Pretty Darn Festive

This would be our second annual family photo at Sandgren's Tree Farm. Same as last year, we met my brother and his family (minus Zoie) to find a tree. Last year we went with a HUGE fir tree. This year we went with a modest white pine and it went really smooth. No fuss, no muss. No swearing, no chainsaws in the house. Easy peasy, Patrick Sweezy.

Henry and Eli try to haul a tree.

Me & Jesse haul our trees and Brandi hauls Jada and Violet.

After last years monstrosity of a tree, this little guy was a welcome change. Big trees are a total pain -- hard to get through the door, hard to set up, no good.

Violet seems to be going through a phase where she hates to wear clothes. I've been kind of impressed that she has the dexterity to get totally undressed. Her new nickname is "Nudity Jones". Hopefully, it doesn't stick.

Festive and more lady-like...

Here is the tree all decorated. Is Violet not huge? Does she not look almost the size of Henry in this photo?

Violet is saying new words everyday. She has a few two word sentences. We look at picture books with her and she can identify a bunch of stuff when prompted. Tonight, we were having dinner and she looked around and yelled "DADDY, MOMMY, HENNY!" She will sing in the rhythm of the ABC's but make up different sounds. Every once in while she will hit a vowel on time.

Henry continues to dazzle us with his artistic abilities and his mastery of all forms of dance. This morning, he wanted to take the yellow dishwashing gloves, the bottle washer thingie, and a pan scrubber to daycare as toys. I said no. Henry is also very interested in helping out in the kitchen. He is excited to learn how to make stuff. He helped mama make cookies last week and learned how to make a pot of coffee (sort of).

A few nights back he busted his lip open pretty good from jumping on the bed. He smashed into Violet's head and he bled all over.

No goat casualties. They seem to be enjoying their new house and doing very well overall. Dolly and Kenny continue to gain acceptance from Drama and Vince. It's tricky sometimes but at the end of the day it seems like they are all on the same team. I think next spring the obvious next step is to buy an intact male goat and let Dolly start a family.