I love black and white

Belated Christmas Pics and an OMSI trip

A few group pictures from the post-Christmas family get-together with Andy's family (which was very fun!).

And a trip to OMSI - Oregon's science museum with Aaron, Rhonda and Grant. We spent nearly the entire time in the kids zone - the kids had fun, and were pretty worn out. Eli took a 3 hour nap...

My little cutie...

Dontcha think?

We all had some kind of funk this weekend. Ben had a low grade fever and I may have also. Just felt crummy. As Ben said " I just don't feel very well." Ditto that, my son.

I have not been very good at taking pictures lately. Oops.

Some things to remember from the past week or so:

Eli
- Snuggling with mama. He lays his head on my shoulder, sticks his butt in the air and tucks his arms under him. He does this at random times, but usually when tired or not feeling well. Very sweet.

- Does a very funny, excited laugh that I need to get on video.

- Loves destroying things.

Ben
- Has recently declared me "his best friend". He repeats this often. Melts my heart.

- Can sing most of the verses of "Help" by the Beatles with no help. You should hear him say 'appreciate' and 'not so self assured'. Adorable. At songtime before naptime, he often requests 'A beatle'.

- Is really getting good at writing his letters. He did some self-declared 'homework' the other night. A lot of B's, H's, V's, X's and I's. He can write 'Ben' and 'Eli' with no help.

Christmas in MN...

Highlights of the trip to MN:

~Seeing cousin Nick and watching the boys play together with grandpa's homemade construction trucks.

~Hanging with grandpa and grandma and Brent and Patti.

~Grandma's cooking and gold-star-earning-extensive-laundry-duty.

~Lots of Candyland, Chutes and Ladders and Busytown games. Also, Magna-tiles, construction trucks, remote control cars, cookie decorating/eating.

Lowlights of the trip:

~Eli barfing all over me, daddy and himself during the last few minutes of the flight to Minneapolis. Yes, we were THAT family on the plane. Poor Eli was sick for 3 days with the throw ups. See above note about grandma and laundry.

~Ben getting the throw ups in his sleep at the cabin. Again, see above note.

~Jen and Grandpa getting a touch of the boys' sickness also.

~Trying to make good time driving up to the cabin after landing in Mpls on Christmas Eve night, but getting turned around in road construction with horrendous signage in Mpls at 10:00 PM, smelling of barf, needing some sleep. After about 10 extra turns to get us on Hwy 169 N, and a lot of near expletives from mommy and daddy, Ben who had been quiet during the 15 minute delay, suddenly blurts out, "Daddy, you are a funny driver" - which completely cracked us up and then turned into a 'Highlight'.

It was so nice to see everyone in MN (including my girls on New Year's Eve). Here are a few pics from the trip. It was a brown Christmas, but we did get a few inches of snow one of the days, so we did get some sledding in...