Father Christmas

Part of the joy of our local "story book land" is not only seeing Santa, but the beautiful statuary, and fun holiday displays. Everything from Lion King and the Disney Princesses to teddy bears picnic and train sets are featured in a lit up forest path (all trees are donated by Weyerhaeuser) inside of our local fair grounds.

I couldn't resist this picture of Indy and his Dad with the Victorian Father Christmas. Well, that, and I didn't take any new pictures today. Slacking.

Greetings Santa!

Indiana got to meet Santa Claus for the first time today. Indy was enthralled with Santa, and sat happily on his lap. He even babbled a little list of things he wanted for Christmas. We fervently hope Santa is fluent in baby talk, as all Indy really said was "DA da DA Da dA Ge gegege Ga Dada". He and Santa gazed happily at one another for a few minutes, daddy stood proudly by, and mama snapped pictures as rapidly as the old digital camera would permit.

Candy Cane

Indiana is definitely enjoying the holiday season. He plays with all the paper as we wrap gifts! He loves the twinkling of the tree. He enjoys the lights outside. He even accepts egg-nog. But the best part of Christmas for Indiana so far? Candy Canes!! He will devour as much as we will allow him, and them whimper for more!

Today, it rained. I don't mean the "drip-drop-mist-rain", oh NO. Today, while we were OUTSIDE helping hang my mom's Christmas lights it POURED BATHTUBS of ICE COLD rain. But, her lights are up. When we got home, I had to help the neighbors put up their lights, too. But, now I wont have to mess with lights again until new years day, when they all come down again.

mommy, we are done decorating!

I think that the best part of any holiday is being able to relax with the ones you love. Indiana took a chance to nap in the evening before his dad went to work last night. I love this picture because it not only gives me the warm fuzzies for Indy and his dad, but it gives me wonderful memories of Christmas past when Duck was a little tiny guy.

So far the only weirdness this Christmas is that I am buying the same exact gift for my number one san as I am for my husband!

Terrible Mom Part One:

Today I was asked "Ducky is 13 years old. Are you crazy? Indy is a sweetie, but why now!?! What could you have been thinking!?!?!"

My reply:

"I was thinking, "I can handle another shot of Jager, no problem!"

(actually Indiana was a planned baby, but I couldn't resist the stupid answer to the stupid question.)

My Two Sons:

I love both of my sons. I have loved one son for longer than I have loved the other, because he has been with us for so much longer. Sometimes I don't think about how hard it must be for him for his mom to suddenly have a new son in her life. I ran across this cartoon when looking for fun Christmas-y things and I wonder... Could this be my children? Probably.



Fun Christmas Pics


Seasons greetings.

It's Tree Time!

We spent almost all of our day today selecting and putting up our Christmas tree. We had to rearrange our entire apartment to make everything fit in such a way that the Tree was visible from everywhere and yet totally inaccessible to a mobile baby. So, we pinned it into the corner behind the couch, in front of the big window. Indiana did the proper ooh-ing and aaah-ing, and a little wiggle and a little giggle when we lit the tree. He likes it so far.

Mommie's Little Monster

I have always shared Indiana's precious moments. I enjoy snapping pictures of him hamming it up. Sometimes we pose him (as in the toy picture in the last post). Sometimes it is totally candid! But, I have noticed that in every shot he is charming and handsome and well, cute. He isn't always that way in real life. I don't know why no one believes me when I say he is a little terror. Maybe it is because when we have company he is a darling. He already has company manners. Well, I finally have proof that I haven't been just begging for sympathy! Here is my darling boy:

Toy Boy

I can't come up with anything witty to say about this picture. It says everything about what is on Indiana's Christmas list.

Clothes. HAHA!

(Does anyone else think of the movie ET when they see this picture?)

Basketball Hoop!

Indy's aunt Kathryn came home with a great gift for my sons. It was WAY WAY WAY TOO BIG for Indy's room, so we sent it off with Brother Duck. I just looked it up online and found THIS! This, is what it would have cost if Aunt Kathryn hadn't gotten it for free from her work. WOW.

I hope Dakota enjoys it.

Chillin'

It is such a nice weekend. Chris has four days off in a row! So, we are all just relaxing and making this weekend count as a "home vacation". A time to hang out together and rest, and just enjoy one another's company. Chris is getting a chance to really "bond" with Indiana in a way that the graveyard shift normally denies him. Indy is loving it.

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Brother Duck called and said that the thanksgiving on the hill was all right, although everything was "healthy" to accommodate his grandfather and his cousin who is very ill. We love Cousin Macy and our prayers are with her during her illness. As we learn more about it I will share it here with you all, and ask that you keep her in your thoughts.

The Long Weekend is Here.

