Addie in the Bumbo. She won't need it for long. She'll be sitting soon, if she decides to stop moving - the girl is fast at rolling!
"I love my brother! He's so funny and he tastes so good!"
Playing on Addie's new blanket from Grandma Vickie.

Addie and her new dolly, named "Dolly" (my Grandma's (Lorraine Riedl) nickname).

Addie loved it instantly and talks, talks, talks whenever we let her sit with Dolly.

Our cool new hats from Jim and Care.

Adeline and I hanging out on Christmas morning.

Addie and another new doll (all organic and so soft, from Grandma Mary)

Mac and his tools from Papa and Nana.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas Eve! more to come...

Curt measured 17 inches in our backyard this afternoon! Finally stopped snowing but it's difficult to impossible to get around.
unable to measure due to the thick layer of ice from a couple days ago!

where's the Beemer?

Can you believe how much snow we have?

Buried.

yes, they really were wrestling in the snow! Mac loved it! Then a mitten fell off, and it was all over. He also refused to put his wonderful, warm snow pants and winter jacket on, so he was out in fleece pants and a vest, but the only thing that bothered him when it got cold was his hand. go figure.

pre-wrestling

watching curt attempting to sled down the street.

Snow, Snow and more snow. Then some ice. And a little wind. That's been our week, and it looks like that will be our next week as well. Maybe getting up to 35 on Wednesday. oh. my.

McKinley Thomas Sander turned THREE!!He's been working on holding up three fingers, rather than two.

We worked together yesterday to bake his "mountain" cake,

then worked together again today to frost it.

Wait until you see how we ate it!A very cool talking globe from Papa and Nana.

A big digger from Addie.

Diggty Dog game from Grandma Mary. We've been playing this one at Mudpuddles, and he loves it. He said "Yeah! Diggety Dog! Same like at Mudpuddles!" when he opened it.

birthday morning blueberry pancakes. He is wearing his (soon-to-be) felted crown on his head. I got it almost finished. It will actually fit his head once it's felted. May take all week to dry given the wet weather we are having (more on that later!)

oh, our sweet little boy!
building gingerbread houses, compliments of the Stevenson family, who braved the elements to come celebrate Mac's birthday!

Adeline, taking in the sights (she's working on those two front teeth!)

Windy, Matt and Kolby with their gingerbread house!

(I'm allowed now to let you all in on the secret that Kolby will be a big brother in June! yippee!)

Merry Christmas (a little early). Friends of ours have an annual Santa party, which was yesterday. Mac is still not sure about Santa in person, but sure talks about him a lot! He'd like Santa to bring him a crane (he is).
Mac and his best friend Lucy.

Sweet Adeline and Santa - what a sweetie!

Lucy watching Mac open his zoom cars from Santa.

Closer than last year! Santa said "Merry Christmas McKinley!" and Mac said "Merry Christmas Santa!"

This is what Mac told me the other day when we were deciding what to put in his party goodie bags, either M&M's or Tic Tacs:
" I want M&M's because kids really like candy. Kids really need candy, mama!"
M&M's it is. To him, Tic Tacs fall in the "mint" category, which apparently is NOT candy.

Great Grandpa Degner, Adeline and McKinley. We got the name Adeline from my Great Grandma (Adeline) Degner.
Grandpa and his house. I love this pic.

So, have you ever driven in the snow, behind a slow moving older truck loaded with a HUGE hay roll (it's not a bale, but I don't know the official name), with both your wife's Grandpa and your mother-in-law giving you directions to a "maybe-it's-open-on-Sunday" restaurant while your wife tries not to puke in the third row of seats and your son tries to be patient for food? Well, that describes what's going on in this pic. Curt was SO patient! And we did eventually find a terrific restaurant with a view of a river that served home baked chicken and pork with potatoes - all for $6 a plate. wow! And, McKinley watched the river the whole time and saw a beaver swimming. He was so excited (even though he thought it was a fish).

Addie and Mackenzie at the Watertwon Holdiay Parade.

A little boy and his little legos. I didn't think he was ready, but he showed us, he is quite capable with the little legos. He picked out every square piece and built this huge tower!

Clifford the Red Dog at the Watertown library. Addie loved him. Mac did not.

Friday night fish fry with Great Grandpa Degner, Great Uncle Dave and Great Aunt Mary.

Adeline and Great Uncle Dave.

Adeline and Great Aunt Mary.

My two crazy boys.

Addie and Great Uncle Jack (who's thrilled she's not screaming because Mac always screamed when Jack held him!)

Austin, Kolton and Mac (second cousins). Mac is actually the oldest, but he's the shortest.

Adeline meeting Mackenzie (Austin's sister). Mackenzie is a month older that Addie.

Adeline and Great Aunt Bonnie. (Addie's wearing the hand knit dress our friend Traci made for her! It's so beautiful it was almost hard for me to put in on her knowing it was going to get dirty! Then, I got over it, and put it on her.)

Great Grandpa reading a book to Mac. To Mac's great delight, Great Grandpa read every page of a very long nursery rhyme book!

We had a great time in Wisconsin for Thanksgiving. Mac and Curt were delighted to get to play in the snow and Addie and I were thrilled to snuggle inside and stay warm!

We took a day trip to Discovery World in Milwaukee. It's part science museum and part aquarium. Mac was so interested in these huge fish you could pet, but wouldn't touch them. This picture says it all!

Very cool walk-through aquarium.

I love this photo! That's a shrimp hiding on the rock.

Amazing jelly fish. They had just been fed and we could see the food inside them. wow.

Mom, thanks for a terrific trip to Wisconsin! You always take such good care of us. I especially appreciate that you didn't buy ANY cheese, knowing that Mac and I are not eating dairy right now (this is where my Wisconsin relatives stop and say "what the hell, not eating dairy?")