Happy Birthday Pee Paw!

Poor Pee Paw gets the shaft since his birthday is on December 24th. But we made sure to celebrate it on the 28th when we saw him. Alex picked out the cake... and the candle!

Christmas Part 2

Christmas at the Hartzells.

Alex rocks out with Evan's new guitar.

Evan got a new guitar from Aunt Jenny and Uncle Jeff. It was a big hit!

We got Mom an electronic Soduko. She's laughing, but Dad knows this will be a new addiction.

Alex had a great time handing out gifts!

Cousins! Alex, Evan and Katie. Adam is back in there somewhere!

Alex and Katie

Merry Christmas!

Evan thinks that someday he just might be able to shimmy under the baby gate to come downstairs. Here he is Christmas morning. He had heard someone special had been at our house!

Alex was thrilled with it ALL! But Evan... "Gimme my juice!"

The spoils! Well... some of them!

The biggest hit was a train table with all the accessories. That's what the boys spent the whole day playing with. So now we have to actually finish the game room to have an official place for it!

Santa was here!

Here's the goods after Santa left!

Christmas Eve

We have a tradition of getting the boys new jammies for Christmas Eve. In theory, they will then have cute new jammies for Christmas Day pictures. (Although last year, Evan threw up all over his.) Trying to wrangle these two for pictures is a nightmare. Mommy and Stella are ready!
The boys with Mommy!

Cheesy grin, but that will do it!

Merry Christmas!

After Service Fun!

Alex and Evan check out the manger. MMMMM. Sugar Cookies!

Evan sits up at the table with the big kids!

Evan and Daddy!

Children's Christmas Eve Service

The kids got to tell the story of Christmas tonight - with costumes! It was very cute, loud and funny. Evan did a good job of shaking his maracca every time we sang a song. And Alex volunteered to be a shepherd and then later to hold the star for the Wise Men.

No more volunteers to be angels? Heather is the angel who watches the sheep while the shepherds go greet Baby Jesus. She admitted later that a few sheep got away.

Alex holds the star for the Wise Men while Pastor Chuck tries to find a King Herod volunteer.

Merry Ridgeback Christmas!

My annual attempt to put a Santa hat on Stella. Santa Sophie has one eye on you!

Bella barely wakes up for the festivities!

Milk and Cookies with Santa

Mommy took the boys to have milk and cookies with Santa on Monday. It was so much fun. Evan was far more interested in the cookies than he was in Santa...as you can tell by this picture.

But Alex really got it, telling Santa that he wanted trains. He had told me before we went that he wanted shirts and batteries, but settled on trains when we got there.

Same Location. Different Day. Always the Same Cat.

Every night, I sit on the sofa. And everynight, Digit sits on my shoulder. A few nights ago, I started taking webcam shots of her. Here are a couple....

Snuggle Nappers

Sophie and Bella make a snuggle sleep. Ridgeback Love!

The Hazards of Being a Mom to Boys

On Thanksgiving Day, I was on the couch at Grandma and PeePaw's. Alex thought it would be fun to dive on me. He was right - for a while, it was. But eventually, I said, "Ok. All done." I forgot that with little boys, there is always one more time.

So when he jumped, I grabbed him, but grabbed him just below the waist. He turned in the air and the back of his head nailed me on my cheekbone. He's lucky because if he had hit me with his face, he definitely would have broken his nose! Instead, Mommy ended up with a mild concussion. Made for some good stories!

When we got home, we decided to reenact. Here we are: