Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve donned cold and clear and we went down to the water to walk to Boulevard Park. Above: Gabe, Lucia, Lusana, Perrin and Mom.

Uncle Reuben and Liam brave the cold wind.

Liam and Mommy.

Liam and Daddy.

Merry Christmas!

The backyard...redone

Here is the backyard after the excavation. Gabe put down straw so the rains would not wash away our soil. We have a lot of work to do, but it feels as though we are getting closer.

We can hardly wait until spring to plant our garden.....

Art projects with Spiderman

Liam came to join me the when I was doing some carving for a Christmas present. His favorite outfit, (and persona), of late is Spiderman.

Helping Mommy....carefully, carefully.

Cutting the Christmas Tree

Our new tradition is to travel up towards Mt. Baker and visit Red Mountain Tree Farm to cut our Christmas tree. This year was cold, but no rain...which is always a plus. Gabe was the cutter and Liam supervised.

"That's right, Dad. Good cutting."

Liam enjoyed collecting the extra "trimmings".

Heading through the forest of trees.

Pondering.

Excavation!

In early December, during a stretch of cold weather, our neighbor Andrew helped us level our back yard and dig a curtain drain through our backyard.

Liam was in heaven and got to "help" Andrew drive the excavator.

What a thrill!

Gettin' down and dirty.

The big dig.

Waffles in our new house!

We have moved! We moved into our new house November 1st and last weekend we had the crew over for a waffle breakfast. We got all the kids downstairs for a photo by putting on "The Grinch" - one of my all-time favorites.

Our new house.

We've got some landscaping to do, but wait until Spring!

Liam arranges our lopsided pumpkins.

Playing in bed

The other day, Liam and I took some pictures to send to Felix, our friend in Madison who just turned 4. Liam wanted to show off his room and in particular, his bed.

Liam, the tiger.

Silly Liam.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, everyone! We spent Halloween weekend moving!! Yes, we just bought a house in our neighborhood and moved from our sweet rental of two years, into a larger, old and filled-with-character home. We are thrilled, although our list of projects is growing by the day. We will send pictures soon and get our new address out as well.

Anyway, here is our little dinosaur - getting ready to head out to our annual Halloween party at Kirstin and Bob's.

Liam shows off his "plates"

Getting ready to head out on the streets.

Dino on the move......

Happy Birthday Liam

Liam rang in his 4th birthday with a fun party at our friends Janet and Peter's house. Their son, Finn, also turned 4 recently so we threw a joint party. It was great - a huge potluck, pinata, lots of kids and, of course, cake and apple crisp.

Liam's favorite gift - a light sabor from Daddy!

Liam and Finn open their gifts.

Cutting the cake.

Tired birthday boy.

Bee stings and pumpkins

Liam got stung right between the eyes by a yellow jacket. Needless to say....he got pretty swollen. He was a trooper, but I got a lot of looks from people in the grocery store!

Liam takes a ride on Mutti's pumpkin.

Mid-Day Icecream

Nothin' like mid-day icecream. While at Cypress, Liam and Daddy took the boat to refuel and stopped at the Blakeley Island store for some ice cream.

The happy boater.

....really happy!

Fall Hike

These pictures are from the last weekend in September. We caught some warm, fall weather and took a hike out on Cypress. It was very quiet on the island that weekend. We were nearly the only ones on the beach. Liam got to try out his backpack with the built-in "camelback". Pretty cool!

Heading out.

Taking a water break.

The perfect walking stick.

Having a snack with mama.