Dangerous New Skill

Look what I can do! Mommy and daddy are so pleased...

Preparing for Fishies

Zeke and dad took a special trip to the pet store to get supplies for the aquarium. Zeke can't get enough of the whole process and wants to know how everything works.

The Boys

Just a couple of daddies and a couple of sons.

Bathtime Art

After the presents, it was time for bath and bedtime. Zeke was pretty tired out after all the fun and excitement, but we let him try out one of his presents anyway. I love his quiet steady hand.

Ish

I wonder what could be in this large box...

Wait a minute, I know what those are.

Given his fascination with fish, we got a little aquarium for his room. I didn't think he would really know what it was until it was all set up, but I guess the picture on the box gave it away. Now off to buy fishes.

Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas from the Coffee Family!

For me?

Admiring my new boots.

Because you can never have too many tools.

What a lovely Christmas. Robb was on call today so we stayed pretty close to home. He actually had to go into the OR for a few hours, so Zeke took a nap and I got ready for present opening time. A few Christmas movies and some yummy food made for the perfect, laid back Christmas day.

Christmas Eve

A little present-opening.

No evening would be complete without a game of Fish Farts.

The Crawfords invited us over for a little Christmas Eve tradition of theirs, fondue! I think we might need to steal this one. There was some zesty cheese fondue and chocolate fondue and some great things to dip in them.

Family Time

Isabella shows off her mad piano skills.

Jo and Pepper doing what they do best.

The best part about the holidays? Spending time with family. This Sabbath afternoon we were pleased to spend the afternoon out at the Fackenthalls. Peter and Joy were up from Napa and Katrina and Sebastian came over from Vancouver. Zeke had a great time shaking snow globes and trying to pull ornaments off the tree.

Mr. Helpful

Tidying the house is always fun with a toddler trailing your every move. Today Ezekiel was determined to help me vacuum the sofa. First he wanted to be behind the pillows, then he wanted to be under the cushions.

Cinnamon Face

Doing his own cleanup.

Apparently our kid has some sort of topical allergy to cinnamon. When it touches his skin he gets little pink patches. So, even though he loves cinnamon fruit toast, I think we'll hold the cinnamon in the future.

Christmas Crafting

I made these little hand warmers for the nieces this year. They are filled with rice and there is one heart for each pocket. You just microwave them for a minute and you've got warm hands!

Robb is 31!

So, technically his birthday was two days ago, but we wanted to try the new breakfast place in town, so today was the day. The Maple Counter Cafe was pretty amazing. And the best part is that the wait staff came out and sang to Robb so it was perfectly embarrassing for him (see above).

Robb's Secret Skills

My one contribution to the project—the labels.

I just have to show off these rice sachets that Robb made for Christmas gifts this year. Start to finish, he did all the work. It is so great on a cold evening to have a nice hot pack for your shoulders. He even smashed up cinnamon sticks to put in them, so they smell super when you pop them in the microwave. What a man...

Big Boy Bed

Cranky just woke up face.

We got the cutest toddler bed at IKEA last month. Zeke fell in love with it in the store, crawling up onto it by himself and rolling around and getting down again. We didn't think we would actually use it for a long time, but of course I couldn't handle the the box just sitting there. The instructions show it as a two-person job, so Zeke and I decided to tackle it right before nap time yesterday. It has three adjustment levels, the smallest one is practically a square and all the way extended it is a twin bed.

He seemed so excited that I thought I should let him try to take his nap there. After sneaking out three times, I had to put him back in his crib, but I think he figured out what was going on. Today he didn't try to get out once and had an awesome nap. We'll see how it goes.

Surprise!

Zeke lends a helping hand.

I couldn't resist letting Robb open one of his birthday presents a few days early.

The Magic iPad

Zeke entertains himself by taking some self-portraits.

For traveling with a little one, the iPad is pure magic. Seriously. What would normally be a squirmy, irritable, grabby little guy is suddenly transformed into a still, contented, focused wee man. Robb loaded the iPad with all sorts of educational baby apps (thanks, Padmini!) and we were good to go. We also had a new experience in that Ezekiel actually fell asleep in Robb's arms in broad daylight. A first for us since he was a newborn.

Google Car!

We were standing out on the veranda when we saw the Google car drive up and turn around. I don't know how long it takes for them to upload the data, but maybe someday we'll be on Google Street View. He he.

Hurricane Simulator

After golfing, we spent some time in the arcade. Zeke and I decided to check out this hurricane simulator and he was really brave.