A little of everything to catch us up!

I adore the independence and confidence that a two-year-old displays. While I try to get up early in the morning to utilize my favorite Christmas present (a body-band work out dvd), sometimes Miles will wake up early and come out to "workit" with me. Here, he displays his moves. :)

This is called "being a clown." When Miles wants to be buried in blocks, he says, "Daddy, make me a clown!"

Ahhhh, the hazards of having a real tree and leaving for weeks at a time. It was pretty while it lasted though, and as you can imagine, a lot of fun for Miles. He 'helped' me clean up.

Here is the tree, full of life in the background. And here is Miles trying to lick me- lovingly of course.

This year during our Christmas visit to Michigan, I got a special treat of visiting with some friends and their children for lunch one afternoon. Pictured here are pregnant Susan Supernant (Clark), pregnant Jessica Rollins (Garber) holding her daughter Lilly, Miles and me, Lisa Poortenga (Osterhaven) and her three daughters. It was really nice to see everyone!

This is our annual family self Christmas picture. This isn't the one we chose to keep, but I like it for here because it shows the chaos involved in keeping the pets and Miles attention!

As we have learned, and according to his teachers, Miles LOVES anything musical, especially singing. His Great Aunt Sue gave his this rockin' guitar and he really enjoys playing it along with the drum set she gave him last year. He also got a harmonica from Daddy and has some percussion instruments as well. Quite the musician.

Here we are all enjoying time in Grandma and Grandpa's hot tub. This is Miles first time, and of course he loved it- I think partially because he didn't have a bathing suit and got to go naked. Daddy didn't have a suit either, but he didn't enjoy the thought of going in naked, so he got to be the camera man instead. Grandma's hat isn't just a fashion statement, it also keeps her ears warm and hair dry.

Every Christmas, we set out to make some fun gifts to give to close friends and family from Miles. Last year, it was magnets. This year, we got a bit more complicated and made Rudolph reindeer from twigs Mommy absconded with from the local wild life preserve. :) It was a LOT of work, but so much fun. Miles really enjoyed himself, but we forgot to give them to a few people (Cindy, Jess...) so our tree now has a few extras.

Ok, consider yourselves updated!