Merry Christmas!

Future trumpet player?

Teamwork!

Isaiah and his look-alike Auntie Denise. Just a few hours after this picture was taken Denise received an amazing shiny diamond ring from her boyfriend Lendl. We are super stoked for them and can't wait for their wedding in May!

We went on a Christmas day walk - Patrick wasn't too happy about it.

Now that Christmas is over it's time for chocwat detox.

Have a happy New Year!

Does this snowsuit make me look fat?

For the few of you who are not Facebookers, here's a picture of Jack after he cut himself shaving last week. Really.

And Isaiah got to try rice cereal for the first time last week. It was not a hit but certainly fun to observe.

Winter days (here already?)

This guy had his 4 month checkup a week ago. He's healthy and huge. He weighed in at 17 lbs 3 oz which puts him in the 89th %. And he's almost 27 inches long - or is it almost 28? He's at the 96th (or 98th?) percentile. Either way - he's a big boy and I'm starting to pull out the 9 month clothes for him (which he does not have much of!)

Before the Big Snow.

After the Big Snow. Not the most ideal driving conditions for Thanksgiving.

Patrick's first shiner.

Sunset in God's Country. Taken from our front porch.

Timber!

Dan brought down all the half-dead aspen trees on our side yard and a pine in the back. Jack is very knowledgeable and skilled in tree felling and had a lot to inform me.

Graham crackers. Nuff said.

Just itching to move around with big brothers.

Growing up

Jack is our little man stuck in a child's body. Every morning when he wakes up (albeit in his fleece footy pajamas) he needs to shave with Daddy and put on his "oderant". The other morning at breakfast he wanted to read World magazine, just like I did. Before you think he's growing up too fast, he's staring intently at a picture of a lawn mower on that page. He's not quite ready for the political articles yet.

Later that morning he decided he wanted to make coffee.

And here's our happy Isaiah. He's not a tiny little thing anymore. Look how he fills in that bouncy chair. He just loves to watch everything going on around him and finds much to laugh at.

This isn't a particularly interesting picture but I had to include one with Patrick in it. I tend to feel guilty if I leave one of the boys out of a blog post. Jack and Patrick are really becoming good playmates. The past several days they'll just go off together and play. Usually Jack leads them in some adventure involving a tractor, rowboat, donkey, castle and a dragon. Usually all within the same journey. I'm really enjoying this new change in their playing habits and look forward to it developing more.

Cutie Pie

Here's for you, Mom!

Master Potato Heads

I knew the day would eventually come when the boys figure out that Mr. Potato Head parts are more fun to stick into their own face than a potato's.

It's been a beautiful fall!

Smorgasboard

We don't feed him cheese... honest!

Jack doing his own thing, as always.

I tricked Brenna and Emily into helping me paint the bedroom during their vacation time. I was exceedingly thankful for their help and love the outcome.

And if this video isn't adorable, then I don't know what is.

I don't normally do this, but head on over to my friend Kathryn's blog for a chance at winning a gift certificate for something fun for your house - http://kathrynmchurch.blogspot.com/

Some before and after

We had all of our windows and our sliding glass door replaced this week. To say that we love it would be an understatement. I decided to replace our old ratty dining room curtains with some from Ikea. I also spray painted the existing curtain rod "rubbed oil bronze." We're keeping the curtains in the living room but I will definitely be painting the rods in there to match the dining room. You can't really notice the difference in the picture, but a huge impact in person.

And check out that old window. Windows are supposed to be transparent, right? Well, this one wasn't. So we are very happy to be able to look our our window now and see Paradise Ridge.

And no post would be complete without a happy fat-baby picture.

Grandpa Bakken's 90th Birthday Bash

We went out to Seattle this weekend for Dan's Grandpa's 90th birthday party. We always have such a blast when we go out to visit, and this was no exception.

Jack was helping with the cleaning.

Patrick didn't help so much, but he did enjoy playing with Jesse.

Dan helped out with the meat. Look at that stack of ribs!

And I helped Becky out with the appetizers.

This guy just napped. What a lazy baby.

He had his 2 month checkup last week. He weighed in at 14 lbs 1 oz and measured 24.5 inches, putting him in the 95th percentile for both height and weight. I couldn't believe he gained 2 lbs in just 3 weeks. He far outweighs Jack and even Patrick at this age. What a chunk!

And here's my new copper pots (garage sale find!) hanging up on the wall Julia Child-style.

Fair Time

Stale old ice cream cones were a hit for snack time this week. Now whenever Jack wakes from his nap he asks for "pinecones" for snack.

Jack thought he needed a bit of Vicks on his nose.

We went to the fair this afternoon. The chickens were the most popular with the boys.

That is until they saw the farm equipment...

Birthday Bash

Well, he did it again. Jack has completed his third trip around the sun and we thought we'd celebrate.

After blowing out one candle he exclaimed "I did it!" We encouraged him to keep trying and after several unsuccessful attempts Jack cheerfully chirped "I'm doing a good job!"

Between the Toebbens, Jones and us, there were 8 boys and 1 girl aged four and under. Poor Abbey :-)

Enjoying his birthday loot: cuddling with his weed whacker while watching Peter Pan.

And I finally finished Isaiah's baby blanket. Let me just say - there's a reason why most people crochet baby blankets. Knitting something this big is really slow-going. Isaiah sure grew a lot faster than his blanket did. I think he's shaping up to be our chubbiest boy yet. And our best sleeper. I know I've mentioned it already, but I'm still ecstatic. This boy is already sleeping through the night, where has the time flown?!