This week we:

Built amazing block towers. (The trick to a tall tower on carpet, we discovered, is to first make a foundation of 4 blocks. In case you wanted to know.)

Took pictures of each other taking pictures. (That's the new camera Sam got for Christmas and he LOVES it! He's taken almost 500 pictures. Most of them are of the carpet. I'll do a separate post sometime with his pictures.)

Watched Afton play. (AKA lay/lie there.)

Brushed our teeth. And our cheeks.

Had some tummy time. First minute goes pretty well.

Two minutes in, she usually looks like this:

Woke up from great naps.

Held each other.

And tried rice cereal for the first time. Do you think she liked it?

Me neither. While Afton was hating the cereal, Sam was loving the chocolate chip cookie.

New Year's Events

New Year's started off with a bike ride for Sam and Dan. Sam helped Dan fix the tire on my bike. (Dan has to ride my bike b/c it's the one with the kid seat on the back.)

 After Afton woke up, we decided to head to the zoo. We thought it would be really crowded, but we got there early and it wasn't too bad. We had a great time. The weather was kind of cool, but in the sun it was great.


Sam really likes to chase birds.

 Playing a drum in the African area.

 While we were there, we could go and feed a giraffe. We thought Sam might be scared, but he really liked it.

 Check out that tongue!

 We finished off with a ride on the carousel.

 And we took the train around Hermann Park. It was a really great morning!

Saturday was also my sister's b-day. Happy birthday, Candice!

Christmas 2010

We had a great Christmas break! We headed up and over to Charlottesville, Virginia, to spend some time with my family. We realized this year how hard it is to do fun stuff when you've got to schedule your day around the napping schedules of 7 kids! But we still had a great time. We went to Bodo's Bagels on multiple occasions, a bounce house place, 7-11, etc. Kirk planned a scavenger hunt for us on UVA campus, Dan and I went on a date, and we just had fun hanging out with my parents, my siblings and their families. Thanks, Mom and Dad for everything!

Here's a smattering of pictures. It's hard to tell which ones to choose when the thumbnails are so small.

My parents finished their basement and the kids LOVE it!

 Afton and Charlotte - born 4 days apart.

 Feel the Christmas love. Kirk and Gretchen.

 Mom and Candice.

 Grandpa and Sam in the awesome playhouse.

 Playing in the SNOW! He didn't have snow shoes.

 Bounce house. Candice got like 3 different injuries from doing this. What a trooper.

 Comatose cousins watching some Pixar shorts on TV.

 Friends!

 Christmas Eve dinner table #1.

 Christmas Eve dinner table #2.

 Christmas morning. Afton slept through the festivities.

 Teresa and baby Aiden.

 Zoey.

With the exception of Sam's barfing antics and the flight home husbandless, we had a wonderful Christmas. Hope you did, too!