Dog-gie?

Ever since my sister Ann, her boyfriend Matt, and Matt’s dog Roy visited at Christmas, Sam reminds us daily that we need a dog of our own.

Sometimes he’ll go all day without saying a word, but then suddenly remember at bedtime.

Case in point:
Me: [Tucking in Sam, saying a prayer for him, tickling his toes, and kissing him goodnight.]

Sam’s response: “Dog-gie?” with the gie a few syllables higher, as if to question whether we’re getting one anytime soon.

Aside from getting a pet (which we're not quite ready for), any suggestions?

Matt and Roy

Sam playing with Sadie, the Burns' dog
(good friends from KV who hosted us for our December visit)

Cool Stools -and- A Night Out!

Here are better photos of the custom designed stools that I mentioned in my last post. Thanks again to Michele's sister Angela for the artwork.

Friday night we went out for the first time since Eva's birth! (Unless you count our romantic dentist appointments a month ago.) My folks came over to watch the kids while we went to the hospital's annual holiday party. It's traditionally held in January to help ease the busyness of December. I was honored for 10 years of service, which is a little humorous since I've only worked here for about a year. But I worked in Kirksville for 9 years, so it's 10 years total with the company. To give me a hard time, my coworkers simultaneously cheered and booed as I was honored.

Hanging on to Grandpa's finger.

Mimi went ga-ga.

A rare (though not necessarily good) photo of the two of us!

Christmas, Part 4a

Finally taking some time to post more photos

from our trip to see Michele's family.

Michele's parents gave step-stools to all younger grandkids. Then Michele's younger sister Angela customized them by painting each kid's name and a design on the top. You can't tell in this photo, but Sam's has a car theme. Eva's has a flower. Very cool.

Papa talks with Eva.

Sam meets cousin Annemarie,
who's just a few months older than Eva.

Uncle Dave hugging on Sam.

Christmas, Part 4

The day after Christmas, we headed south to visit Michele's family.

The parachute was a hit!

Cousin Hannah meets Eva

Papa reads to Sam

Cousin Richie hanging with Sam

Lots of photos from our time there. I'll post more later.

Christmas, Part 3

The weekend before Christmas, my family got together at my parents' home. Nephews Payton, Jace, and Landon spent quite a bit of time working on their hand-eye coordination,
courtesy of Nintendo DS.

Meanwhile, Grandmother loved on Eva, who's sporting her Santa hat (or the Pope hat, as we like to call it!)

It's finally time to open presents!
(In the inset, my Dad is corralling Payton.)

Who needs presents when you look this good?
(In the inset, Sam is phoning his friends to tell them about his gifts.)

After the weekend, Aunt Annie and her boyfriend Matt spent a few extra days at our home. We took advantage of their help by letting them watch Sam & Eva while we got the car fixed and visited the dentist. It's amazing how difficult those simple tasks can be when you've got two little ones occupying all your time.
Thank you Annie & Matt!

Christmas, Part 2

Sam's big gift was a Rody. A local toy store sells these. It's an inflatable horse made out of thick rubber, similar to an exercise ball. Supposedly it can hold 400 lbs. Hopefully we'll never find out!

Moose slippers - awesome.

I found Eva a soft baby doll from the same local toy store. Michele liked it so much that we bought a similar one for her niece. The doll is called a Sweet Pea because it slips into a pea pod. It reminds us of Grandma G - she used to tell us that we were "two peas in a pod".

Wandering through Target, we found this 12' diameter parachute on clearance. It took us back to elementary school memories of playing with a parachute in gym class. Sam loves it! We're betting it'll be fun to play with for years to come.

During December, Michele made a list of all the Christmas traditions she'd like to start with our new little family. One of them was baking a birthday cake for Jesus. So Christmas Day evening, we blew out one candle and enjoyed some delicious cake.

Christmas, Part 1

Christmas Eve

We do our best to read a story or two to Sam & Eva every evening. We are fortunate to have numerous Golden Books -- mostly hand-me-downs from our families. About 15 of those Golden Books are Christmas stories. Every evening during December, we tried to read one or two of these books. The stories range from Santa to Frosty to Jesus. In the photo above, it's Christmas Eve and we're reading about Jesus' birth.

Christmas Morning

Sam slept in! We finally woke him up at 10:00. While he was still sleeping, I took the photo above.

Before we opened presents (or even showed Sam all the presents under the tree), Michele made a big breakfast. Sam (a.k.a. Linus) kept his blanket close while Michele cooked.

Eva relaxed in her bouncy seat and did what came naturally -- looking cute! She already smiles big, but it's hard to catch a photo of it. Every time she sees the camera, she gets serious!

After breakfast, we headed to the living room. Sam's initial reaction was a very funny "Oooooo!" Sort of like "What do we have here?!"

I'll try to post more soon.