GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

usually there's a fireplace screen blocking our way. don't think that stops us, though, from trying to get golf balls, tennis balls, any kind of ball really, into the back of the fireplace. today, though, in the big after-christmas clean-up, the screen was gone and the game was on!

present pictures

i paid good attention to all the present-opening this year. i liked to open my presents and was available to help other people, too. i also had to check out everything. mommy got some new juice glasses, and i had to give those a try:



i had my own little bag of goodies here that occupied me for a long long time.



some new geotrax for dean and i to share.



some silliness. i really like present-opening!

dean and i with our faves :)

what a special christmas day treat: time with both our mimi and our sue sue! dean and i enjoyed our dinner sitting on the piano bench surrounded by our favorite ladies :)



after dinner, i had to relax under the tree with froggy binky, my other favorite.

'twas the night before christmas..

..and dean and i had our matching pajamas that santa sent back with our elf, aggie. (there's the ubiquitous, thread-bare binky one in front of dean's mouth. but don't i look great? and so big?!)



we were ready for the jolly old guy to bring us some treats!



we've been mostly good this year, we promised.



and just in case there's any last-minute points to be earned, here are some of sue sue's yummy cookies for santa and some carrots for the reindeer to help sweeten santa up!

more mealtime shenanigans

no, it's not self-tanner i have all over my face here. it's spaghetti sauce. i thought it would be really funny to rub this sauce all over my face and in my eyes the other night. mommy and da were less than impressed, and i went straight to the bath when i left my chair.



this morning, i had a huge fit and refused to sit in my chair for breakfast (i'm starting to try to exert my will a little bit more often these days). mommy let it go, and i waited patiently for a few minutes for dean to vacate his chair then climbed right up just like a big boy. the times, they are a-changin'.

gingerbread house

we had lots of company this weekend. part of the fun one afternoon was decorating a gingerbread house. ty ty helped dean and i with the icing, but we did all the decorating.

we put on lots of little candy pieces to make it just beautiful. i used my rapidly growing vocabulary to tell her exactly where i wanted her to put the icing. :)

moving furniture

i got acquainted with one of mama's great past-times this weekend: re-arranging our furniture. today it was dean's room. she wanted to move more things around but ended up just turning his bed the other way. he likes it a lot the new way, and everyone had fun helping more things around.



i got to climb up on the mattress.



cheese!!

what's in here?

it was a strange occurrence in the laundry room: an empty laundry hamper. while mama did lots of loads today, i had time to check out the hamper. i pushed it all around the kitchen, knocked it down, threw my froggy binky inside, then went in after him.

i am quite the fan of small spaces. if the dryer door is ever open, i climb inside. sometimes that means throwing all the dry clean clothes out of it first, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

rare family photo

last weekend we went downtown to the children's book festival. there were authors of children's books, crafts and activities, and lots of food for munching. we saw one of our most faithful blog followers, mrs. rhodes, there, and she volunteered to take our picture together.
it was great to see you, mrs. rhodes!

i've got a hole in my shoe, oh no! i have two!

i inherited these nice shoes from dean, and they were in pretty good shape. maybe a few scuffs on the top but nothing major.

well, i took care of them. mommy had to throw them in the trash, but she snapped a pic before she did.

here's how the damage was done:

incidentally, i ruined a second pair she bought me at target, but she's wised up now. i have real running shoes with rubber soles to wear outside.

ball pit

at flying frogs last weekend for our friend osten's birthday party, we had a great time. i played inside this ball pit for a long time. and there are videos of me jumping in the inside jumpy castles.



i climbed in and climbed all over the ball pit.



although the area was technically for children 3 and older, i wasn't going to be denied. no, sir.

outside

now that the weather is nicer, we're spending a lot of time in the afternoon outside. on halloween friday, we helped mommy hollow out the pumpkins in the driveway. it was kind of interesting. what's down in there?



then we played on our swingset. i can climb the ladder by myself now and turn around and slide down the slide!



here i am! i made it down!

ribbit ribbit halloween

i know you read dean's blog first, so you already know we were frogs for halloween. it was really fun. i loved my costume and wore my hat the whole time. i really enjoyed being outside with all the festivities on our street. here's the frog look on me:



outside before trick-or-treating






it took me a few minutes to get what all the activity was. i would be helped out of the wagon, walked to our neighbor's front door, wait while they came to the door, and then..... they put candy in my bag. unlike my brother at this age, i know what candy is. i especially enjoyed the lollipops and sucked on one of them for about 30 minutes in between all my trips into and out of the wagon. fun night. can't wait to do it again!

fall festival

this morning we went to the fall festival at the bamboo farm nearby. there were a lot of cool things to see. dean and i posed for pictures on this big pile of pumpkins and hay.



and then we went on a pony ride!!