Merry Christmas!

He's into everything!

I have been taking photos of what Richard gets in to for the last three days. Three days, three projects.

Wednesday.

Thursday.

Friday.

Christmas Helper

I didn't think trees came in boxes, Mama. This sure seems like a lot of work.

Too much Christmas.

(This was literally about ten minutes after the above photos.)

Don't worry, Shirley. I'll do it. :)

ABC's

Shirley sings all the time these days. I often hear, "Twinkle, twinkle little star! How I thank you. You're welcome." I'm still trying to get that one on video. Along with "The Wheels on the Bus." (As you can imagine the wipers going "swish, swish, swish" is pert-near the cutest thing EVER.) Tonight I managed to get some great footage of Shirley singing the alphabet song.

Enjoy:

He's mature AND secure.

Look who I found with a sippy cup the other day...

And Dora, no less.

He crawls!

Going...

Going...

Going...

Gone!

To be fair, Richard has been "crawling" for a couple of weeks, but as of November 18, he really had the army crawl mastered.

Check out this joy.

On November 13, we had our first snow here in Chilly Minne. When I showed Shirley the snow out the window, she shrieked, "MAMA!!!!! I NEED MY COAT!!!!!" So, we bundled up and two hours later (no lie), we were outside romping in the snow.

Ready to go outside!

Eh.

Checking it out.
First taste.

Second taste.

My snow angel.

Teeth!

Two weeks ago, Richard cut his first tooth. Two days later, tooth number two came through.

Imagine my surprise when I suddenly had a very happy baby! Hooray for teeth!

Well. He was happer after this.

11-12-10

Happy Halloween!

My Corny Candy Man.

Princess Shirley

Princess Shirley plays on the royal swings.

Viking Richard sends no text messages.

The LOOT!

Probably the best photo from Halloween.

Bath Time!

Now that the little man of the house is getting better at sitting up, he LOOOOOVES bath time in his special chair.

Look at that face. Look at THAT face!

So much fun, mama!She has to try everything we get out for the Bairn. It makes for some fun pictures.

Apple Orchard

Earlier this month we went to the apple orchard with some good friends. Here are some of my favorite photos from the day.

Concentrating hard on this strange swing!

Havin' a ball.

Miss Natalie, my god-daughter. I love her.

Chillin' like a villain.

Apple Cider.

We let the girls each choose an apple out of the bin. Of course, they chose the BIGGEST possible apples. Shirley did pretty well on hers...and only dropped it once. :)

David Hasselhoff.

Little Drummer Girl

Shirley is TOTALLY in to drumming lately. On everything.

For the record, this is the first time our wok has ever been used.

Chef Shirley

I originally wanted to take these pictures to post a cute blog about how Shirley loves helping me cook. But instead, I thought I'd show you how she now smiles for...

every

single

photo.

Many of my other friends' two-year-olds smile like this for the camera, so I have to assume it's pretty normal, and that she will outgrow it by the time it's time for senior photos. I mean, as far as I can tell, I didn't smile this way in my senior pictures...follow my logic?

Also, that first photo is classic. The stuff of future torture.

Polar Bear

It wasn't untl about the fifteenth time (truly) this E.NOR.MOUS. polar bear swam up to Shirley and checked her out that she realized that he was real and that she maybe should consider being afraid. In the mean time, I got this fantastic photo.