Mark reading "We are in a Book" by Mo Willems (excerpt)

I had to trim the file to make it small enough for posting... so you just get to see an excerpt for now. I recorded Mark "reading" two of his favorite books...

Sean telling Mark a story

Sean talking

Every household needs a robot...

"Momma, can you cut some arm holes into this box? I want to be a ROBOT today!" I suggested cutting a window into the front, too, so he or Holden could see where they were going.

"beep bo beep bo bee bo boop!"

Holden drew wires on the front...

...and Mark drew knobs and buttons onto the back.

Sean thought the big boys were VERY INTERESTING as usual, and gave in depth commentary in the form of squeaks, yells, coos, and raspberries.

Christmas pictures of Mark and Sean

Sean was a lot more cooperative than Mark (Ben claims that is only because Sean hasn't learned to object to having picture taken yet)... but with much bribing and a little bit of threatening I was able to get some good pictures of Mark, too. :o)

We took Mark's first Christmas pictures with this bear, so we decided to continue the tradition. It is fun to see how the bear "shrinks" as the boys grow. Enjoy!





















As a reminder, here is Mark on his first Christmas. He was 6 months old here so he was a lot easier to prop up... Sean kept scooting down or trying to eat the bear.

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas together here in Vancouver... and we wish our friends and family a Merry Christmas, too!

Hope you enjoyed the pics!

Friday Mark-quote:

Mark playing w/ a new Lego toy - "Dad, this guy just shot at you with a rocket!" Ben - "Why would he do that? I'm a good guy." Mark - "There was a cockroach on you." Ben - "But wouldn't the rocket get me too when it exploded?" Mark - "No, he had friendly-fire off."

Mark-quote of the day

"Momma, I love you thirty-thousand. I love Dad fifty-thousand, cuz he plays cool computer games with me. I love God one-hundred-million-thousand... he doesn't have computer games, but he DID make the World..."

...can't catch me!

Momma keeps trying to take pictures of Dad and me, but...
...THIS is all she gets!

So until she can catch me off guard with her camera, you will be TORTURED with images such as THIS.

Ever since finding his feet and learning to catch them, Sean has become a hand-grabby-baby.

He is getting better at grabbing every day!

....OH! That tricky Momma hunted me down when I was defenseless. Fine. You can have a smile. But just one!

Here are the 4 Stollen that Momma baked. It took all of Saturday... who knew that these would be so much work?!! They are all different shapes and sizes because Momma was experimenting what works best... 2 with a Stollen-Backform, 2 without, different sizes due to different final rise-times.

This one looks the most authentic... no taste testing until they have aged for 3 weeks!

Mark-quotes from this week

"No, Sean, don't chew on my finger, I haven't washed it in 50 days!"

"I love God, but I'm not sure I want to be a Christian because I like dinosaurs, but Andrew said the Christians believe dinosaurs are only for pretend, but I think they were real before they became extinct."

3 months old!!!

Sean turned 3 months old today! He is growing like a little weed, is content most of the time, sleeps through the night consistently (*wahoooo*) and is becoming more and more aware of his surroundings.

...who could resist this dimply smile?

...practicing the 'puppy-dog' eyes... they don't work on Momma, but other girls will be unable to resist!

Happy boy!

...having some brother-time while Momma gets dressed...

Today during a diaper change Sean discovered those wonderful wonderful things at the ends of his legs.

Those feet are very tricky, but he learned to catch them!

They provided hours of entertainment this afternoon once he got the knack of grabbing those footsies! Look how pleased he is with himself!

Christmas Crafts

I love craft projects!
Now that I have a little brother it isn't always possible to do crafts, but my Momma tries to use Sean's nap time to have some special time with me. A few days ago we made and painted some salt-dough ornaments.

Momma let me use her "Wasserfarb-Kasten" that she used when she was a little girl.

I've gotten much better at not accidentally mixing all the colors together... my gingerbread man is wearing green PJs.

I made brown bears, and painted their faces all by myself. Dad thinks they look a bit like domokun now...

Here I am, proudly surveying my work. The worms (one blue, one green) are my favorite because I made them myself, without cookie cutters.

Momma painted one of the penguins, and the 2 baby bottles. I did all the rest by myself!

When we were done I told Momma that I'd like to do this kind of thing more often.

I love crafts!

...and just in case you thought I let Momma only take nice pictures of me this time, here is a reminder that I am still a 4-year-old BOY (I learned this face by practicing in front of the mirror).