Toothless

Here's our little long-hair... sporting his ex-military hippy kind of style while showing off his first lost tooth. It took us awhile (and several threats) to talk him into yanking it out. He sure hopped out of bed this morning! And when his big brother asked if the tooth fairy left him anything he said, "yeah, 30 dollars!" Made his brother hesitate for a moment and go over to check for himself ;) Yup, he's sharp, and reading like a pro now with his first grade materials (if he can stay focused long enough, that is). The other day he was even making similes... like, "our house is as cold as a penguin with no feathers!"

Another day, another tooth! That gap just keeps getting bigger... but he's another dollar richer!

Rabbits

We didn't exactly pull them out of our stockings, but the boys each got a half-grown bunny for Christmas. This is
Saiah with "Casper," who is quite apathetic - usually sprawled in front of the woodstove gnawing on the silicone I used to seal our floor. Zeke's mischievious gray rabbit, JarJar, scampers around in circles and jumps up on the couch or chair to see what we are up to. He prefers chewing on the felt carpet. We have a little corner caged for them to spend the night, or when the boys aren't around to play... we're never quite sure how the cat feels about them in her house! They are pretty cute, but the boys are figuring out how much work it is to take care of creatures too!!

The Freezer

Did you know that our "crib" has its own fancy walk-in freezer?! It's true. Sure, it used to be a shower room off of our entryway, but now it is being used to hold sleds and hang beef and store my unused paraglider... there's no way I am going flying in -40!! We like to keep our entryway at a crisp -23C and, yes, that means our bathroom is also sub-zero (F). What can I say, we're tough for Jesus...

Merry Christmas Break

The kids just finished up their 2+ weeks of Christmas break and, wow, did they have FUN! There were plenty of new toys (actually so many presents that we forgot some of them in that bright orange chest!). They each got a homemade stuffed dog from grandma - a ballerina, a pirate, and a sheriff. And of course there were also legos to cover the table and carpet, with a few left over to wedge in the floorboards.

One of the biggest hits was a cheap plastic piano we found for Eden... loaded with a variety of disco beats and it even has a working microphone! Another big hit was two half-grown rabbits - Jarjar and Casper. On occasion we let them run around the downstairs... jumping on the couch, chewing our felt carpet, eating out of the cat's dish, rolling in the fireplace ash, and licking our chocolate wrappers.

As for Krista and I, we kept it nice and simple. I got some nice clothes and she got a song!