Weaponized Christmas Tree

Auntie Karen asked Daniel today if he had helped to decorate our Christmas tree. His response:

"Ya! I helped put the armaments on!"

I think he might have meant ornaments...

Videos...finally...

After resolving some technical difficulties, we wanted to share some fun videos of Daniel over the past few weeks: doing dishes, box-boy, ball bopper fun, and little drummer boy.

Ah, the domestic life. Daniel and Cora play kitchen.

There's nothing like runnning around with a box on your head!

In the spirit of Christmas, we present "Little Drummer Boy".

BALL BOPPER!

Daddy's Baby

Michele is a little over 4 months along in her pregnancy. Each night before bed, Daniel kisses her stomach and hugs the baby good night. He loves it.

Tonight Daniel asked if he could hug Daddy's baby goodnight too. Hmmm....I think those Christmas goodies are catching up with me...

Daniel's been busy

Playing with his buddies: Dominic and Audrey Bernadette

Helping with the tree....

The finished product!


Woa, didn't know the camera had that setting!

Making Dinner

Daniel was recently pretending to mix things in a bowl when I asked...

Chris: "Daniel, what are you doing?"

Daniel: "I'm making dinner!"

Chris: "Sounds great! What are you making for dinner?"

Daniel: "Guacamole, cheese, and chocolate."

Yum!

Put tears back on?

Daniel is developing quite a flair for the dramatic.

When he was crying the other day I picked him up to comfort him. As I tried to talk to him to see what was the matter, I instinctively wiped a tear off his cheek. This was a huge mistake. As I did, he became noticeably more upset and, in between sobs and wails, said the following:

"No, Daddy! Put Daniel's tears back on!"

He was inconsolable until I finally put my finger back to his cheek and pretended to wipe the tear back on.

Downtown Adventure

Daniel had the treat of going on a downtown Seattle adventure with Great Grandma Eva the other day!

"Thanks for the push, Grandma!"

The Teddy Bear Room at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel.

THE BIGGEST TEDDY BEAR IN THE WORLD...well, at least to Daniel.

Taking a break with Great Grandma Eva and Teddy.

Even Daddy had a fun time in the Teddy Bear room!

What good is a Teddy Bear room if you can't snuggle?!

Daniel: Swiss Guard in training.

The Teddy Bear room was impressive, but the giant Christmas tree made the day.

Next, the Sheraton Hotel's Gingerbread house display. Yummy!

Looking at the carousel = exciting.

Getting on the carousel = exciting.

Riding on a moving carousel = terrifying.
Apparently we forgot to mention that it moves. The second it started Daniel was off the horse and into Daddy's arms.

Daniel helps the Salvation Army raise a few dollars for the poor. The nice man even let Daniel ring his bell, which yielded a few donations! (Note: no child labor laws were broken in the taking of this photo)

And what day downtown is complete without a picture with Santa? Daniel wasn't so sure about the whole experience...

Thanks for the fun day downtown, Great Grandma!

Halloween Lingers

Daniel was fascinated by all the Halloween decorations everywhere a month ago, and has yet to stop talking and asking questions about all of them. He was especially intrigued by the "bakery witch," a giant witch in the bakery department of our grocery store. After being completely fascinated by it for a couple weeks, he very suddenly was terrified one night in his bathtub, talking about the bakery witch and how he wanted to be held if we were near the bakery witch. Because this happened 2 days before Halloween, we were very easily able to promise that we would not be seeing the bakery witch again, since she usually flies home after Halloween. We also learned about jack o lanterns, goblins, spider webs, scarecrows and ghosts, which he believes all hang out on walls, since that's where people usually put their decorations. He doesn't seem to be scared of any of these, and actually is disappointed when we go out and they are no longer decorating our favorite places.

With Christmas decorations up all over the place now, I was hoping the bakery witch/goblin talk would be a thing of the past, but this morning when I went in to get Daniel out of his crib, he told me the following:

Daniel: "I dreamed about the goblins! And, ghosts on the wall, and spiderwebs on the wall, and bakery witches on the wall, and scarecrows on the wall...I like spiderwebs and rainbows."

Halloween

Daniel and his friend Matteo dressed up for Halloween as St. Dominic and St. Francis. They made an awfully cute pair of holy little men and had a lot of fun visiting Great Grandma Eva and the folks at the Newman Center together.

You would think that a couple of saints would have the ability to stand still for a few pictures...

St. Dominic looks perplexed...where'd that candy go?

Overseeing the preparations for the Newman Halloween party.

Friendly saints.

Daniel, Mommy and Fr. Jordan the Pirate at the Newman party. Daniel did not know what to think of that crazy pirate.

Daniel only had eyes for Rochelle when it came to dancing.

One last picture with the peer ministers and Fr. Jordan before heading home to bed. (Although, it seems Daniel was much more interested in Michele's weapon than the camera.)

October Highlights

I've you've been wondering why we haven't updated the blog in a long, long time, here's why: we've been busy...

...celebrating Daniel's 2nd birthday...

...missing Mommy while she visited Chicago...

...going to the zoo...

...expecting a baby...

...playing in the back yard (when it's dry outside)...

...and searching for the perfect pumpkin!