Better late than never. Here are some photos of our February holidays. (click on one to see them bigger)

Three hours and a whole roll of duck tape later… ?I am pleased to present the

puppet stage!

All that keeps it from falling flat is six diaper boxes, but the kids love it

Here’s Abby and I with a pair of her old socks. Mine is trying to talk to hers.

A polar bear Oliver made at library story time shows up to eat the tiny pink socks.

Abby did get the hang of it in the end and said lots of nice “nah nahs” with hers.

So today Nabby woke up looking like this.

But . . .

after a fine breakfast of pop-eye pancake she brightened right up!

And if that isn’t a happy child?with a runny nose and syrup in her hair I don’t know what is!

And yep, that’s a five crowns card she’s stuffing into the toy cd player. ?She always has good ideas.

Other highlights that morning included more of Nabby’s good ideas.

Oliver talking on the phone

(there’s no battery in it)

Oliver asking me what exactly I’m taking a photo of. Hah. Kids.

And other cuteness.

The kids were really excited to watch Jason set up the tree this year. Then they played with the ornaments while I decorated. I love our ornaments. They’re old ones and homemade ones that remind Jas and I of Chirstmas when we were kids. They’re mostly made of plastic, wood, or pompoms so without breaking them the kids can take them off, look at them, and make little piles on the couch. Which they do every morning.

Later that same night it snowed and the next day at breakfast the kids just fell silent in front of the sliding door staring at it. Nabby pointed a lot. I loved hearing her say “ooooo” and “what’s tat?” Oliver gave me a very serious “No” when I asked him if he wanted to go out and play in it. We went out anyway and I think he likes it better than he anticipated. He mostly just wanted to help Jason shovel the driveway though.

Just a reminder: click on a photo below to see them a little larger with captions. Flip through the set with the arrows on your keyboard or the arrows on the side of the photo that show up when you scroll over them.

Cute sauce all over the place. I just love her.

Thanksgiving was fantastic this year! Good friends of ours, the Owens and Hendricks families, made it over for the feast and it was SO delicious. Cathy’s turkey and Heather’s rolls still make my mouth water when I remember them. Yum.

I made some felt/fabric turkeys to decorate with. This is only the dessert portion of the meal. The main dishes were piled on the counters in the kitchen.

Grandma Kotter sent Oliver a Little People nativity set to open that day. Such a cute idea. It’s easy to see why he adores it so much when it lights up and plays “Away in a Manger”.

Brad and Brad!

Jason with Abby crawling like a maniac back and forth over him. She’s wispy.

Jason the busy grad student and myself.

Everyone talking after Jason’s quick Thanksgiving lesson about Curious George and a kite and a bunny. You’re probably curious now too.

Our table. It was a little more picture ready before we ate. Yes, those are my drapes from Arlington sewn together. I didn’t want to waste such a thanksgiving-ish print.

We’re so grateful for friends and family and the gospel of Jesus Christ that brings us closer together.

November 10th was Jason’s birthday and unfortunately the entire day was spent studying for a final on the 11th. Hudmuffins. We celebrated the Saturday after with a fancy dinner and pumpkin pie (he wanted pie more than cake, but I still made brownies cause what says happy b-day better than chocolate?) Everyone here helped out to make the party a success.

Oliver inspected and counted out 27 candles.

I made us some mushroom ravioli for dinner.

Nabby kept an eye on the pie while it baked. And ate a good portion of it I may add when it was done.

Nabby also helped her Dad open his gifts while Oliver instructed them both on how to do it.

We love you Jason so much!

There are a LOT of leaves here in Ann Arbor. Everyone rakes them into the street and a bulldozer (a full size construction bulldozer) shoves them into one MASSIVE pile and then puts them in a compost garbage truck.
The kids and I watched today from our lawn as the bulldozer came and the garbage truck filled up twice. It left to empty itself half way through and came back.
These photos are from the last week of October. Raking is kind of nice when the weather’s good. It’s fun to see Oliver jump in them. Nabby’s adorable. I think she tasted every single leaf you can see in these photos. Maybe not the ones on the tree.

We’ve settled into our house in Ann Arbor just in time for fall. ?It’s beautiful here. ?And cold. ?The kids love the play space they have ?downstairs. ?I like that it’s a half basement with lots of light.

Oliver is two years and five months old now.

Nabby is ten months old this month.

Oliver still affectionately calls his elephants “Azboos”

They’re growing fast! I can’t believe how much Nabby has changed in just a month. They get more and more fun every day.

The free fourth of July concert on the capital lawn has a dress rehearsal on the 3rd. So Friday, after the waterfalls, napping and some grub we drove into town to hunt down a parking spot. We found one just a couple blocks west of the federal center sw stop (sweet diggity!) The concert was awesome. We saw Barry Manilow, the National Symphony Orchestra, Aretha Franklin, Natasha Bedingfield, the cast of Jersey Boys, Michael Feinstein and classical pianist Andrew von Oeyen. Plus Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and Oscar. Jason’s favorite part was Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” with real cannons firing at the end.