Max has drawn us lots (LOTS) of pictures, but today he wrote me my first note. I opened my door this morning to find a paper airplane made out of a piece of play money, with a note that said: MOM I MADE OOU PEREPAM I was so excited that he spelled ‘made’ right! We’ve been learning about silent e’s. It’s one thing to be able to read them and a lot harder to write them. Good job, son! 🙂

I heard Max coughing a couple of times today, and I asked him when it had started? He said, “It just appeared to me.” (sounds like all that Biblical verbage is sinking in. 🙂 Lucy-isms: “Ain so happy to see you!” “Actually, Momma…” “I awready” (did that) “That’s GWOSS!” “Hello, my name is Lucy.” Then she instructed me on what I should say, “Hello, my name is Momma.” To her dolly Anna one day, “No whineen. No fussin’. You have a time-out.” And she put Anna in the time-out chair. “Thank you for not peein in diaper!” She says to me when she wants me to be proud of this feat. By the way – from Matt’s earlier post regarding our surprise rainy Sunday evening: the leak I found in the middle of the night basically started only after I had entered the room. It was dribbling squarely on Matt’s laptop, which I scooted away and wiped down (and later checked – it was fine). But there’s some more grace in the mess for you!

Well, you can count on me! I’m usually about a month behind for the pics and news. 🙂 Christmas this last year was really super. We were all healthy and had many fun things to do. It was a pretty packed schedule, actually. First to Auntie Jan’s house to celebrate her 12/23 birthday, then to the famous Christmas Eve party at Granpa and Granma Seal’s house. We stayed overnight with Mike and Syl (and Auntie Katie, Abby and Alex were there too!), then jumped on a plane on Christmas morning to Oregon. Our week there was just great – fun times with family and (as previously blogged) a great day in the snow. Then I left a day early to do a wedding in Santa Barbara on 12/30! A bit crazy, yes – but all worked out fine. One night we were away, Carpinteria had bizarre 70 mile an hour winds. Our 2 roof tarps (though tightly battened down), were uprooted and tossed in the wind like Kleenex (sayeth our neighbors). God was gracious, because if it had rained as well, our ceiling was totally exposed. As in everything, we give thanks.

Smart Auntie Kelly giving Max some Legos!

Gingerbread House time

Sibling Snuggles at Auntie Jan’s birthday dinner

Crazy kids with Yaya and Poppa

Yaya with the picture swag I made

Lovely ladies! Grandma Jo, Jan and Sylvie

Our Fab Four at Christmas Eve

Wonderful Gma and Gpa Seal

Christmas Eve smiles

Opening stockings on the plane

Cuddles with Cena and Buddy

Doesn’t everyone blow bubbles on Christmas?

My Momma and Me

Christmas Day with Gran and Don

Tonight Max was at AWANA and Toby was at the Weinbender’s house watching American Idol in glorious high definition. That left Lucy and me home. We had a great time wrestling and tickling and flying and playing hide-and-seek. (She peeks when she is counting, so we have to have a discussion on cheating. But that is balanced out by the fact that she is really easy to find since she always hides in the same place and giggles like crazy.) When it was time for the pajamas, I took out her hair clip and tousled her mane. That turned into 10 minutes of more tickles and Lucy rubbing her hair all around saying ‘Crazy Hair’. Below is one example of ‘Crazy Hair’.

Crazy Hair

I look like the schmo because Matt does his blog posting right away – and I seem to take forever! Ah well – here are some of our favorites from our Thanksgiving time in Orange County with the Theule and Nienhuis families.

Wow! Everyone is smiling and looking in the right direction.

Gotta have the silly one too

Max’s first horsey ride

Amazing! Look at the first fish Max has ever caught!

Okay – here’s the real size of the fish with no camera tricks.

Silly Daddy and Lucy