We had a wonderful Christmas and lots of family time. Now we're settling into routine life again. You know, things like school, cleaning, cooking, cleaning, baking, cleaning, unpacking, cleaning, playing, and did I mention cleaning? It seems to be a never-ending activity here. But I know that one day I'll look at my clean house and wonder where all the little finger prints disappeared to and why there aren't piles of dirty shoes and socks in my entryway. I may even use my vacuum and wonder why it doesn't bubble, smoke and sizzle. Yes, you read correctly, bubble, smoke and sizzle. "Why?" You might ask (or might not but I'll tell you anyway). Because my son, the Blue Bird was too enthralled with the pulley system we'd arranged to send a basket from one end of the dining room to the other for the two older kids to send messages and toys and treats back and forth. Too amazed by this contraption to realize that he needed to relieve himself in the bathroom and not on the chair which he was standing...which was above the central vac plug-in in the floor. Yes, he peed in the high voltage plug-in. And before I knew what had happened, the Big Bird tells me he's peed and I'm trying to figure out what that odd sound is. Quickly enough I see the sizzling smoke coming from the floor and run to turn off the circuit breaker just in case. I send him to the bathroom to clean up, too. After a call to my dad to figure out which circuit the vac is run through, I was able to clean it out and get it mostly dry with rolled up pieces of paper towels. Then when I used the vacuum later, I told the Big Bird, "If I get shocked, don't touch me, just call Dad." She thought it was funny at first but was a little worried just before I turned it on. Anyway, I might miss that one day. I might also miss the "adventure" we experienced the following day of mopping up the bathroom floor when the same Blue Bird DID remember to get to the bathroom (the pulley system was taken down now, so nothing major to distract him again) but DIDN'T remember to use only 3 squares to flush. No, he used the entire roll. And it was new. So I tenderly got down next to him when I saw the roll missing and said, "Honey, you can't put the whole roll in the toilet, it will break the toilet." "No, Mommy, see? I can flush it." *flush* "Ahhhhh! Honey," I screamed for my husband,"the bathroom.....glub glub glub." Too late. But we got it mopped up and it was funny in hindsight, especially the part where the bird looks at us and says, "I go sit in time out." Then he comes back to see how we're doing and throws more towels on the floor as we're putting them away to wash and I say, "No, we don't need anymore." and he say, "I go back to time-out." And he did. Cute, he's learning the ropes. Even if it's one-strand at a time.
So, all that being said, here are some pictures of our recent history, the beginning of 2012 in the Bird Nest.
Enjoy!

january 2012

Happy Baptism Day!

The littlest bird was baptized today...here are some photos from his wonderful weekend. Mama and Papa arrived Saturday and we all enjoyed visiting and dinner together then the girls and the baby went to see The Nutcracker. Sunday morning began with a beautiful Mass celebration which ended with the big bird singing in the Christmas show, finally got to be an angel after waiting 2 years! We briefly came home so the older blue bird could take a nap (up at 4am) and the rest could eat some lunch then back to the church for the big celebration! We were so blessed and surprised to arrive and have so many friends and family join us there. The baby bird was happy throughout the ceremony and grinned when the water washed over his head. What a peaceful baby. Enjoy the pictures! We'll cherish them for years to come!

Baptism Paul

Happy Halloween!

Ahh-ahh-ahh-ahhhhh.

Really, Mommy, you're still taking pictures of this?


Train engineer, Sheriff in pink and Count Dracula (and Mommy).


Engineer: "People going to give me candy for wearing this?"
Mom: "Yup."
Engineer: "Okay, let's go!"


Count "sleep-ula"


Walkin' the railroad ties.


The people at this house went all out with their pumpkins...aren't they neat?


What do we say again?


Boo!


Our little tootsie roll!



Candy!
And by 12:00, they were all fast asleep.
(okay, maybe a little exaggerated, but that's what it felt like by the time their pieces of candy wore off)

And I'm glad Halloween is only once a year.

Fall is in the air and the harvesting has begun...our beautiful tomatoes with our beautiful girl.

and her silly Daddy.

Posing for the camera...

Not a happy camper at first,

but by the end it wasn't so bad.

pretty snuggly, really.

and then they made him get dressed. He didn't like that much.

The next bath was much more peaceful.

Good (and giggly) little helpers.

Daddy's fishing trip...

beautiful fish...

beautiful river. Nice getaway.

Back at home, we dined like Dad (teriyaki elk skewers).

And had a childhood right of passage...the first lemonade stand.

They sold 10 cups, made $2.50. Each got half and promptly spent it that evening at our church's "Sausage Fest."

The silly string war-zone at Sausage Fest.

Learning to push the button and make it spray.

Getting mom!

Target practice!

Shooting the can for a prize.

Well, it's official, she's a bona-fide school girl now, her first day of kindergarten has come and gone, with only a few tears from Mom.

Walking to school...


Our good friend and neighbor met us at the corner, they're in the same class this year!
His sister (big 2nd grader now!) joins in the morning walks and the little blue bird gets a ride in the stroller.


The next L.L. Bean catalogue models?


Could be, but we'll finish kindergarten first!


Playing at the playground until the first bell rings.

Whee! And she's off to kindergarten!

Lining up to head into class, the neighbors stuck together.

I (mom) was doing great up until I saw our little neighbor wipe a tear from his face and learned that my good friend (his mom) was choking up. Then I couldn't hold back, but she never saw! (thanks to the sunglasses)

I mean, kindergarten is a big step! And she's waving goodbye, it's like she's heading off to college!

He wasn't quite sure what to think of the whole thing.


After a hard day at school, she came home to a snuggle with her baby brother.

Aren't they sweet?

The little blue bird was tired, too, from all the one-on-one play time with mom.

That evening, we did a little photo shoot with the baby bird...

Tiny fingers

Tiny toes,

Tiny guy with his button nose!


Awww, that was some hard work, all that posing, now he's going to take another nap.