Love birds

Aahhh!

The newest cousin: Lucy Rae Donovan

Yeah, another girl cousin.

Carly & Rex on the Seal Beach Muncipal Pier, Huntington Beach

Sometimes the stars align and I get a great photograph, this is probably one of my favorite photos for 2012.

Rummikub

Grandma teaching Ethan the ropes of Sara's favorite game.

Feeding the geese

Snowman craft

Maggie made some wonderful Snowman decorations this year.  Here she is helping Henry make his own Snowman.

Christmas visit

Snowless Christmas

Maggie is our early riser... she is up at 4:30 every morning like clockwork.  Sara had to work this Christmas and since she woke up at 4:30, I too woke up and decided to camp outside the kids bedroom.  Occasionally I would hear Maggie singing Christmas songs or talking with her imaginary friends but she seemed content and I didn't want to spoil my morning solitude.  Finally at 7:00 Henry began to stir and I was starting to worry... why hadn't Maggie emerged from her room? When I finally opened her door she was intently looking out the window.  She asked me, where were the clouds? Was it going to snow?  I sense that this was about Santa and his sleigh, so I explained that he was still able to get around without snow.  I then assured her Santa had left us presents... even so, I still think I was more anxious about Christmas than the kids.  They slowly inched there way down the stairs and opened their stockings and the patently waited for Mom to come home before opening their presents. 

Some of my favorite people

Strength of older cousins

Christmas dress

This year I missed the Sunday Christmas program because Henry was restless.  So we took a nap in the car. When we got home we quickly took a family picture.  We were all starting to get a little grouchy, especially me.

A walk in the sun

Henry and Megan

Maggie in Vancouver

Lots to do

Maggie loves her morning routine, which starts with plugging in all the Christmas lights and then finding Tree-Elf, eating a chocolate from the advent calendar, hanging an ornament on the tree advent, attaching a piece of beard on Santa Claus, pulling a sock down to discover a small toy from Grandma and all before breakfast.

Rainbows, apple pie, and fruit turkey

Rainbow over the McDonnell house

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving in Vancouver with my sisters and Mom. Everything was delicious but my favorite thing this year was the Mom's orange rolls (not featured). 

Electrical fence

We have a game in our closet called "Lightning Reactions".  It has four metal handles, each with a button.  To  play you push the button when the creepy music stops, last one to push the button gets zapped.  I hate being shocked, which is why I love the game.  Maggie however didn't even flinch the first time she lost; I had test it because I couldn't believe it.  I rank my fear of being shocked with having needles in my eye.  However, Maggie has never been afraid of being shocked and loves testing these things out.  On our walk we came across an electrical fence.  I told her if she touched it she would get shocked, of course, she touched it. (photo by Rebecca McDonnell)

bed & breakfast log

I wish I could say I had a photo of every person that crossed over our threshold but I don't... however that is the price.  Anyway, I wanted to update the log of those who paid for their stay.

Halloween

Our little family has been under the weather.  We didn't even carve pumpkins this year but we did enjoy Halloween albeit simple.  Henry was coughing up lungs but slipped into his lion costume without a fuss, compliments of Aunt Michelle.  Grandma Torgerson made Maggie's fantastic pink tutu, which was her dream. Maggie cleaned up candy from the neighborhood with Mom.  Henry and me camped out on the driveway and passed out candy.  We had a slow trickle of trick-or-treaters until 8:30, all-in-all a perfect night.

First day of preschool

This morning, in her excitement to start preschool, Maggie proclaimed "Dad I don't need you anymore."  When I finally dropped her off in the afternoon she didn't shed a tear until I picked her up, then she cried the whole length of the drive home.