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!