Pictures of the kids

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Our Christmas 2008

We had our first Christmas in our new house this year. It was beautiful outside with all the snow. I can't believe we actually had a white Christmas! Anthony's parents were supposed to go to Oregon for the holidays, and my family was planning on coming to Idaho. Due to the weather, however, all travel plans got postponed, so Papa and Granny came and spent Christmas with us.

It was a pretty laid-back day around here. So relaxing, in fact, that we even took a nap! It was great! Anthony got involved in Christmas dinner this year... he made the ham. He did a great job! I think we're onto a good tradition here-- he loves it, and it turns out to be one less thing that I have to do. Besides, it was a lot fun working together in the kitchen. Sounds like a keeper!
We opened presents in the afternoon before dinner, and Talon helped pass out all the gifts and stockings. I think he was a bit confused about what was going on, but he caught on real fast to the ripping of the paper and finding new toys! Papa and Granny got him a little blue sled. I think he'll be a little more excited about it when he finds out what it's for. He's discovered he LOVES the snow! I can just see him now... wanting to pull Kiki around in it! We got him a toy gun that has sound effects when you pull the trigger. It didn't take him long to figure that one out! We also got him a Little Tike's basketball hoop. It's really cute to watch him stand on his tip-toes and make a basket. He gets really tickled with himself and loves it when we cheer for him. Kaitlyn got a few 'noise toys' (to compliment the new wardrobe she got a little early) which Talon will be more than happy to break in for her, I'm sure. He almost seemed a little more excited about opening Sissy's gifts than his own! We caught him walking around the house with her new teething ring in his mouth, and then offering it to Kiki. Crazy kid!
In the evening, we got on the web cam and chatted with both of our families in Oregon. It was neat to be able to at least see everyone, even if we couldn't be together.
Anthony's parents left for Oregon this morning; and my family, hopefully, will be coming this weekend or at the beginning of next week, and we will have our Christmas with them. I keep asking Talon, "Are Grandma and Grandpa gonna come see you?", and he gets a big smile on his face.
We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and may the effects of all the calories we consumed not be too long lasting!!

Merry Christmas!

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
Isaiah 9:6

May he be the reason you celebrate this season.
Merry Christmas!
Anthony, Candice, Talon, and Kaitlyn

Blind Spinner

While I've been attempting to get some things done for Christmas (baking, cleaning, decorating, etc.), Talon has been finding different ways to entertain himself. Usually, it means another mess for Mommy to clean up (as you can see from the condition of the living room).

He came up to me, handed me his hat, and wanted me to put it on him. A minute or two later, I heard something that sounded like a head hitting the wall, then Talon falling down. I turned around to see him with his hat pulled completely over his head and face, and he was running throughout the house slamming into walls, doors, the garbage can, Kiki .... and was giggling louder and louder with everything he hit. I started laughing so hard I was almost crying. It was hilarious! Alas, I did make him uncover his eyes so he wouldn't get hurt (after I took a few pictures, of course!).

(You may have to pause the music player on the right to view this)

Playing in the snow

We bundled up and went out to play in the snow yesterday evening. I really wanted to build a snowman with Talon, but the snow is too dry and wont stick together. You can see him in one of the pictures below trying to make a snowball himself. Anthony came out and tried to start a snowball fight, but due to the dry snow, it ended pretty fast. He then decided to grab the shovel and started throwing snow on me. CHEATER!!
Talon and Kiki both had a blast and neither of them wanted to come inside. I think they both enjoyed eating the snow more than anything else! (I see I'll have to work on colors with Talon to make sure he knows what YELLOW is!!) The snow stuck in Kiki's fur so bad I had to give her a warm bath to get it out.

Pretty in Pink!

It's hard to believe Kaitlyn's already 5 weeks old. Wow, how time flies! She is growing fast and starting to be more alert for longer periods of time. She is very fascinated with lights, so she loves the Christmas tree. She's definitely "got some syrup in her bucket" as Daddy would say, but her demands are simple.... FEED ME and HOLD ME! As long as we can abide by these simple rules, she is pretty happy!

