January 1-13

Hmmmm....its January 13 already. Think it is time for a blog post?

Here's a little run down on what we've been up to so far this year.

Getting our New Years cards out.


A LOT of jumpin'! The boys are loving the trampoline they got from my parents for Christmas. They go out there almost every evening after dinner to jump, even though it is super chilly.


Playing with limes. Yup. Limes. A few fell off our tree prematurely and the boys started playing with them. Now they are obsessed and play with them every day.

Right before I took this picture, Jacob threw a lime right at my face and hit me right below the eye. Ouch!

They throw them against the hedge and call it 'ping pong'

They put them in their shoes

In their brother's ear

and down their shirt

Isaac had to show me both the green lime

and the yellow one (not quite ripe yet)


I got to pick up my mother's ring and I LOVE it!!


We've been potty training Isaac - AGAIN! He was really getting the hang of it this summer, then lost interest. We started again and he's doing really well, as you can see by this chart. This is week two of Operation No More Diapers - Forever!


Alan is officially on sabbatical. The U of R started classes this week and even though Alan pops into the office to do a bit of work, he isn't teaching classes. Whoot! He's got some research to work on, a conference (or two) to go to, a honey-do list to finish, etc....He'll keep busy, never fear!

Jacob is back to school, though, and causing trouble - throwing sand on kids, being disruptive during centers. Jeesh! I am hoping it is just taking him some time to adjust being back at school after being off for a few weeks. Naughty, naughty! I am sure he gets that from Alan!

Alan has been whipping us up some fantastic meals! Here Isaac is enjoying duck breast with a port wine and cherry sauce. He loved that sauce and was literally licking his plate.



Alan also made a duck risotto that was sooooo good and some homemade sweet potato gnocchi with a sage butter sauce, pancetta and hazelnuts. Oh.my.goodness! You've heard of the freshman 15, right? Where college freshmen gain 15 pounds? Well, I think if Alan keeps this up, I'll be experiencing the sabbatical 77!!

And speaking of food, we've been enjoying the eggs our chickens have been laying. All the little girls we got this spring are laying, but we think our older 2 have been hiatus for a while. Not sure why.....
Look at all the colors and shapes!


The boys 'helped' Alan plant a cherry tree. They were mostly just 'digging for treasure'.



A hole filled with water is sooooo tempting!


Today Isaac decided a nap wasn't cool so we all headed up to Oak Glen to show Alan the neat little park we discovered a while back.
Jacob is getting so brave!

Isaac had to try too, but got a little freaked out.


Our little cowboys



Mr. Cool on the bridge. He got the Lightning McQueen shirt from my parents for Christmas and he absolutely loves it. I'll put a shirt on him in the morning, but at nap time he always asks me to wear his Cars shirt. So if you see him in the afternoon, he's probably wearing that shirt. I wash it every night!!


Everyone took a turn down the tunnel slide.

It took a lot of coaxing, but we finally convinced Isaac to go down with Alan.




Balancing act


We attempted some family shots using the timer. They aren't great, but believe me, this is pretty good considering the boys didn't even want to sit. I'll admit - we bribed them. We told them if they sat on the stools, we would get some apple pie.



Fun in the bubble



And I'll leave you with this.....

Bubble Butt!!