No coal, just Cole (and Hayley)!

Hope you had a good Christmas! We are continually amazed at how Santa brings just what we wished for!!! Now we are just enjoying a slow week and waiting for 2007.

Friday and Saturday were spent with Gram, Grandad, Aunt Suzanne, Uncle Peter and Claire. Sunday we headed home and were happy Gram and Grandad could join us. We had lobster for dinner. Hayley enjoyed the lobsters both before and after they were cooked! Monday we enjoyed a long morning playing with our toys and an after lunch walk in the rain (Hayley got a new princess umbrella). Wednesday evening we had our 3rd Christmas with Grandmom and Grandpa.

Enjoy your week! Happy New Year!


Heading out to deliver cookies to neighbors and friends.

Our post-delivery celebrations...

Hayley enjoys the holiday party at school.

Watching the "Grinch" with cousin Claire.

Cole goofing off while Grandad reads "Twas the Night Before Christmas".

Hanging with Dad before bed.

Hayley loves her new baking set from Aunt Suzanne.

Playing Leapster with Cole.

Hayley makes friends with the Christmas Eve dinner.

Our new Christmas PJ's.

Hanging our new ornaments before bed.

Daddy reads "Twas the Night Before Christmas".

Still sleepy but happy Santa came!

Hayley loves to bounce!

Opening gifts at Grandpa and Grandmom's.

Distracting Grandmom while she talks to Uncle Doug.

The obligatory chocolate face picture.... Enjoy the week!

What Child is This? Certainly not mine...

Well the holiday festivities continue at our house. We've finished making cookies -- and shockingly Hayley typically passes on cookies in favor of things like tomatoes, apples, carrots, etc. Thus the question, what child is this???? I wouldn't believe it was John and my kid (king and queen of the sweet teeth) if I hadn't been there on 9/2/04....

Anyway, the busted lip has healed pretty well. This week's minor injury amounted to a pretty scraped up nose. She just tripped and landed face first on the sidewalk Monday morning at the bus stop. Oh well -- just hope they let HER play the reindeer games...

Saturday morning we went to a local breakfast with Santa with Matthew and Miss Pam. Hayley let out a blood-curdling scream (yes, you all know the one...) when Santa arrived. Merry Christmas! Thankfully, Santa hit the trail about half way through so Hayley could relax and enjoy the party.

So, the stockings are all hung, the cookies delivered, and we are now just awaiting the big day. I suspect that Mom and Dad are going to have to arrange to meet Santa for a gift drop off instead of a chimney visit. Hayley is having nightmares about Santa coming in the house. She'll wake up at all hours and start saying: "Santa no come to my house!" She also checks in with me -- about every hour -- "Where is Santa?". To which I have to say that he's very busy at home, far far away...

OK - Too much typing. Enjoy the pictures and your holiday! See you next week!


A picture of the boo-boo lip -- this was from last week. It's all healed now. Our latest injury is a lovely scraped up nose from biting it at the bus stop on Monday. She looks just like she should be guiding Santa's sleigh now. Sorry no pics of it, though...

Watching "The Year Without A Santa Claus" while Daddy was away. Spiderman particularly loves Snowmiser...

A visit with Santa at the breakfast party. This may well have been the worst Santa costume EVER!

Oops on the red eyes...

Phew -- Santa has finally left the room so Hayley can relax and have some fun playing games.

OK - This appears at first glance to be a boring video of the kids dancing to Jingle Bells at the party. But watch Hayley closely. About 1/2 way through the dance, you can tell what's going through her mind.... "Wait a minute... WAIT-A-MINUTE! The teacher has cymbals instead of bells and I WANT CYMBALS NOW...please..." First she tells John. Then she tells one teacher who brushes her off. Then, with a double finger point, the teacher finally caves and she gets the cymbals. Typical Hayley. She was not going to stop until they met her demands!

Dancing to Jingle Bells... Have a wonderful Christmas -- see you next week!

O Holy....(Lip)

Sorry to have missed a week there. Mommy was out of town last week so the blog fell by the wayside. As you can see below, we got all decked out for the holidays at the beginning of December. The tree only fell over once, so we'll call it a success. :)

This past weekend we had a fun visit with Stuart, Marcy and Lily. We hit the holiday lights show in town and picked up dinner afterward. Sorry no pictures from the event... again mom dropped the ball...

Sunday was SUPER fun. In normal Hayley style, she was running at full speed and fell smacking her mouth into the bottom step. We actually thought she had bit entirely through the lip -- the puncture from the tooth was pretty deep -- so we rushed to the ER. All is fine now -- no stitches needed, although the Dr said we were just millimeters from needing them. Good shot, Hayley! I suspect that while this was our first ER trip with Hayley, it will be just one of many. If you know Hayley, you will be nodding your head now.

Hope you have a good -- and wound-free week! Wish us luck in that department!
















Hayley hangs her stocking -- from the look on her face, she needs to take it easy on the egg nog!



















Cole has prepared his letter for Santa -- it includes a map from the chimney to the kitchen table where the cookies are left. I guess he thinks the reindeer do all the navigating?


Being silly rather than decorating. Can you see the tree starting to lean?


Getting ready to put on the star. Does this look dangerous to you?


Success! See you next week!

Gobbles, Guys and GameBoys

A Thanksgiving to remember for sure! Hayley had a rough week last week -- with Croup and Fifths Disease. We ended up missing out on Thanksgiving with Rory, Rebekah and Kirk -- a disappointment for sure. We were lucky to make a successful 11th hour trip to the grocery store and come up with everything we needed for our own little feast.

On Sunday Cole started his birthday celebration by spending the afternoon with his friends Adam, Jeremy, Jay and William for a movie and ice cream. He's also enjoying a new skateboard, a Game Boy and lots of new art supplies.

Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving! See you next week!


Cole working hard on the cranberries for Thanksgiving.
Happy Cole!

Our own little Macy's parade...

A skateboard for his birthday! Fun!

Will we be in the ER before he ever makes it outside?

Getting a Game Boy for his birthday.

Pure glee!

On the road to the movies with his buds...

Crazy boys!

These darn previews take forever!

Enjoying ice cream after...

The crew!

Sis and Bro hanging out before school on Monday -- happy birthday Cole!

Cole has been banned from gum for over a year...We agreed he could have gum again once he was six. SOOOO, he choose to have a big piece of gum for his birthday instead of cake! Eat your heart out Grandpa -- this gum's for you! See you next week!

The art of compromise...

Not too much to report this week. Hayley and Cole have spent a lot of time playing together as you will see below. They say the delicate art of compromise is first learned with siblings...and it has begun! Hayley insisted on playing pirates and Cole wanted to play ninjas on Friday night. We'll call it a win, win, lose situation. Hayley and Cole both win and mom loses with having two crazies running wild through the house... oh well, what's new? Maybe this week they'll play farmer and hunter to see who gets the turkey first. After all, it is Thanksgiving and this place has already gone to the birds.... Have a happy holiday!


Playing pirate ninjas...she's a pirate, he's a ninja.

More action...

Thank goodness that game is over...

Play-doh on Saturday morning. See you next week. Happy Thanksgiving!!! Gobble. Gobble...

Having a Ball!

Well we lucked out with a BEAUTIFUL day to end the soccer season. Cole scored a goal and the season ended on a high note! Not too much else to report. See you next week!


Cole doing what he loves -- playing goalie!

Hayley being supportive of her big brother! Go Cole!

Some advice from Dad...

Waiting patiently...

The end of the season! Cole is on the far left...

Playing with R2D2...

Cheeezzze!

A nice picture with mom... See you next week!