Our Christmas tree this year. Notice that Talon and Kiki haven't worked all the ornaments and lights off of it yet. Actually, Talon knows he's not to touch the ornaments, so he likes to just whack at them with his toys when he thinks no one is watching! Kiki doesn't pay much mind to the decorations... she's just as happy to nibble on the tree branches and try to rip them off!

Keep away

(You may have to pause the music player on the right to view this)

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

When we woke up Sunday morning for church, we looked outside to find we had a good 2 inches of snow, and it was still coming down! This is the first time we have seen snow since we've been here. (How ironic, when it snowed a couple of weeks ago, we were in Oregon and we missed it!)
Talon thought it was neat. Daddy had him outside in it for a few minutes and he was putting his hands in it and watching it melt.

It melted quite a bit overnight, but we still had a lot the next day (in fact, it's still here... just really iced over!)

Talon and Hobbes

These two remind me of Calvin and Hobbes- always looking for something to get into, and they try to act so innocent! You never know what they are going to try next!
Kiki has always loved Talon, but he only used to tolerate her. Lately, however, she is his new best friend, and they are inseparable! They love to chase each other around and play. It's hilarious!

Beanie Baby

I got Talon a couple of new hats ($1 Walmart special!). He loves them and wants to wear them all the time!

Little helper

Talon loves to help with the laundry, but he's just a little too short, so most of it ends up falling back out onto the floor. We're working on teaching him the dishwasher next!! ;o)(As his little side-kick makes off with a sock that he dropped!)

Tree lighting

Lighting the tree has always been quite a project, and an even bigger one now that I have a little 'helper'. I always use lots and lots of lights (this year I used 12-14 strands on our 8 foot tree), and it takes me quite a while. Talon was very excited about this process, so I gave him an end of the strand of lights and he would set them on a branch, then look at me and smile- waiting for me to tell him what a big boy he was. He got bored with this before too long, and decided it was more fun to take lights off the tree. Unfortunately, I didn't realize he was doing this until I had about 1/3 of the tree done, and he comes up behind me with a handful of lights in his hand. He had unraveled most of the bottom of the tree. I decided at that point to give him his own set of lights to play with, and we had a "no touch" rule on Mommy's lights. He, of course, wanted to put his lights on the tree, too!


Decorating his toys

Trip to McCall

We've been wanting to see McCall, Idaho, for a while, but never have made the time to do it. Dad and Mom Starr have wanted to see it as well, so we decided to take a day and head up there together. Well, let's just say what used to be a quick 'jump in their king cab truck and go' wasn't quite so easy this time. To start off with, we were already leaving over an hour later than planned. We finally got all of the kids stuff together, the cooler packed and positioned in the back, and then we realized that the front seat wouldn't slide forward far enough for Kaitlyn's car seat to fit in the back. Oh, GREAT! It didn't make much sense to take separate vehicles, but our SUV wont hold all of us. So we decided to take their van (which they had to drive all the way back home to get, then go to the gas station AGAIN). We finally got on the road after noon.
It was a beautiful drive, and we even saw some snow.
Going up all the winding roads and all the curves was a little more than I could take while sitting in the back seat, so I was left with two options: Get sick all over the car, or go to sleep. I chose the latter. It was a really nice and much-needed nap I must say!
We stopped and ate lunch, then just drove around for a while and headed back home a different way... more highway and less curves! (I still fell asleep again for part of the way home.)

(For those that didn't know, I have proof... there actually ARE trees in Idaho!)

We ate at The Pancake House for lunch, and they had a Christmas shop next door. This sleigh was sitting outside. Talon thought it was pretty neat!

Getting the tree

We went to get our Christmas tree last night. No, we didn't don our hiking gear and take lumberjack paraphernalia, we just headed down the road to a local, pre-cut forest on Hwy 44 a few miles from our house.

This was Talon's first year going to get the tree (well, and Katie's, too!). He didn't offer too much input, but it was fun going as a family, and near the end he enjoyed walking up and down the rows between the trees (of course, Mommy had to take lots of pictures!). It's usually quite an ordeal finding the perfect Noble Fir, but we got a pretty good one and it only took about a half hour to pick it out. (The last time we went, it turned into an all-day event...Uuugh!) Or, maybe we just aren't as picky now because we have to haul 2 kids around in the cold!

Daddy and Talon looking at the different trees

Mommy and the kids

The kids in their matching outfits