March 2012

One of our earliest bits of excitement this month was the morning we saw hot air balloons out the window.
We also got a little bit of snow, and Curtis and Lydia had fun walking in it.
However, the snow didn't last long. For the most part, it's been warm and sunny, like on this day at the park.
Jared pushed Curtis on the swing . . .
. . . and Curtis returned the favor for another child later.
The very next day, however, on the other side of the mountains, Mom got this shot of a place where the snow is still hanging on. Mom got to go to an overnight party here with other moms.
Mom spent a fair amount of time in the basement this month, checking out our "dead" computer collection. She successfully repaired a DVD drive, and she also got this laptop motherboard to run a bit, outside of its case.
A very big little event for the month: pigtails for Lydia!
You may have noticed that Lydia is pretty much always walking in pictures these days. She sure gets a lot of use out of those feet. So, we were glad to see this month that the new muffin in progress has feet, too, like this little foot:
Here's a profile picture of the new baby, a girl:
In other news, Amanda passed level 2 swimming and is looking forward to starting level 3 next month. Also, our summer plans are taking shape, which should make for some more actual news in a couple of months.

February 2012, for the most part

Our first big event for the year was snow. We haven't had any big snows, but the kids have very much enjoyed the little snows while they've lasted, especially Curtis. Favorite activities: sculpting things, making tracks, and eating snow (whether Mom says it's okay or not). And if there's not enough snow on the ground for eating, they scrape it off the cars. Amanda made a snowman during one of the snows, which alas is only preserved in memory. However, we did manage to get a picture of her trying to make a snow angel. Is this really the same kid who complained about snow back when she had to walk through it to and from school last year? Now she waits for snow eagerly and wants to store snowballs in the freezer.






Our next big news: Lydia is a biped! She stands, she walks, she's starting to dance, and any day now it seems that she's going to take off running. She especially likes being able to play more with her older siblings now. "Ring around the rosy" works so much better when you can actually be up before you fall down.



February was a big month for Amanda because she had a birthday and Grandmother came to visit for the occasion. Grandma and Grandpa had us over for a very fancy birthday dinner a couple of days before the actual birthday, but alas, our pictures of that are on someone else's camera. The actual birthday dinner of pizza was significantly less fancy, but the kids liked it all right anyway, despite the expressions the instant this photo was taken.
Mom took Amanda swimming the evening of the birthday, which meant that the other Muffins were in bed when Amanda got around to blowing out her candles (all seven of them). We went past the hospital where Amanda was born on the way to the pool. How times have changed since then! Since her birthday, Amanda has officially passed level 1 swimming, and she is excited to start level 2 next month.
Here is Amanda with her birthday doll from last year (and rather neater hair than on her actual birthday).
Amanda wanted to take pictures of her doll, and they really turned out quite well. How do you like the little feast she made for the doll?


And, last but not least, Dad got Mom these lovely flowers for Valentine's Day. Thanks, honey!

Checking in to 2012

Hello, world. We are still here. Our technology is somewhat on the fritz (except for Mom's trusty Mac, c. 2004-present), but we are all right. We had Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa and New Year's with a bottle of sparkling cider. Now the school people are in school and the homebodies are pretty much just staying home and keeping warm. Lydia has taken a step all by herself out on the open floor. Curtis has appointed himself as the official pusher for Lydia's stroller whenever we actually get out and use it. Jared got a Transformer for Christmas, and so life is good for him. Amanda is busy planning her birthday party (one can never plan these things too early). One of these days we hope to have pictures again, but for now you may rest assured that the Muffins made it safely into 2012.

Christmas 2011

We went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas 2011, just like we did for Christmas 2008. Thankfully, we could drive there this time, since we had twice as many kids to bring along as we did back then. We went up on Christmas Eve afternoon and had a Christmas dinner that night.

The next morning, of course, the Muffins were VERY excited for presents. Here we have Amanda and Lydia opening one of Lydia's presents.

Here's Curtis passing presents around.

As fun as presents are, though, the big event was the gingerbread house making. Here's Dad with the elder three Muffins deep into construction. He made the gingerbread from scratch.
Assembling the house . . .
House all together . . .
All ready to be decorated!
The finished product pictures this year are unfortunately non applicable, due to some structural issues. Still fun, though.

On the way home, the family indulged Mom in a little side trip. We went to see the "Up" house, modeled after the house in Pixar's Up. It really stands out from the other (boring brown) houses in the neighborhood. Mom had heard about it back in August, and she was glad to finally see it in person, at least on the outside.

Christmas decorating 2011

Our Christmas decorations this year were nothing fancy, just our favorite trusty traditional display, much of which was made or given by Mom's Grandma Joan when Mom was little. The advent calendar below ended up full of ornaments by Christmas, including a brand new ornament sewn on by Mom to replace one that went missing.

The real decorating event this year came a few days before Christmas when Mom and the Muffins decorated cookies. Mom went for a fairly traditional look:

The rest of the Muffins chose their own styles:




Looks like this should be an annual event. :)