nativity

We love playing with our "little people" nativity set.

Zac's favorite: donkey and cart.
Our least favorite: donkey and cart.
He always wanted the donkey to pull the cart,
but it always came off ("uh-oh") and would need to be fixed.
Let's just say it is HIGH up on a shelf right now.
We were getting tired of fixing it. :)

But we have found other things that don't have wheels
to become our new favorites.
-Feeding the animals (the hay is definitely a favorite now! Random.).
-Finding all the trees.
-Finding baby Jesus.
-Making every animal say "moo" or "baa"
-Singing "twinkle twinkle little star" while
pointing to all the stars in the sky.
-Having Zac line everything up on the table.

santa.

Did not go over very well.

one happy kid

A few Saturdays ago I came home from my run to this...


Zachary in his skeleton PJ's
($3.99 after Halloween sale from Gap!)
His beanie.
Socks.
A happy boy.
Who happened to be holding MY toothbrush.

I guess Zac felt cold, so Lee dressed him in this.
And let him have my toothbrush to keep him entertained.
Dad's sure know how to play!

He was being so funny.
So of course the camera came out!

FLAG!!
One of his favorite toys.

He looks like a robber about to get into trouble.

He still pushes things against his tummy.
I'm sure the ipod felt good.

Such a happy kid.

december 5

16 months.

of zachary.

-had fist ear infection this past month. not fun.
-first time seeing snow. liked walking in it, but not so much touching it.
-growing like crazy. fits into his 18-24 month clothes.
-huge feet! size 6 and growing.
-some of the words he can say: ball, baby, baa, bye, all right, eye, uh-oh, mooo, hi-ya (for hi and phone), elmo, due (shoe), dag (flag), water, more, cheese, apple, and gooooo!
-jumps when he is excited (there is a lot of jumping here!). and usually ends up on his bum on the ground.
-he loves to put things under the couch and coffee table on purpose, lay on the ground looking at the item, points, and says "uh-oh." usually makes us get it out but in the past few days he has started to get things! happiness! (it can be a long game!)
-gave lee kisses for ice-cream. (this is an improvement for our non kissy boy!)
-runs, runs, runs. he is so quick on his feet. it is amazing.
-is doing a ton of gibberish/babbling when he plays.
-loves lee's old matchbox cars from when he was little. he could play with them forever...with someone!
-loves to play in the fridge. and unloading it.
-loves everything to do with cleaning. vacuum, the broom, dustpan, wiping things down...but never really lets me get anything done.
-always grabbing my hand to come do something.
-screams of excitement for the car when the garage door opens. (no joke. the maintenance guy was driving by and loved zac as he was screaming and jumping and spinning in circles for happiness.)
-does not like rainy days. grabs the stroller to go on walks when we get our shoes on.
-can throw a good tantrum. last month while visiting teaching there was a classic. kicking on the floor, screaming, running to the corner and crying (for a good few minutes)...all because he wanted the little girls stroller that she got because he would not share the cars he was playing with. oh the joys of sharing. :)
-loves flags. seriously. car rides are all about him pointing out flags. he has found SO many that i didn't even notice. i am always amazed.
-if he hears an airplane he has to find it. he wont stop looking for them. or at least pointing to the sky.
-only does one (2-3) hour nap a day.
-scared of birds, but at the same time likes them.
-bath time is really just a time to unplug the drain and make us refill it. he likes to fill the water coming out of the faucet.
-if i ask him to go find it, he can find on his own his: shoes, pants, jacket, diaper, wipes, or most any toy i name.
-he likes to do ring-around-the rosie, but hates the falling down part or holding hands. he just likes singing it while spinning. we get really dizzy to say the least!

thanks.

We decided to head to Utah around Christmas time,
so Thanksgiving was in California this year.

The only problem was, the Cooper's Thanksgiving was in Hawaii!
(We had passed up on the trip months ago, sadly.)
We had regrets not going with them, especially
when we saw the forecast of rain all week in Northern California!!

BUT we had an adventure of our own.

We booked the Cooper cabin.
Went up Wednesday night.
And found SNOW!
There was no snow the entire drive
until we were about 2 miles from the cabin.
It was crazy.
Now, we had heard there might be snow,
but we thought it wold be melted by the time we got there.
Nope.
Instead we had fun plowing our way in.
(Thank you truck with 4 wheel drive!)

We got in.
NO POWER.
We didn't know how long it would be until we got power.
There were trees everywhere that had fallen, and
PG&E trucks everywhere fixing things.
So we made a fire. And tired to figure out what to do.
We decided to stick it out for the night.

We went to town for dinner and some shopping.
And when we came back-POWER!
Thank heavens.
It would have been a COLD night!

We enjoyed the holiday.
We played in the snow.
Ate good food.
Played with lots of cars and trucks.
Visited the old towns nearby.
And mostly enjoyed each other.

Zac watching Lee make a fire when we first got there.
Zac loved to blow on it.

Sledding.
Zac was not sure about the snow at first.
He loved looking at it.
And liked US to walk in it.

So we got Zac all ready to go out.
He still had his pj's on (with socks under),
so we just put his pants over.
Then his coat.
Then tried his shoes.
Ha. They wouldn't go over the pj's.
Next best thing...plastic bags with crocs! :)
He didn't care. He was mostly in the sled.

Thanksgiving.
First time doing a turkey!

Walk after dinner.
This time ZAC was the one who wanted to walk in the snow!

Friday.
Enjoying walking the old towns.
(Notice-no snow! Seriously, it was just were the cabin was!)

We have so much to be thankful for.
And it was a wonderful holiday to be reminded of all we have.
We sure love you all!