Christmas Card for Santa

We decided to go to the mall today to get our annual picture with Santa. Tess was so excited and said she wanted to take him a present and started gathering some of her toys. I suggested that perhaps Santa already had plenty of toys and maybe he'd like a Christmas card instead. So we pulled out a card, signed it "Love, Mommy, Daddy, Tess & Zach" as she directed and then she drew a picture of our family, complete with feet, hands and hair on our heads. I love discovering how her little drawings change every-so-often! When we got there, she climbed right up in his lap and gave him the card and a great big hug!! It took a little persuading to get Zach up there though. In the end, he did say cheese, even though he did not smile. I honestly don't think I could've gotten even that much from him if Tess hadn't been sitting up there too. And as I saw Santa open his card, I knew he appreciated her sweetness. :)


Parting shot:

Tess' drawing of a car. Can you see the person looking out the window?

First Snow of '09

We're gonna make a snowman,
It's gonna be a little one,
What a beautiful day;
We're so glad.

(adaptation from our current favorite book: "We're going on a bear hunt"

Momma's little cuties!!!

Tess & Zach at the zoo.Right before church.

Backyard fun with Baby K!

The kids had lots of fun playing on the slide, playing fetch with Jack and tackling uncle Andrew. And, yes, that's my son licking water off the little picnic table while pretending to be a puppy.

Ice cream money!!!

Grandma & Grandpa sent some stickers and ice cream money as a little halloween gift so we made a trip to Sonic. Note to self: there is a better time to get ice cream than 20 minutes before bedtime. :)

Mommy's Halloween Photo Shoot...

They enjoyed playing in their costumes, so I guess it was a success. :)

First Day Little Hearts School

Bright and early!

Zach's first haircut

Just look at those curls!

Maybe we should talk about this mommy....

Daddy, is she doing it right?

I've decided I don't like this!


Aren't I a cutie?

The baby curls are gone!

A little bit of rain...

After about a week of rain, we could almost go swimming!

Daily Life...

Loving the watermelon!!!

Loving on Lily:

Enjoying mommy's cooking:

Education with Sesame Street:

Riding tricycles:

Reading books together:

Little bit of father-son time with the cowboys:
Sweet family portrait:

Sweet hugs:

Artwork for mommy:

Conversations

When we were driving down the street today...

Tess: Let's play a game mommy.
Me: Okay.
T: Try to find a black pickup.
M: I see a black car. Will that work?
T: Good job mommy! You're turn.
M: Try to find a red car.
T: There's one!
M: Good job. Now it's your turn
T: Try to find a red stop sign.
M: I see a red stop light. Will that work?
T: No. You need to find a stop sign.
M: Ummmm...I don't see one yet.
T: It's like an octagon, mommy.
M: Oh, thanks for the clue...

She's three! Where does she learn this stuff?

7 Mile Beach

This year we went to the Cayman Islands and here's a couple pics from our little hop into the ocean. :) (ps. the kids stayed with grandparents so you won't see them in these pics.)



This is the "Partial View" from our room.You can see a little bit of Russell's shirt where we were eating lunch. Do you see the iguana? They're friendly or, at least, not shy or scared, and came right up to our table. I had no doubts that they'd have hopped up there to check out our food if someone hadn't run them off!

So, here's the beach...

...and some more beach. The boat in the background is the catamaran that we went snorkeling on. (It was a little bit cloudy that day so the water wasn't quite as clear as normal, but I'll post a picture or two later of what we got from the little underwater camera.)

The water is about knee deep in this picture. It was almost like swimming in a pool, except that it was sooooooooooooooooooooo salty!!! (easy to float in but the salt turned my stomach if I accidentally swallowed any.)

One of my favorite pictures with the ocean in the back ground.

This is really the airport...one big parking spot. That is where you get off or on the plane. It was different and fun, but I definately appreciate the convenience of our airports.