cookie night

Mitchell and I made peanut butter cookies tonight. Neil was at work and we had time and peanut butter to spare! I read the recipe to him, and he helped me step by step by counting spoonfuls, dumping spoons and cups of ingredients in, and stirring. Tonight we even used power tools! The electric mixer! He helped me put the criss-crosses in the top, but he really only smashed the cookies in half and dug up cookie dough to eat off his fork. We can't share our baked goods with friends at this stage due to the lack of restraint when it comes to licking forks and then using them again, or grabbing a handful of dough with slimy hands and insisting that that cookie be put on the pan! Mitchell found the sprinkles and really wanted to add them. I have seen very few peanut butter cookies with sprinkles, but I think they look pretty good! They tasted pretty good too! Of course we worked on the finer part of baking, licking the beaters!

big boy bath

Mark got to take his first bath in the big tub with big brother! He had a great time! He was not scared or even surprised to be in the tub, since he has been in there before only without water! Mitchell wanted to splash and make waves and slide but we had to hold off on that for a while! Oh! aren't they cute?!

ten month Mark

Marky turned 10 months old today! Once again I am stunned! He is a wild man! He does not stop from the time he wakes up to the time I put him down for naps! He crawls; He climbs; He climbs the stairs; He cruises! He yells a lot too! Today, in honor of his birthday, he climbed the stairs and headed for his favorite place, the bathroom. I left him there for a few minutes not thinking that he could get into much! When I went to get him he had climbed, or fallen, into the tub and was exploring the assorted bath items stored there! Wow! What a mess! Mark got tubes in his ears earlier this week. He has not been his normal smiling self for a few weeks. Today and yesterday evening he finally found his smile again! Here are some pics of what he has been up to the last month!

Jan 4- standing for the 1st time

Jan 17 - cruising around the dining table

new years eve party

This year, as we have done for the past several years, we celebrated the beginning of 2006 with the Hearn clan. Mike and Nancy have graciously opened their home for at least 6 years to host the tradition! The weekend usually consists of four-wheeling, snow sledding (one year), walks in the woods (sometimes), games games and more games, food food oh my gosh lots of food, at least one movie (usually several), a family meal (some times with a fun theme), party poppers and silly hats at midnight (a few years ago), a family prayer, and sometimes a sharing session about the past year, then comes the grand finale - fireworks (unless there is a fire ban like this year)! We love going out there and having a "family retreat" every year. There are usually about 20 or more family members and friends in attendance, and we all stay in one house! It is a really great tradition!

This year Mike and Nancy planned a medieval theme meal and Chris and Evan were the serving wenches. We were not allowed to use utensils and we watched "First Night" as the entertainment during the meal! Nancy made embroidered family banners for each family. Mitchell's favorite part of the meal was the "doo-ta-doo" banner song. When Mama Lou got her banner she started singing a trumpet song and parading around the house! Mitchell loved it and still gets our banner and sings the "doo-ta-doo" song!

Christmas with the Roberts

The day after Christmas we hopped into the car and headed west! Mom mom, Grandad, GiGi, Uncle Ben and Aunt Melissa were all there waiting for us! We had Christmas again with them for a few days!

Mark did really well for his age at understanding the idea of opening presents! Once he finally found the toy he was really intent on playing with it. He knew exactly what it was and went to work on exploring the new toy!

Mitchell was "camera shy" this year. I'm not sure we can really call it shy. It was more of an adamant "camera refusal". He acted like any one with a camera was paparitzi and was sorely infringing on his privacy. As soon as a camera was in view he would make ugly faces, look away and start yelling, "No! No pictures", "I don't want pictures!", "You don't take any more pictures!" We just gave up eventually. I am sure that my relentless desire to get the perfect Christmas card picture and the 3 "photo shoots" that we staged were the cause of him viewing me as a paparitzi! He was probably as tired of hearing, "smile, sit really still and smile, please smile, we'll give you candy if you sit by Mark and smile, oh I guess you don't get your candy (this one brought on tears which is not good for photos)" as I was of hearing him tell me "no". We still got some good pictures, I just had to be sneaky! Isn't that what being a mom is all about?

We have a funny tradition at the Roberts that started on Mitchell's first Christmas. Someone (Eileen) thought it would be funny to take Mitchell's picture in this huge gift bag. It was bigger than he was so we put him in it. Last year the bag showed up again and so we plopped Mitchell in it again to show his growth. This year, and I am sure the bag is now being intentionally saved, there was the bag now with two boys to take pictures in it! Mark was not really sure what in the world we were doing, and understandably so. Mitchell was in his photo boycott, so it was difficult to convince him not to hide in the bottom, and yes we have one of him yelling at us while in the bag! I personally hope that we will still be putting them in it well into their college years! Do you think their wives would mind taking a photo with one foot in the bag?

Christmas dinner

To start the Christmas season, my mom came down for a week and then Rachelle joined us for Christmas eve and day! We cooked and baked a small but delicious dinner and some treats!

x-mas aprons! aren't we cute! & Bakers in action!

Enjoying a tasty dinner! & Enjoying a tasty diner!

Mark loves food!

let the gifts begin!

Mitchell's first gift to open was a Dora magic coloring book. You color over the page with a water pen and cool colors and pictures appear. He sat off to the side while we kept opening presents and colored for 10 minutes. We kept asking him if he wanted to open new presents and he said, "No, I'm just coloring." It was pretty odd! He does not even know who Dora is, but the book was mesmerizing!
Mitchell loves to play store and restaurant so we got him a cash register. He also loves the Wiggles and is obsessed with guitars, so Mamma Lou got him the wiggles guitar! He loves it! He watches Wiggles videos with it in his lap and if a song comes on the video that is on the guitar he pushes the button and we get to hear it from the guitar and the video at the same time! I wish there was a way to synchronize the two together because they never really "match"! Right song, wrong timing!
Mark got a teether. He got other things too, but somehow we did not get any pictures! We must have only gotten video! I hope!
Rachelle got a sewing machine, and I get to teach her how to use it! We have several projects lined up for her and are waiting for the perfect time to crack open the box and get started!

lag

Sorry for the lag in entries! Our computer broke the week of Christmas and we have just gotten it fixed. My favorite part of the computer repair adventure was being on the phone with the repair technician and having to lock Mitchell out of the room (literally) while he was banging on the door screaming about wanting more orange juice! Good stuff!

I will be back in the swing of things soon and will get you some new pictures of my sweet boys. I know you are waiting anxiously! We have been so busy lately. Mark is crawling and climbing on anything he can find, and Mitchell is perfecting the art of back talk and disobedience! I am earning my keep for sure! I also suspect there is some paybacks coming my way in the form of Mitchell's smart mouth! I really did not know that a two year old could back talk, but he can and he is good at it! He learned from the best, I am sure!