Doggone It!

Tucker and Wrigley had a great time wearing each other out during our visit.

Wrigley especially enjoyed having the run of so much wide open space.

Boone Buddy a/k/a Baby Boom

The littlest reveler at Christmas was also quite possibly the sweetest. Here is "Baby Boom" (as Osten calls him) sleeping on the couch.

And here is "Boone Buddy" (as Piper calls him) catching some shut eye in his bouncy seat.

Here's a shot of the little guy wide awake while his mommy burps him. What a handsome little fella! It looks like there might be another redhead in the family . . .

And here's one final shot of him with Uncle Fran and Teaunee.

And the "Grammi" goes to ...

... Piper and Marci!!

Grammi got some quality time with her two favorite little girls, who seemed to enjoy her attention immensely!

Sit 'n' Spin

Osten and Piper each got a Sit 'n' Spin for Christmas. It took them a couple of tries to get to spinning . . .

. . . but they were having a ball in no time!

Marci even got to take a spin!

Woah!  Spinning can make you a little giddy after a while . . . especially when you're wearing your bootsies and your cousin's stocking cap and toting your new screwdriver!

Paci Power

'tis the season for giving ... and for taking away! It's not official, but you heard it here first that Marci's paci days are numbered. And I'm hoping that seeing it in black and white will give her Daddy and me sufficient stamina for the tug-of-war that is certain to ensue. Not only is she able to sneeze, cough and cry without losing her paci, we discovered this week at Piper's house that her paci power will even withstand the rinsing of her hair during bathtime.  Yes, I think we're going to have quite the battle of wills over the retirement of her paci.  Too bad there's not a twelve-step program for this kind of thing! 

Let It Snow!

The weather was more delightful than frightful this Christmas, but there was one day in particular that was a bit nippy. Osten and Piper happily donned their winter gear for an outdoor adventure.

Osten was so proud of his mittens!

And his Spiderman hat came in handy for keeping his ears warm.

Really, there was no snow on the ground, but this picture has nice winter-wonderland effect!

In Search of Snow

There might not have been any snow on the ground, but there were white flakes in the air at a local children's museum. Osten and I took a trip to check out the indoor snow exhibit. Osten rode on a snowmobile . . .

. . . and slid down the slide.

The snow was hard to capture on camera, but there were quite a few flakes coming down. Osten loved watching them fall through the air.

But the best part was throwing the foam snow balls!

Men Working

Osten has long been a fan of "men working," and he still shouts in excitement every time he spots any kind of construction worker in action along the road. At the children's museum that we visited over Christmas, he finally had the chance to try his hand at some work on equipment that was just his size!

He changed a tire . . .

and drove a John Deere tractor.

He also tried his hand at a life-sized operation game!

Rose-Colored Glasses

Over Christmas, Piper and Osten had the chance to share (and not to share) many toys, including Piper's rose-colored glasses.

Judging by both of their reactions, viewing the world through rose-colored glasses ain't all that it's cracked up to be!

Crumb Club

Shortly after getting home tonight from Christmas at Aunt Ang's, I found Marci and Wrigley in the kitchen amidst a pile of vanilla-wafer crumbs.

It was hard to tell who instigated the crumb calamity, but it was quite clear that both girls were enjoying the vanilla-flavored fruits of their joint labor.

With Wrigley as the lookout while Marci guarded the bag of wafer-shaped loot, they were apparently working in tandem to ensure the secrecy of what I can only assume is a newly founded crumb club.

Marci certainly seemed shocked at being discovered sitting on a pile of incriminating evidence. Neither hand nor paw was caught in the cookie jar so to speak, but the trail of crumbs from the pantry lead me right to the crumb-snatching culprits.  Thank goodness they were apprehended before they got into the syrup!

Rip It

Christmas morning was so much fun this year. There were tons of presents to rip open. Some of them were more difficult than others.

This wrap job worked well as a teething toy.

Piper used her new sit-n-spin to get some leverage on her gifts.

All of the excitement was just exhausting!

Chain Gang

Osten and Piper made a paper chain, and for a very short while it made a pretty decoration on the bannister.

Then Marci got a hold of it!

So much for the chain!