Christmas!

To our surprise Li-Li was up first on Christmas morning. But it wasn't long before big brother woke up and ran to see whether Santa had come. Indeed he had!


We managed to lure the kids away from the tree to do stockings first. DHV had to help Leigh with hers.

After that it was on to the big stuff. Danny was pretty excited to get his own "conpoonter" just like Daddy's.

Leigh mastered her ride-on toy without a hitch. She hasn't quite figured out how to move it yet but she enjoys getting on and off and pressing the buttons.

Present opening came to an abrupt halt when Danny got to his Wiggles car and figurines. He spent the next several hours playing with these guys and singing "toot toot chugga chugga" at the top of his lungs.

In the meantime, Leigh got dressed in her Christmas duds and sported a barrette for the very first time.

Eventually, DHV gave the Wiggles a rest and decided to try out that laptop. It has a variety of letter and number games on it and he gets pretty excited when he gets the answer right. "Yeah!"

Leigh's Busy Ball Popper also provides entertainment for the whole family.



When Sandma and Sampa Vining arrived we headed back to the tree to finish opening presents. DaDKV assembled Danny's fire truck while Leigh looked on, plotting her next move.
The Grandparents V scored big with this Eagles helmet and practice uniform.

Who wouldn't be scared of this guy....
...especially once the hiking sticks from the Bradford crew come out!?!?! (We hope you're ready Elsie and Theo!)

While big brother was busy dressing up and playing football, Leigh took the opportunity to get her mitts on some of his new stuff.

And eventually they settled into some nice parallel play.

A Merry Christmas was indeed had by all!

Christmas Eve

As usual, Christmas was spread out over a 2 day period for us this year. Christmas Eve started off with some dancing in the kitchen while we waited for Sandma Steffie, Sampa Lee, Aunt Molly, and Jeff to arrive.


We always enjoy seeing the kids play nicely together. Unfortunately, the dancing was shortly followed by an incident on the stairs.

Li-li recovered nicely once Santa's helpers arrived bearing gifts.


DHV was especially excited about his new parking garage.

Later on, he took many many pictures of us with his new camera. Say cheese!

Next up: Christmas Day with Lindy and Sandma and Sampa Vining.

Winter Share Dance

Last Tuesday was the Winter Share Dance at Danny's school. The class interpreted a farm scene painting for our entertainment. Danny was the farmer (although he wanted desperately to be a horse). Unfortunately he forgot to wear his farmer's hat, which was the best element of his costume.

Here comes the farmer, a horse, and some pigs!

There was lots of dancing, running, and skipping. As well as a lot of staring at the moms and dads in attendance.


The farmer's main role was to pump water from the well. Danny performed this task with gusto.

And then everyone drank.

Later on, everyone rolled around in the mud with the pigs.


And then they played with water, represented by these blue streamers.


A good time was had by all, even our reluctant little farmer.

Christmas Tree

Today, for the first time, ever, we cut our own tree.
Danny's asking me why I am wearing an Eagles hat. Leigh is looking for the way out.
Danny was very happy when we let him handle the saw. "I will carry it." "I want to help." "Let me do it myself!"
Danny, saw.
Leigh, wary.
Countless trips with suitcases lashed to the Grandparent V's station prepared Daddy for this task. He fell back on the old axiom: some knots, good; more knots, better. And next year, bring some bungie cords.
To home, and ornamenting of said tree.Leigh found some packing paper that made crinkling noises.Cause and effect.They became good friend, Leigh and that Amazon brown paper. Like Linus and his blanket."Ta-Daaaa!"Only two ornaments were broken in the making of this post. Maybe closer supervision next year.

First Snow!

We woke up this morning to find a winter wonderland waiting for us outside. Unfortunately the snow had already turned to freezing rain but that didn't stop us from bundling up and getting out there to play.

DHV worked on snowballs...

... while Leigh focused on staying upright.

And once DadKV made it out, a rather messy episode of "the Eagles game" broke out.