Guess that tv show

Does this remind anyone of a popular 90s tv show? I already know that Julianne will be the one to figure it out. Yes, I actually did sneak up on him, this is not a joke. Ben is quite the handyman.

Sledding

Here are some pictures of Alena sledding in happier times. She has an ear infection so she hasn't been up to any sledding lately, even though we have a nice powder right now. She is even too sick to celebrate Grandma Dee's birthday. Happy Birthday, Grandma! Your snow fort is still standing in the backyard. How is that for a nice present!

The sled cruises best on packed snow--the alley is a perfect place.

If you pull her fast enough she will raise her arms like a thrill-seeker on Adventureland's Tornado. Apparently Daddy isn't going fast enough.

Sometimes you have to make do with what you have

Happy Birthday Grandpa Ed!

What were you feeding this baby?

Answer:

No, no, Jones!

Who is getting yelled at?

Alena is yelling at someone--who is it, and why?
a.) Jones, eating the phone book
b.) Daddy, playing with Alena's toys
c.) Ruby, scratching the carpet
(No, there is no option of yelling at Mommy. She never does anything wrong!)

Knee walking

This is Alena's traditional form of walking.

Alena Walking

Alena doing a little forced foot walking. She still prefers knee-walking.

Alena's walking update

Alena walked on her feet last night several times, including a 5 foot stretch. Will she be walking today, or revert back to knee-walking? If she does more of that newfangled foot walking I will try to get some video.

Snow baby

We survived the blizzard on Wednesday. It was a snow day for Daddy, even, as all of his jobs were closed! I made Jannie rolls in the tradition of a snow day. We had to keep them in the microwave so the cats wouldn't eat them. Yesterday we forgot to protect them and they were half-eaten on the floor when we came home (at least there were only two left.) Ruby! Alena liked sitting in the snow and eating it. She also liked sledding on Wednesday. Yesterday she hated it. She is a baby of extremes.

Getting bundled up in Cousin Lily's snowsuit. She was pretty much immobile in this thing. She could hardly sit up.

Alena had to sit in the wagon while Mom went up in the garage attic to get the sleds.

A visit with Santa at Hy-Vee. He was a little scary looking, but Alena was pretty much indifferent to him.

Alena and Tillie open an early Christmas present.

Feeding Jones with a spoon

I think that Alena is trying to feed Jones with her spoon. She does some crazy things to him, and he just sits and takes it. Later today she rested her head on him like she likes doing and he licked her hair.

Pictures for Julianne

Because Julianne loves kitty pictures, here are a couple:

Alena giving Jones a hug. Today they were looking out the window at it snowing. Alena was laughing, either at the snow or at Jones.

Here are the guts from the butternut squash. Ruby jumped up on the counter, grabbed the squash guts, and then carried them down to the basement to eat them. This is not good cat behavior.

Decorating the Christmas tree

Saturday night we followed our Christmas tradition of driving the Altima to Hy-Vee and sticking a tree in the trunk. We decorated our Christmas tree on Sunday. Alena was very good at helping. First, she hung the watering can on a branch. Then, we got out the decorations and she got to choose what she wanted to hang on the tree. The first thing she picked up was the only glass ornament I had lying out. Because of Alena's unpredictablilty and the friskiness of the cats (Ruby has already climbed the tree) we did not hang most of our good ornaments this year. But it still turned out pretty.

Mom helps Alena hang up the ornament that she selected. This was a hard one to hang up!

A grumpy baby on a rocking horse