Snuggle

Here is Asher yesterday, sharing a snuggle with me in his new, fleecey duckie towel/hoodie from Grandma Carol. One of his favorite things to do is to take a bath. And he usually doesn't like to come out into the cold, so his new towel is a big hit, as it covers him from head to toe!
Our house has been slowly settling down from the post-Christmas chaos. The boys spend every afternoon on the living room carpet, grabbing toys from under the tree and playing. It's been a lot of fun!

Christmas 2006

Here is a 5-minute video recap of our Christmas extravaganza! We had a wonderful holiday together, complete with glow worms, light sabers and a Rody! If you don't know what a Rody is, just watch! But let me tell ya, he doesn't stand a chance against an armed jedi knight.... Merry Christmas everyone! We hope you all had a blessed holiday!

Boys in Boxes

This short video speaks for itself. After all, what would Xmas be without packing materials and boxes?? :) But if you want more info, read the post below this one! Incidentally, Jingle Bells, by Bing Crosby (playing in the background) has become Gabriel's favorite holiday tune. Enjoy!

Fun in a box

My sister, Gretchen, sent two huge boxes to our house last week, creating quite a stir amongst my boys. Little did I know that it was mostly for the boxes themselves, that the boys were so excited! Oh, Gabe certainly got quite a thrill finding each and every present, reading the tags (he's especially worked up about a package addressed to him, from "Batman") :) and tucking them under the tree. But after this was done, he noticed that Asher had crawled INTO a box and was sitting amongst the packing peanuts, throwing them around, shrieking, and in general ... having a ball. Then my (almost) 5-year-old quickly reverted back to the small boy he was, and decided that he too, wanted in on the box action! Within minutes, they were both in a box, having "peanut" wars. I kept thinking, as I was watching them, of one of my FAVORITE books as a kid, by Eve Sutton, "My cat likes to hide in boxes." Well, I guess "My boys like to hide in boxes" as well! I have video footage that I'll be posting shortly! :)

1-year portrait

Here is Asher's 1-year portrait. I can hardly believe he's gotten so big! We snapped these photos of him while we were shooting our Christmas card.

A teaser...

We have finished shooting our annual Xmas card. Every year, Nate takes a picture of the boys and we send it out to all our friends and family as a card. Gabriel started the tradition in December of 2002 at age 11 months, when we shot photos of him as a naked cherub, complete with feathery wings. Too fun! This was our card last year. Asher (at two weeks old) slept through most of it, especially since we had the heat cranked up to almost 80 degrees to keep him warm! But he did manage to pee on the present at the very end of the shoot. Yahoo! And yes, for those of you who are wondering, that is indeed his real skin. We always get asked if he's wearing some kind of "suit" ... but no! It's just his birthday suit! What a sweetie! :) We're very excited for everyone to see this year's card! We'll be mailing them off tomorrow!

Exploding Whale

Okay, this post is totally thanks to my friend and coworker, Jen Kuszynski, who e-mailed me this clip from YouTube in the first place. Maybe I have a sick sense of humor, but we all thought this was pretty darn funny at work!! FYI: This is real news footage from the 70s, I believe.

Belated Tree-Hunt Photos

We went out to get our Xmas tree a week and a half ago. I forgot to post photos, so here they are! Gabe was overjoyed to be hiking through the woods, looking for the perfect tree. For the first time in awhile, we didn't find our tree right away. We had to hike around a bit, before stumbling across the Balsalm that we picked out. And then of course, Gabriel had to supervise dad's sawing abilities as Nate did the grunt work. But it was beautiful ... and LIGHT! (as you can see in the photo where Nate and Gabe are hoisting the tree above their heads!) Gabe and I had such fun decorating afterwards. He hung most of the ornaments on the lower branches, and I learned (as I've been learning all season!) that I have to set aside my ideas of "what looks right" when it comes to decorating, and instead, enjoy the whims of a 4-year-old interior designer. :) It's quite enjoyable actually!

Sledding with the boys

Today, after picking Gabe up from school, I decided to get both boys stuffed into their snowsuits and take them sledding. It's been a long time since I've been sledding with Gabriel and (of course) Asher has never been.
It took almost an hour to find the various hats, mittens, scarves, boots etc. that we needed, and get the boys all ready to go. But once we were there, it was such fun!
All three boys and I squeezed onto our new, little tobogan sled. We were at Vollrath Park (bowl) and the hill sort of bumps down three times on the way down. The snow was packed down very hard (I guess there were over 100 sledders there on Saturday) so the first time we went down was rather fast, and intense, with the sled lifting off the ground as it flew over each mini hill in the series. I admit, I was a bit nervous and for a second, I questioned my sanity for having brought Asher along with us ... but all was well and we didn't capsize! At the bottom, Gabe let out a whoop and Asher just sort of sat there in shock. It was funny!
After that, Gabe pretty much went down alone for most of the runs. He was so proud of himself for going down the hill on a sled ALL by himself! The first thing he wanted to do was call daddy and tell him all about it! We topped off the trip by going home and having hot chocolate! What a great afternoon!

Catching snow flakes!

Today we had our first real "snow storm" of the season. Milwaukee was under a blizzard warning and got about a foot of snow, but we got 8 inches in Sheboygan. After Gabe got out of school (yes, he still had school today!) we all went outside and played while Nate shoveled. Gabriel had fun making snow angels, pummeling Roxy with snowballs, and teaching Asher his favorite snowy day trick -- catching snowflakes on his tongue!! Here are some photos of the boys trying to catch flakes on their tongues! Asher was trying really hard!!