Christmas Day

Making potato prints while we wait for dad to come home from work...

Alden's first skis!

Magnanimals from Grandma Lo -- very cool.

Church

and therefore... church clothes!

"Gingerbread House"

Grandma Lois Arrives for the Holidays!

Christmas Tree

Taking full advantage of living in an agricultural state, we went to a true Christmas Tree farm this year. Alden picked out his favorite (above) while dad picked out his favorite (below).

After driving home with the tree (barely) tied to the roof of our car with twine, we discovered that was enormous, much to the delight of both boys...

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving in Springfield

A few days with the Koschmann crew in Springfield was restorative. Here are a few shots, with more in the attached album:
https://picasaweb.google.com/103908553338028151273/ThanksgivingInSpringfield?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCO75ypjJ-ef_2AE&feat=directlink

school!

Some shots from daycare. . . Im picking these photos with Alden - upon review, he decides, "I want to go to school."

Making Muffins in our PJs

(Notice the toes?)

A Week at Home

Carl has had this past week off, and seems to have accomplished every one of his vacation goals. At the top of his list was to clean out and stoke up this fireplace, and to take Alden to the Toldedo Zoo (see below). The boys have had a great week together, and the family is feeling rested and refreshed.

We're sad you're headed back to work this week dad, but the fireplace will be waiting for you in February!

the wild outdoors

Shortly before their move to San Francisco, Fredo (carl's brother) and girlfriend Miyuki, travelled with old med school friend Peter Martin to Ann Arbor for some (semi-enforced) inaugural camping and backyard fire-making on an unseasonably warm fall night. We unearthed an old brick stove in the corner of the yard in the week prior -- according to our neighbors, this would be the first fire in 14 years. We purchased a half-cord of wood from a guy off Craigslist, fashioned a grill out of two metal curtain rods (see below), and cooked chicken suasage and S'mores. Miyuki brought her dog Lee along - who mostly stayed in the leopard-skin pillow until the event was over.

Our new Ann Arbor friends Ingrid and Megan leant us their tent with the warning, "its pretty big." The two-car garage sized tent was assembled entirely in the dark (see headlamp on instructions above.) It took someone on each corner to hoist this mother up. Needless to say, Alden was entirely supportive of the entire event - he mostly marched in and out of the ROOMS of the tent and yelled to hurry the process along. In the end, the combination of sleeping outside and S'more in his bloodstream did not allow solo sleep, so Elizabeth shut in early for some co-sleeping and goodnight song(s).

A wonderful couple days with old homies -- good luck to Fredo and Miyuki (and Lee) who fly to san francisco today to start their new lives on the west coast. . .

Waterloo

Carl checked out the weather report for Seattle the other day, and discovered that they are currently experiencing about 10 days of forecasted rain and clouds. In honor of our friends out that way, we made the most of our own gorgeous weather by exploring the Waterloo Recreation Area about 20 minutes away. It was a fabulous day and we all enjoyed a beautiful hike to The Bog, which was surprisingly lovely. Seen above, are Alden and dad dancing for joy on one of the many boardwalks.