1.2.3.

one puppy fast asleep.

 one puppy sawing logs.

 and one puppy desperate to play.

a typical evening in our house.

please play with me. 

nativity.

i got cole his own nativity scene this year.  i figured that it would be a good thing for him to learn the 'key players' in the christmas story.  cute right?

 i had to chuckle at the political correctness of the wise men.  

 here is baby jesus.  we have had lots of good conversation about baby jesus.  it started out with me teaching him about baby jesus, that he is laying in a manger and was born in a stable and is God's son and so on.  

however, the conversations have quickly turned to "don't throw baby jesus", "please don't eat baby jesus", "cole, please don't give baby jesus to jake", "please don't chunk baby jesus across the room" and...well, you get the point.  

so baby jesus is well loved and well played with around here.  cole is especially fond of him compared to the other figures which i think is cute (although the camel is a close second).

is it just me, or does it look like jesus is giving two thumbs up? 

ornaments.

i put up our christmas tree this past week.  i LOVE christmas.  i love christmas decorations, although i don't have too many.  and i really love my christmas ornaments.  i have at least one ornament from every year of my life and i love to go through them all and hang them on the tree.  here are some of my favorites.

my little mouse in a pinecone from my first christmas

the bread dough ornaments from '82 and '92

 the light-up gingerbread house

 bernard and bianco...these treasures came from the mcdonalds happy meal box in 1988 (i think)
these are silly but over the years, the silliness turned into sentiment and now i love them.  thank you mickey d's.    

 and the best for last....jesus in a nutshell!  made in sunday school when I was like 4 and my christmas tree is not complete without it!

last year cole received some really special ornaments for his first christmas.

this one was from my cousin's family.

 this one was from my parents.

aren't they so cute?

i have many more ornaments but i will refrain from picturing them all for you. so now you have a little glimpse into our christmas.  i will tell you about more christmas traditions later. 

walkin'

well, cole is totally walking everywhere now.  he started walking on november 6th, taking 7 steps but then when he got pretty sick, he regressed and didn't walk for about 2 weeks.  but he has regained his skills and has taken off.  soon i will post some video (as soon as i learn how :) ) but here are some pictures of him walking.  ignore the fact that he has no pants on, pants are optional in our house.  at least for those under 2 years old.

as cole was walking around, he climbed into his little chair and made some interesting poses...

and then i took my cell phone away from him because he was throwing it across the room....repeatedly, and these are the pictures that followed

mean mama.