Trip to the Pet Store

Our kids have been suffering from the plague--the never-ending stomach flu. We thought we were finally in the clear (no one had thrown up for a whole day!), so we went to the pet store to hang out for a while. We needed to get out of the house!! The kids had lots of fun looking at the animals/fish and pushing around the tiny carts.

Owen particularly enjoyed the animal toys.

I think that one is an Elvis rubber chicken. The things they don't make for pets, huh?!

Oh, and we aren't over the flu yet. Greg's feeling a little under the weather now. Owen's still not over it. And I'm about ready to tear my hair out.

Snow Friend

While Owen and I looked on from the couch in the living room, Sophie and Greg made a snowman in the front yard. Well, mostly Greg made the snowman and Sophie supervised.

They added a carrot to complete the snowman's face.

That part Sophie was interested in helping with.
But she needed a little help.

Take note of the leaf "hair."

Pretty cute, huh?

Owen's first haircut

Owen's hair has been getting a little...um...fluffy lately. So, we decided to take matters into our own hands. Okay, I did. It's so great to have a boy! Not much to mess up in the hair department. Greg has his own set of clippers, so we (I) went to town on Owen's hair, using the longest attachment to start. It turned out just right!

And Owen just sat there and took it.

Sometimes it tickled a little, though.

Fa-la-la-la-la...

We are a fake Christmas tree family, for various reasons. Greg grew up with fake trees...I grew up with real. Greg is allergic to real trees...he wins. The mess of a real tree is a little daunting too. Plus, when all is said and done, we're both really too cheap to fork over the cash to buy a new tree each year. He at least let me buy a new (non-garage sale, hand-me-down, 3-feet tall tree from our first year of marriage) fake tree of my choosing. I got this one with a coupon at JoAnn's a few years back, and I love it!! It's kind of skinny, which fits perfectly in our little house.

My little elves helped me put it up.

Both Sophie and Owen enjoyed putting the snowflake ornaments on the big tree. We have a very well-decorated lower third of a tree.

I took care of the top two-thirds.

We think the finished product looks pretty good, if we do say so ourselves.

The kids and I were working on the big tree, our "pretty" tree. When Greg and I first got married, we didn't have many ornaments (okay, one, that we bought on our honeymoon). I wanted to do a pretty, thematic tree that wouldn't cost a fortune to fill with ornaments the first year. So, I chose snowflakes. I've been collecting snowflake ornaments since then.

We do have a little "Charlie Brown" tree that we put other ornaments on. Those are the kids' ornaments they get each Christmas (we've only a few of those since the kids are so young yet), our anniversary ornaments (we were married around Christmas and buy an ornament on each anniversary wherever we are celebrating), and gift ornaments that we've been given. This year I left the breakables off because I'm not sure what Owen will do with the trees yet. Someday, we're going to have to switch the trees because we're getting quite a collection on the little tree and it may fall over someday!

Right Here in Rivercity (name that movie!)

(Pay no attention to that mess on the counter)

With a capital T

As I was fixing myself a toasted english muffin this morning, I looked out into the living room and saw this...

Owen standing on the couch. He was after the camera, phone, remotes, etc. as usual. However, no one had helped him up there, so I decided to investigate further. I put Owen back on the floor and sat on the other couch to watch what would happen next...

Oh, dear. We are in big trouble!!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving at my parents' house along with my sisters and their families. The kids all had a great time chasing each other around. Owen tried his best to keep up with the older girls.

Thanksgiving dinner kids' table--cousins and friends

Chilling out downstairs while the adults cleaned up

Doing snowflake crafts

We did my family's Christmas on Thanksgiving night. Owen wanted to open everyone's presents but his own.

The really little kids table

All the girls got special dolls for Christmas

Owen loved "playing" Hi-Ho Cherry-Oh with Jozie. Sophie doesn't let him play at our house.

All the kids in their new Christmas pjs

Owen's first sledding experience. It ended (abruptly) with a face plant in the snow.

More crafts...I just love crafts (Day 1)

(Day 2)
Helping Grandma make cookies

Helping Grandpa grill the hotdogs and brats

Trying out the new princess table & chairs

Watching a "scary" movie (Jurassic Park 3)

More snow fun (this time without Owen)

Uncle Paul rigged up a sledding "hill" on the deck stairs