new grandbaby in the family...his name is Bugsy--or that's what it was this day. I'm not sure if Jason has made up his mind yet. Bugs is a shar-pei something or other mix and he's just adorable!!






We decided to give him to Jason a day early because it would have been impossible to keep him a secret. Besides, we were tired of getting up every 20 mintues to let him outside!!

We all went sledding the day before Christmas and had lots of fun. This was the first time Heather and Logan had been sledding. I was really suprised--they both LOVED it! Heather would squeal all the way down the hill...and then want to be carried back up. They were both pushing to get in line to go back down. It was very cold that day, but they lasted over an hour.

Here's the whole crew, minus Annelise who was napping in the warm car. Even she made it down the hill a time or two. What a fun day.

Dan and Logan going down the hill.

Annelise's first time sledding. She wasn't so sure about all the layers required.

Christmas morning was fast and furious. All 3 kids had fun...for the first 3 presents and then lost interest. They just wanted to play with the ones they had already opened.

Great Grandma Urbigkeit gave them little rockers for Christmas. They were a huge hit, especially with Heather who lovest to find little places to sit.

The 4 grandbabies in front of the tree and presents. It was impossible to get all of them in the same place, looking the same direction, at the same time.

So many pictures, so little time...

It's only December 18th, but I've already taken almost 500 pictures this month!! I've only covered tree decorating, sugar cookie making, and a few early presents :)

I decided to let H and L help me decorate cookies this year. What a mess!! They got frosting, sprinkles and spider egges (our kiddie term for those round candy sprinkles) everywhere but the cookies!! Logan just double fisted the frosting knives, getting as much into his mouth as possible before I took them away...then proceeded to frost himself.





I snappe this photo before he got too sticky. I gave him a haircut the night before...poor guy. He'll have to wear a hat for awhile hehehe.

December is going to be a month of compramises. No you can't have the glass ornament, but maybe this one from the dollar store, No you can't have just frosting for dinner--but maybe a whole cooked for dessert....No you can't climb out of your crib 15 times...but maybe if you can stay in the bed, you can have a big boy bed for Christmas...:):)

Logan is having some issues with being asked to sleep in a crib. Booger. Just climbs over the siderail, lands on the ground with a big "whomp" and then plays, talks--even has the guts to come back out into the living room, where he knows he'll get scolded. sheesh. 2 hours of this and I finally gave in and let him sleep in the single bed in his room. He didn't let out a peep--or even try to get out of bed. I gues the big boy bed is in order...either that or he's going to break his noggin!!

This is CLASSIC Heather. Classic. She was eating frosting and got ONE little spider egg on her tongue. I finally got the big, exaggerated gag on film....

Heather, as you can see, is a master cookie froster. She managed to get frosting ON a cookie. Big accomplishment for a 2 year old, I am learning hehehe. She stayed sticky free...another classic Heather-ism.

I could take hundreds of pictures a month of this sweet little girl, and maybe, just maybe I can get one of her looking at least in the general direction of the camera. You can see just a tiny bit of the frosting eating evidence on her cheek :) Probably the dirtiest she's been in a month hahaha. She is really enjoying having "It's Anna Baby" in the house to play with. Anna gets to eat all kinds of imaginary cuisine, led around the house by her hand, and many hugs and kisses.

Notice anything different??? Yep. Heather got her first haircut. She was getting very frustrated with her bangs in her eyes, so I gave in and chopped them. I got a little teary eyed! She just looks so much older and, if I may say so myself, adorable in her homemade doo.

Grandpa stopped by on saturday and brought over lots of gifts. We decided to let the doobers open their gifts from him so that he could watch. As always, he found the perfect gift. (I made him promise NOTHING with motors :) ) they love these little tricycles and have been riding them every waking moment. Heather gets quite frustrated because her feet don't touch the ground at the same time she's holding the handle bars, but she'll get it figured out I'm sure. Logan is already faking crashes, falls off, does wheelies (I REALLY made grandpa promise no motors) It's a good thing this is a dumpy rental!!

I think we are ready for christmas. I just have some last minute baking and packing to do on Thurs and friday, and we'll trek to Evanston on Friday night after Dan gets home from work.

Man, being a working stiff has really cut into my scrapping time!! I don't have anything new to share!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas with too much food and lots of love.

Okay, Dad. I've updated just for you!!

We finally got our poor, little fake Christmas tree up and decorated. The kids were so much fun this year!! They were in absolute awe of the lights and pretty ornaments. Getting the ornaments and lights on the tree was quite a challenge, though. Heather especially wanted to play with each and every ornament --which created a BIG tantrum when I told her they had to be left on the tree.

Logan was eager to help, but fizzled out quickly. He was more interested in climbing in and out of the big plastic tubs all the Christmas stuff is stored in.

This picture of us is cute...too bad the 70's shag carpet couldn't be edited out :) We can't wait for our house to be finished. It is set on the foundation and the contractor has started working on

the ouside. As soon as it can be heated, they will finish the interior.

On a clear day, the view is breathtaking! Our builder really did a great job positioning the house to face the peaks. He also put in bigger windows so that we can enjoy the view. The guest room has windows looking at these mountains and then the view to the south. It's very pretty!

Mister Logan has decided that he would really like to be the boss of many things, including whether or not he wears mittens. It only lasted about 5 minutes, though, as he came back really quickly begging for them to be put on. I did this page as an assignment for www.scrapbookdreamer.com, using Around the Block winter papers.

This page layout uploaded really small, but you can click on it to make it bigger. These are the pictures from above. Bo Bunny press sponsored our DT at www.scrapbookdreamer.com this month, so I used their print papers, some BG chipboard and Petaloo flowers.

Hi Grandma :)

You are on the internet, curlers and all!!

I think this is my favorite picture from the whole Thanksgiving weekend. It just sums up the importance of grandparents in my children's lives. Neither kiddo had ever seen a piano, let alone play one before this minute. Here's their great-grandma with her awesome patience, teaching them not to pound. These small gifts of time and teaching may not be remembered by them in the future, but will leave a little lasting fingerprint on their personalities. Thanks Grandma!!

And speaking of fingers, isn't this just the most awesome picture?? Seasoned, experienced hands guiding new, two year old hands??? You can barely see Heather's tiny pointer finger in between her great grandmother's. I just love this! I am sure it will end up on a scrap page real shortly.