Indiana drooled over his turkey; bone and all. We had a great thanksgiving, Thank you to all of you who wished us well for the holiday weekend.

A few of my friends were not as fortunate as we were. Go over and visit Our Girl Jessica, and her boy Zach and give her your condolences. Her grandmother passed away thanksgiving morning. (She also has some great pictures of Zachary just a few posts down, he is a cutie. seeing him is worth the visit.)

We are thinking of you, Jess. If you need us, we are here for you. A phone call away.

Happy Thanksgiving

I ate Apple Pie
Chris ate Pecan Pie
Indiana ate Pumpkin Pie filling.

I love Thanksgiving.

Oh yeah, I promised a short "thankful" list didn't I!?! I kept procrastinating. Of course I am thankful for my children. I am thankful for my spouse, and my home. I am thankful for lots of stuff, but mostly right now, I am thankful for Pie.

BUG!

So, we spent our day wiping our hard drive with an "area 51" disk. That's right, we got a BUG. This one was particularly heinous, even going so far as to completely annihilate our Norton's anti-virus program, causing it to have total fatal errors. So, we put the baby pictures on disks, and music on disks, and a few programs we didn't want to hunt for and wiped the computer back to factory specs. I HATE BUGS. We seem to have gotten this one from a blogspot blog. Indy's dad was cruising the blog-o-sphere using the "next blog" button conveniently located in the upper right hand corner of most blogs that are powered by blogger. He got to one that proclaimed "HA HA YOU ARE INFECTED" and indeed we were. So, be careful out there folks! And for those of you in the US, happy thanksgiving. I will be spending mine re-installing all of our crap back on to the computer instead of watching football. Sigh, Damn BUGS!

Let's Go Retro!

My number one son. I call him Brother Duck. That would be the 56-14 kind of Duck. The type of Duck that wears green and yellow and Quacks after each touchdown. Dakota. Him of the bright yellow rain boots, and silky blond ringlets. Him of the race car t-shirts and odor-ific feet!

He is my pride, and my heart. My teenager that I see far to rarely. My first taste of real love.

(this post took me 35 minutees to write!)

Neat Toy

Jenny (867-5309) turned me on to this fun TOY!
(click on TOY! to check it out... click on Jenny to check her out!)

Local Color

For today, Indiana and I went walking and decided that we would like to share some of the beauty that we see within just a block of our home. Late Fall is a wonderful time here in Oregon. I hope that these pictures can help us to share the coolness of the crisp air, the delicate scent of wood burning in fireplaces, and the brilliant sparkling blue of the sky with each of you. Oh, and of course, share some of Indiana's delight in all of these things!

Look for your own beauty!

Just Standing Around

It's so nice to have a smoothie and just stand around smiling. I love when Indy is just happy to hang around and be a sweet heart. No crazy, cranky, screaming. Just chilling out and being a great kid.

Indy has an addiction to Costco Berry Smoothies. Today I walked Indy, in his stroller, to Fred Meyer, and we got to try out their smoothie. He got a banana, strawberry, blackberry mix. It was seriously good! I had to put some into a bottle because I couldn't shovel it into his mouth with the spoon fast enough!

If it wasn't for bad luck...

The other day I ranted about Fisher Price. Sure, they used to be THE premier kids stuff maker. So, I called them and explained how bad they sucked to their customer service people. We will be getting some replacement parts, some refunds, and some gift certificates from them.

So, today I was listening to Dean Martin on the brand new Bose system that we purchased less than ten days ago. It stopped playing, for no reason. The power just shut off on it. So, I thought maybe it is the fuse box... Wait! The rest of the stuff plugged in there, and on that fuse have power. Maybe it is the "plug in - outlet thingy" it is plugged in to... Nope, other stuff works when plugged into that outlet. So I thought maybe one of the wires came loose in the back... Nope all in and secure. It just wont turn on. It has no power to it. It has my Rat Pack Christmas CD in it!

So, now I think that I am just not lucky. Maybe Fisher Price doesn't suck, because I KNOW Bose doesn't suck however it appears that MY Bose does. So, maybe it isn't that Fisher Prices products are shoddy, maybe its just that I AM THE ONLY PERSON IN THE WORLD WHO GETS CRAPPY PRODUCTS FROM EVERYONE!!!

Michelle

If you ARE visiting from Michele's , ignore this post!!

If you ARE NOT here visiting from Michele's Blog and are wondering what all those folks mean, in the comment section, when they say: "Hello, Michele sent me" - Head on over to her site and join in spreading the comment cheer. She is having her weekly three day meet and greet! Come, play along.

(This post is dated Sunday so it will be on top through-out the meet and greet weekend!

(edit: As some of you noticed... I am terrible at spelling other people's names! i have gone through and hopefully fixed the "double L" issue! thank you for pointing it out, i do try to be acurate!!)