Bella, Gabe and Josiah

It’s been crazy cold and dry for a couple of week. On one hand, it’s really handy to not have to shovel the driveway, but it’s also been so, so cold. Anyway, that finally broke and we’ve finally had some actual snow to play in. So first thing yesterday we went out to play. It was actually Josy’s first time in the snow and he loved it. I mean, he just sat there, but he was happy about it. We even made a snowman, which Gabe dubbed Rudolf the Red Nosed Snowman. And then it rained all night and Rudolf is gone. It’s a good thing we played yesterday!

Josy stole String while Gabe was at school. He might even drool on it. Don’t tell Gabe...

Josy is definitely sick, so I stayed home yesterday with both boys. Actually, Josy is remarkably pleasant for a kid that has a double ear infection. The nights have been rough, but we’ll get it all figured out eventually. But the boys and I got to have a lot of fun. Josy got to drink his coffee. We made a tower and both boys tried to knock it over. Funny story: when Gabe knocks over a tower he doesn’t yell “Timber”, he yells “Tambourine!” Gabe was teaching Josy how to play with cars. Josy even figured out how to get his car up the ramp. It was fun to watch, actually. It was the first time I’ve watched the two of them play with the same toy together. And then Gabe tried to teach Josy all sorts of tricks on his bed that I really hope he didn’t learn...

Josy has finally figured out how to sit. He’s been doing pretty well for awhile, but I didn’t trust him to stay there as he would just randomly fall over. But in the last three days he’s finally got it figured out. He’s also figured out how to go from all fours to then sitting on one hip and leaning on one arm. It’s weird to explain, but it’s actually a big step and I think it’s helped him figure out how to sit up. Josy has been sick this weekend. Actually, he’s only sick during the night and he’s fine during the day, just a little more snuggly. I don’t mind that at all, but I do mind the waking up in the middle of the night sick... Gabe is convinced that hugging someone means putting his ear on someone. That works great hugging someone bigger than him, like Dad or I, but it’s a little awkward when hugging Josy... I was getting bottles ready for Josy to take to school and apparently he was hungry because he grabbed it and did this: G: Mommy, I love you. And speaking of I love you, did

This is my last Christmas post. But Dad sent me all of his Christmas pictures that he took with his fancy new camera and they’re too cute not to share... The moment when Gabe found Bryson and Auntie Katilyn. Photobooth fun at the Holiday Village. 4 Generations  This one might be my favorite. Great Gram and my boys.

Yesterday was our anniversary, so naturally we spent the day cleaning the house. Actually, I should preface. One of us spent the day teaching Gabe how to ski. The other one of us spent the day putting the house back together after two weeks of Christmas and company, as well as rescuing the kite from the helicopter rotor... I do not have any pictures of Gabe skiing for the first time because apparently “make sure you take a picture of Gabe skiing” translates to “take a picture of him while he’s actually skiing down the mountain,” so I have a picture of the blurry top of his head as he’s going down the mountain between Pat’s skis, not a picture of him smiling while wearing a pair of skis or holding a tiny pair of skis. Next time I will be more specific... But then we left the kids with Gram and Gramps and went out to dinner just the two of us to celebrate our six years together. Oh, and Uncle Matt and Auntie Rachael’s Christmas presents showed up at Gram and Gramps’ house this week, so G

Josy is now 7 months old. He crawls on his belly, mostly sits up and eats real food. He’s no longer safe to leave on a bed for even a brief moment as he is everywhere. He had a big month with Christmas, New Years, meeting Uncle Nathan and Auntie Cassie, extra people living at our house and his baptism, but he is still just the sweetest little guy. Oh, he hates peas. And he refused to sit still for these pictures until I gave him a monster truck...

Gabe went to his 4-year-old appointment yesterday and he’s up to 25.5 pounds! That news is so exciting that it gets it’s own post!!! He also got three shots and Josy got one, so the two of them were cranky monsters last night and both went to bed early. But at least we know that Gabe is actually growing...

Josiah got baptized this week. Pat and I had been talking about it for a long time and while we were still secretly hoping we could figure out how to fly our friend Matt up to do it (the same Matt who officiated our wedding and baptized Gabe), we decided that since we had two sets of aunts and uncles, one set of grandparents and Josy’s only living great grandparent in town, this was the time to do it. Josy was pretty chill the whole time. I was afraid that he was going to grab her mic cord, but he was too interested in everything else that was going on. Oh, and somehow he got listed in the bulletin as Joshua, not Josiah. Oops... Afterwards we went out to dinner and I managed to get this adorable picture of Josy and Great Gram. 

When the weather is dark, wet and dreary, why not go on a wet hike??? This is why we all have boots and raingear, right? And yes, feel free to mock Nathan for making his wife give him a piggyback ride across the creek with some excuse about a hole in boot...