Harlan is my handsome little man!
Wes on his 31st birthday at Chuck E Cheese's!
A blurry picture outside the Butterfly House
Checking out the bugs
Cockroaches!!!!!! (Really gross: it had no top!)
Butterfly watching
Wes made a friend. Actually, at one point he had three of them on his head.
Sophie the butterfly
Harlan the butterfly
Lillie the butterfly
There was a really fun playground outside the butterfly house!
Lots of climbing to do
Food pantry pictures ... helping Sean push the cart
Kaitlyn and Harlan sitting on the wall outside the food pantry
Using the box crusher with help
This is from the day Wes came with us!
He loves his sister!
At the YouZeum ... looking at bones.
He told her to lie down and pretend to be hurt. Then he helped her get up and walked with her to the back of the ambulance. I forget what was 'wrong' with her, but he fixed her up.
At the farmers' market
The kiddos played music with this guy!
We ate homemade honey ice cream and bought some bread and had a fun time!
Daddy is magical. :)
Teaching Sophie to skate
A few friends of mine the night we went to see New Moon.
Our friends the Slades!
More of the Slades! (That's Anna, Sophie Love, and Myrna. We differentiate the Sophies: Sophie Love and Sophie Bella.)
Kaitlyn Stancliffe, Davy Shwalb, Harlan and Conner Stancliffe.
Henry Brubaker, Harlan and Josh Slade
We had an India night with the Slades at our house ... I made Indian food, Sara made some naan, and we listened to Indian music. Really fun times!
Lillie dressed up as Fern from "Charlotte's Web" one day for school. It was spirit week, and this was favorite book character day.
Sophie and Ella, her best friend at school.
Sophie got a balloon at the store! She enjoyed pushing the little buggy.
That's me at a parent meeting at Sophie's school. Harlan was taking pictures to entertain himself.
Black olives!!
He is always doing fun tricks.
He and Lillie are big helpers!
Nana and Papa (my parents) came to visit for Thanksgiving! They brought lots of goodies. Here, Papa was demonstrating the proper use of a yo-yo.
Nana shows Harlan his new shirts.
And Sophie loved her new dress!
Nana played ring-around-the-rosie.
Sport Dog got a little too friendly ... he has no concept of personal space. (Look at my mom's face!!)
Nana read bedtime stories!
Our Christmas card picture. I cropped it before we sent it out. Wes took a ton, but the only one that was any good was the first one he took! Everyone was looking and smiling, and Sport Dog wasn't trying to escape!
Putting up Christmas lights
He loves to get on the roof!
Sophie's massive curls, all brushed and pretty.
Wes at the hospital ... He's a doctor, ya know! (Weird!)
Lillie's hair cut
I don't know who took this or what is going on here, but they sure are cute!
We went to see the Living Windows displays downtown. It was in the 20s outside, so it was very cold! But we had a good time!
This was a neat one. Elvis impersonators.
Wes has now learned how to build fires without using gas or a blowtorch!
Meet Bananas, Lillie's class mascot. They get to take turns bringing him home for the weekend. He has a journal for each kiddo to place pictures of what they did with him and write a little bit about it. He went with us to Schnuck's, the grocery store ...
Lillie taught him a few things.
... And a roller skating lesson!
Lillie's Level 2 skating graduation
She looked so sweet.
See her in the background? She got to be a really good skater. I am really sad that she doesn't want to do it anymore.
This is Matte (Muh-TAY). She was in level 1 and 2 skating lessons with Lillie. She is also in the other first grade class at Lillie's school.
Sophie is a jolly old soul. :D
SNOW!!!!! Lillie was so excited!
Sport Dog's first snow!
Lillie made a snow angel.
Sophie learned how to NOT run on ice! (She was fine. Just surprised!)
Making a snowball.
Oatmeal the Snowman
Wes builds Oatmeal's dad, O.J.
OJ and Oatmeal
Lillie helps to shovel the snow.
Harlan just wanted to throw snow balls at everyone.
The monkey bars in the art room are super fun!
