O Christmas Tree

Things are getting pretty elfy at our house now that we are mostly not sick. Last night we got the tree, and Andrew and I put it up after Bryce was in bed (he tends to be a little overly helpful around very large things like trees). We put the lights on this morning, at which point Bryce decided Christmas was really cool.

Getting ready for the tree hunt with a snack. He is having a hat phase if you were wondering. Both of these are a little small but he likes them.

We'll take these 2 please.

He was mostly interested in pushing the giant cart, not the trees. He looks like such a big boy in this picture.


Oooh, lights!

I was asking him to find different colors in this one. So far he only knows yellow.

And here we're smelling it. It smells very good.

Christmas is Coming

We've spent this week off with Andrew home being sick, so we are hoping for Christmas to wait until we get better. At least my voice is starting to come back, cause I am really tired of Andrew quoting The Godfather every time I tell him something. Today we got the lights up while Bryce was napping.


He was pretty excited when we went outside and turned them on after dinner. More excited about the robo-penguin that is by the front door. Yes he's wearing capri pajama pants...long story.

In this last one, he is showing me where the lights are.


Oh, and one more, since I couldn't muster up the blog post for it after the loss.

Happy Thanksgiving

Not that long ago I was doing the post for our first time having Thanksgiving in our new house. We decided to host the family shenanigans again this year. Here they are, in no particular order:

The table

The fam (I'm sure we could have fit at least 10 or 12 more people in this shot)



My son waiting hopefully for the food. Notice he's the only one at the table. It's about 30 min til the food's ready at this point, so I don't know if that finger he's chewing is going to hold him off.

Bryce and Uncle "Ey-ic" (Bryce is a big fan of Eric)


The fam (minus Uncle Q, who had to work-bummer, and cousin Leah, who was asleep-lucky her), ready to eat!

Bryce, Mommy, and Daddy. We look surprisingly alive in the picture, by this point Andrew and I had both lost our voices, but Bryce hasn't caught on.

Murray Farms Take 2

I had a good time with my buddy Garrett at the farm

We rode in the wagon.

Played with some corn (who knew corn could be this exciting?)



And picked some apples. Good times.

Murray Farms Take 1

Yesterday we went to the fruit farm with our good friends the DeClercqs. Bryce was feeling a little under the weather and we were too, since the Halversons had only gotten 2 hours of sleep the night before. But, we decided to go anyway, and it was fun.

There's a bouncing pillow.

And it is really, really big....Mommy even bounced on it, but there are no pictures to commemorate that.


They had duck races, a rather clever idea. Our duck was very fast! (These came out a little blurry since my camera was on a weird setting-you can just barely see the pink duck in the bottom left)

They had pumpkins.

And a lot of room to run around. He doesn't look sick, does he?


We tried to take a family photo, but after 2 hrs of sleep, I don't think this one will make the Christmas cards.

My great grandpa Daniels would be proud of this one, my first time driving a tractor:


Then we walked a long way to pick some apples and avocados. (Yes those are palm trees in the background, this is California after all)

Secret Stash

I have a stash of toys that used to be a secret.....not so much anymore. Bryce found them today and was rather pleased with himself. Sadly, it looks like I will need a new spot, but it is surprising that he's stayed out of them this long.

Hey mom, look what I found.


These ones are mostly for littler kids, but he doesn't seem to care.

Nana's Birthday

Yesterday my nana turned 35 :0), so she and grandpa came to my house to celebrate. We went to the park and had a good time. Happy birthday Nana!





Here we are checking out the neighbor's "goggies". They like to bark at me.

I look a little guilty.

Sneaking some of nana's birthday pie while she smiles for the picture. Yum, what is this tasty sugary stuff? Nana's birthday is the best!

New Favorite Jammies

You can probably see why. They are blue with ducks, what's not to like? Plus they seem to be very slenderizing.



These last 2 were shot during a penguin attack! In our house chucking of the penguin at unsuspecting victims is encouraged.

Things I Like

Drawing. He tells me he drew Biscuit (the dog).



Helicopters, or any other type of vehicle that makes noise or goes fast. He's a boy, what do you expect?




Reading books, still upside down, but he likes to do it himself now instead of sitting in my lap.

The Kid is Mine

My son looks a lot like me. If you doubt this, I present exhibit B:


His eyes, however, are his daddy's (and hopefully like his daddy, they can see better than a bat)

A Puzzle

Where oh where have all our puzzle pieces gone? Could it have something to do with the fact that Bryce played quietly by himself for the last 20 min (these things never happen at the same time at our house)? Oh wait, could they be under here?


There they are! All 300 of them.

hmm, I wonder how they got under there...Yep, he's been sticking them in there one by one. Hey, if it keeps him motivated for 20 whole min., he can stick them in there any time he wants.


His other favorite pastime this week is putting on my shoes and tromping around. I'm not sure why he picks mine over Andrew's but I think it may have to do with the huge pile of them that is on the closet floor waiting to be organized.

Attack!


One last one: Mmmm, lasagna.