Christmas recap in pictures...

I wasn't amazing at taking a lot of pictures while we were in Utah for Christmas (which for me usually means I am having too much fun to bother with it).

I did manage to get a few though.

Aaaaand here they are!

Hope you had a Merry Christmas!

(and !!Happy New Year!! while I'm at it.)

FIVE

This big-eyed beauty is 5 months old today!

Everyone says she looks like me, but I like to say that she looks like a pretty version of me! (:

(as you can see the drool is flowing freely--no teeth yet though)

Claire is a wonderful baby and is almost too cute for her own good.
A few milestones of note:

-She is starting to sit up on her own for long periods of time.

Proof:

-She has been rolling over both ways for a while, but will sometimes surprise me by rolling (I can only assume!) across the whole room while I am out of sight.  I will come back and she is 10 feet from where I left her!  She has always been pretty solid and also loves to stand up.

-Not a big babbler, but she is our little observer.  With eyes WIDE open she takes in everything around her and always comes out the winner in a staring contest!

-Sleeps through the night like a champ but is not a great napper--very sporadic and quite unpredictable, despite my best efforts at establishing a schedule.

-We are discovering that she seems to really enjoy music.  She loves to lay on the floor and listen to me play the piano, and in church she will rock her little body back and forth excitedly during the hymns.  She will also sometimes try to 'sing' along.  At least we like to think that is what she is doing. (:

-Thanks to my procrastination, she is still on an all-milk diet, and seems to be growing just fine so far--the nurse was nice enough to call her 'thunder thighs' at her last well check (a trait no doubt inherited from her mom! sorry!). 

-Starting to grab anything and everything in sight.  The next stop for whatever she's gotten her hands on is always her mouth.

-Smiles a lot, and easily; lately she has been getting so excited and smiling so hard that it's almost like her cheeks can't take any more! 

When she gets REALLY excited, she gives us the 'crazy smile'.

We love this little darling and are really enjoying watching her personality emerge!

A new tradition...

It's been a really long time since I've made a gingerbread house.

So, I decided we'd do it for FHE this week.

Luke had a great time (mostly eating the candy), 

but I think I might have gotten the most into it.

After only one collapse, I managed to get my house to stay up.  

I was especially excited about the Necco shingles....I've always wanted to build a gingerbread house with Necco shingles.

Unfortunately, I ran out (of Neccos and frosting), so the other half of my house looked like this:

(The Jekyll & Hyde of gingerbread houses!)

I think this might become a tradition.

Next time I will buy more Neccos though!

32!!

It's been a long time since I have posted one of those proverbial "updates" for Luke.  I think it happened when I stopped counting his age in months.  But today, I realized, Luke is 32 months old!!

And he certainly does deserve some special recognition.

My little guy is growing up, and he reminds me every day just how much.

-He is talking more and more.  He uses complete sentences, although he takes his time and is sure to enunciate each and every word. If you've heard  him talk lately, you know what I mean. 

It's pretty cute. 

-Continues to love trains, tractors, trucks, airplanes, helicopters.  He has quite the collection of cars and usually knows if one is missing.

-He is our picky eater.  Not a huge fan of meat or anything that looks unusual.  When he says the prayer at dinner time he will thank and bless anything and everything but the food! Things he will eat happily though include fruit, peanut butter sandwiches, and of course, candy.

-Loves his little sister and, for the most part, is very gentle and kind to her.  Every once in a while he likes to test the waters and see what her reactions are to, say, throwing a toy in her general direction or trying to roll her over while she lays on the ground.

-He is very much in the "I do it myself" phase.  This can be frustrating for Mom & Dad but it is fun to watch his independence grow.

-The "I do it myself" attitude has NOT extended into the realm of potty training.  That business he is happy to let Mom & Dad take care of.

-With a little reminder here and there, Luke has pretty good manners.  He says 'please' and 'thank you' and 'bless you' and 'excuse me, please' at the appropriate times.  He will even sometimes put his dish in the sink after a meal without being told. This makes me proud!

-Much to my dismay, and despite my greatest efforts, the afternoon nap is no more.  ):  This kid has so much energy that a nap (which was usually taken quite unwillingly) was starting to consistently result in a much later bedtime.  We decided it wasn't worth the trade-off.

-This year, Luke has been very excited about all things Christmas.  He very enthusiastically helped decorate the tree, and regularly rearranges the ornaments to his liking! We are doing the angel tree thing for a little boy this year, and whenever Luke sees one of the presents we bought, he says "This is for little boy?  Make him happy?" Melts. my. heart.

To sum up, every day I feel blessed to have Luke in our family.  

He is my little buddy, and makes me happy every day. 

All Aboard!!

Well, we had a special treat this past weekend...we got to go to the North Pole, and on the Polar Express!  

This was an especially fun little trip for Luke because he is slightly (or WAY) in love with trains, and he has also been pretty enamored with the Polar Express movie.  I am not sure he understood that he was actually going to ride on a REAL train until we got there and he saw it.

They did a pretty good job of staying true to the book: we got hot chocolate and cookies, the conductor punched our tickets, and The Polar Express story was read over the intercom.  We went through a 'magic tunnel' and then straight to the North Pole, where we saw Santa's sleigh, the elf's workshop, and a great display of Christmas lights.  Then, as we were singing Christmas songs on the way back, Santa himself came through our car and handed out bells to each of the children.  It was so fun to see all of the kids' reactions when he came onto the train.

Love this picture....does the bell still ring for you??

We stayed at the Grand Canyon that night and spent the next day strolling around and admiring the view!

This is a pretty sorry picture but it is pretty much the best one we could get of all of us at once.  Apparently I am the only one who knows how to look at the camera!

And all the while this little cutie just chilled out in her stroller.

Great weekend!

So, Remember Thanksgiving...?

This is a little belated, but we had a FANTASTIC Thanksgiving here in Prescott.  

We were spoiled and got to have my parents all to ourselves for the week!

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner and stuffed ourselves sufficiently! Well, except for Luke.  You might notice that, as usual, there is plenty of food left on his plate.  Crazy kid!

Clark had to work on Friday, so my parents and the kids and I took a day trip to Sedona.

It was so nice--warm, sunny, and beautiful!

(Is it just me or is that house borderline RIDICULOUS?!  Take over the whole landscape why dontcha!)

 (Claire was there too, but she spent a lot of time napping in her stroller.)

We did a little window shopping, and got a kick out of this sign:

 I'm pretty sure that the request to print 

"Imported Rug Sale" got lost in translation somewhere along the way. (:

Luke especially loved having his Grandma & Grandpa Krogh come to our house, and talks about their visit often.

 Thanks for making the drive Mom & Dad. We love you guys!