Ahhh, a nice moment of sharing and having fun together ... I don't want to say these are rare ... just infrequent.
Santa at the church party
Lillie talked to him intently
Harlan told him he wanted a balloon for Christmas
Sophie helped put the chairs away!
Then she stood on the chair cart, and someone came up from behind and started pushing it. She didn't see them; she just felt it start moving, and she immediately got very excited and stuck her arms straight out! (We've been watching a lot of Superman lately ...)
Fancy pants!
My gap-tooth girl!
Cutie.
Lillie is on the far right in the front. This is all of the first graders from Lillie's school. They only have two classes of them.
Harlan carried a 17-lb bag of dog food upstairs!
Harlan, Sophie and I took a walk on campus one day. Sophie loved this. She called it "The Castle." And she asked me if the princess was in the top of it.
Signing Christmas cards.
We ALL wrote our names on 40 cards! Pretty impressive, yeah!!
She has a thing for wreaths.
Lillie's school party.
Never enough books!
Sophie's school party.
Her favorite teacher, Becca. (Becca taught her last year, but I don't think she works with her this year.)
We all got to see Santa AGAIN! How lucky can these kids get?!
These are all of the ladies who work at Sophie's school.
Pinata time at the Rules' house!
Harlan was a stud!
Lillie gave it a few good smacks as well.
Then Wes sent the body flying off toward the garage door, and the head flying off in the opposite direction.
Victory!!
We each chose an item to put on our plain wreath. Wes chose a motor (because he likes to invent), Lillie chose a paintbrush and play-doh, Sophie chose a toy pony, I chose a piece of my pottery, and Harlan drew a stable ... From the Christmas story, you know.
Lillie and Ephraim Black as Mary and Joseph. We went to a Mexican themed Christmas party at the Blacks' house. And ANOTHER PINATA!! Again, Harlan was knocking the junk out of that thing! We've gotta get him on a baseball team!
My new and improved pottery studio! Actually, now it has even more shelving than this!
My first kiln load ever!
My second kiln load! Lots of little vases to give to the kids' teachers.
One little vase
Another little vase
A slightly larger vase and a little cup I put my rings in when I am getting covered with clay.
Speaking of getting covered with clay, here are a few pictures.
That's me.
I'm makin' stuff.
That's a bowl.
This is my friend Sara Slade, who bought a few pieces of pottery from me! My first ever pottery sale! Yippee!
Wes is making Harlan's new guitar gently weep. As in, "Plleeeease, take some lessons!" Haha.
All ready for the big day!
We didn't have to dream of a White Christmas! We had one for real! Seriously ... Christmas Eve=no snow; Christmas morning=SNOW!! It was like magic ... all those presents, all that snow! Perfect! If we had to spend Christmas away from family, this was the way to do it.
Harlan's new t-ball set from Grandma and Grandpa Rayburn
Lillie's new Polly Pockets from us
Beatles Rock Band!
Sophie's new baby from us
Harlan's new socks from Grandma and Grandpa Rayburn
Wes's gifts from my mom and dad
My hat, scarf and scale from my mom and dad. Now I can start out with the same amount of clay to make matching sets of bowls, plates, cups, or whatever!
Sport Dog also enjoyed his Christmas gifts.
Lillie loves her new loom!
She's working on a pot holder.
Sophie didn't feel good on Christmas day. She curled up on the couch with a blanket over her face. Wes laid down with her and she put her little hand on his face.
Cute hairs!
Sara Slade made Harlan an apron and chef's hat. When he puts them on, he insists that he is NOT Harlan ... He is Chef Pasgetti! (Pronounced sort of like 'spaghetti' ... you get it, right?)
Harlan's connectagons from my parents. They are very fun building tools.
Sophie is my sweetheart. Even though she was only faking sleep in this picture. :)
The goblet I made to ring in the new year with some sparkling cider. We had some friends over -- The Stancliffes and the Slades -- 10 kids and 6 adults all together -- and partied till after midnight!!! Best New Year's Eve ever!
That's me eating junk food and talking to my mom on the phone. Hi, Mom!!
