Reindeer, Christmas 2011 Part Two

I think the highlight of the trip for Matthew was the small herd of mule deer that gathered in the yard for their morning and evening feeding. Each morning and afternoon Matthew would wake up asking if the reindeer had come back.

There they are all gathered in the yard just outside the kitchen.

There were three bucks who were more skittish than the does.

Aaron getting up close and personal on a trip to the car.

There they are coming right up to the porch.

Some of the deer that Aaron got to walk through when he went out to the car.

The does would even come right up to the window to try to smell the people.

Christmas 2011 Part One

On December 22 we drove the 14 1/2 hours to Ennis, Montana to spend Christmas with Grandpa Rick and Grandma Ida. It was a marathon journey but we made it all the way over the mountains with very little trouble.

Matthew's first order of business on the 23rd was to get outside and play in the snow. Ennis usually doesn't have a lot of snow but we got lucky and they got about a foot a day or two before we arrived. The weather was perfect: just below freezing so the snow stayed but warm enough that Matthew could happily play outside.

As soon as he was out the front door (and had managed to navigate the ice patch) he was into the snow.

Pick it up and throw it was the order of the day. He is wearing sunglasses because we discovered on a trip to Alberta that he is really sensitive to the glare off the snow.

Throwing snow at the house because I told him he couldn't throw it at me.

Throwing snow at Daddy who was happy to throw it back.

Sissy and Beau Grandpa Rick and Grandma Ida's two 7 month old golden retrievers we got to spend the holidays with.

Following the dogs into the deeper snow.

Daddy rescuing Matthew from being overtaken by the dogs.

So happy to be outside throwing snow.

Until he got a little too much on his face. This is completely self inflicted.

Happy to be inside again eating sugar cookies.

Big Announcement

We have been sitting on this secret for a while now but decided not to shout it out until near the end of the first trimester when we knew it had a good hold on me.

This was the first test we took the Friday before Halloween a couple days after I got back from Edmonton. It turned out to be quite a shock as we had figured we had not timed the October cycle very well.

Took a second test, not because we didn't believe the first one but because the +/- is so much clearer than the single/double line.

The first ultrasound one day shy of 12 weeks.

A better picture although we all know these ultrasound pictures are not great. During the procedure he/she was really active. Hands moving around and even reaching up to rub his/her face and you could see the feet actively kicking against the side of my uterus. Scary thought though it is, this one seemed to be much more active than Matthew was at this stage.

Frosting Cookies

This year due to my lack of energy, I decided I would buy pre-made sugar cookies and have Lily and Matthew frost them for me.

Matthew's decorating consisted mainly of really big blobs of icing with lots of sprinkles on top.

Lily was more artistic to the point of mixing the three colors together to get some more interesting hues. You can see that Matthew did expand his repertoire to decorating the plate.

In the end it turns out that pre-made cookies with pre-made icing are a great kid project but just don't taste the same so I found someone to bake some for me from scratch.

Letter from Santa

First Haircut

Today Grandma Joyce came over to give Matthew his first haircut. It was way past due but it was just one of those things that kept getting pushed to the bottom of the list. I am so glad we are taking care of it. Brushing it in the mornings and post bath lately has been a painful battle between Mummy and Matthew.

Grandma was nervous.

The first cut.

Almost done the longest layer.

The cutting continues.

About halfway through. I had to stop documenting and read a book so he would sit still for 2 seconds.

Finished product. It is so much better. No more split, dry, straw like ends!

Finished product from the front. Thank you Grandma, you did a great job!!

Christmas Tree 2011

Last weekend we took a drive to Kent to pick out our Christmas tree with Grandma Joyce.

Daddy and Matthew discussing the tree choice.

This is a pretty one with all these lengths of string all over it.

Enjoying the fire on a chilly afternoon.

The best present you could find under a tree.

My pantless "helper". Funny how in Matthew's mind it is helping to remove the ornaments from the tree.

Finished product. This and the outside lights are all the decorating we will do this year. I jsut don't have the energy for more.