Alstan's Indoor Jungle-gym

Usually Alstan is told he shouldn't climb on people, however, dad told him that his cousins Coltin and Aidan were exemptions from that rule. Thanks guys for humoring your him!

Christmas Eve and Morning

Here is a quick snap-shot of our Christmas at home.

Alstan's Christmas Concert

This is a little late, but here are some photos of Alstan's Holiday Performance. He hardly acknowledged that he had a program coming up until after we went to dad's school program. Then he sang his songs for us at home.

Curlers

We were giving Elsie's hair a practice run in curlers tonight. She loved the idea, but found them a bit difficult to fall asleep with. Notice her baby had to have curlers in too!

Art Museum

After both kids spent the night painting with water colors, tempera and finger paints, Alstan thought we should make an art museum. We put up all their work in a row around the kitchen. Then Alstan told dad to ask mom to go to an art museum. You would think that mom put these ideas in Alstan's head, but they were all his. Mom did help make his ideas happen though.

Elsie is "taking her baby shopping"

Elsie was making sure her baby was all bundled up so she didn't get cold while they were shopping. She needed her hat and gloves too, of course.

Making a Christmas List

Alstan made out his list tonight. Check it out!

Feliz Cumpleanos

Jessie had her birthday at Fiesta Cancun!

Our Little Cookie Makers

After two days of Christmas (or dinosaur) cookie making, our little ones needed a bath! It is a little hard to see, but there are two faces covered in sugar.

Making a Gingerbread Person

Alstan's December school assignment was to make a gingerbread man. He did a great job once he got going, but it took him a while. In the mean time, Elsie became very excited about making one for herself. Alstan didn't want his picture taken, but here is Elsie's.

Happy St. Nick's Day

Mom stayed up way too late last night to make these shoe treats for Alstan & Elsie. When we first showed Alstan his plate, he just said "shoes!" Later he referred to them as stinky shoes and made jokes about eating them. Elsie just enjoyed the candy inside the shoes. She was not at all interested in eating them or breaking them in any way.

Elsie's New Scarf

Mom is learning to knit! This was her first project.

Gingerbread Train

While Grandma and Grandpa Van were visiting for Thanksgiving, we made a gingerbread train. By the end of our building Elsie had reverted to eating the candy while mom and grandma finished up. They are still very excited to look at it and now that mom filled with Hershey kisses left at our house, it is pretty fun to ease the little engine's load. It is our holiday center piece now.

Bath Time

Getting Ready for Christmas

The first part of the Christmas decorations to go up were the nutcrackers. Both Alstan and Elsie got into helping mom with this... Well into playing with them anyway.