Santa!!

Santa made a visit to Manson yesterday, Jens was pretty excited to go see him

 Well, we thought she was ready...

 Yeah, turns out she wasn't ready (sorry about the blurry pic, it was the best I could do and DeA refused to put her back on Santa's lap for another shot).

 The boys were more than ready and told him all the things that they wanted for Christmas.

 Even removing the hat and beard wouldn't calm Jens down enough to sit on his lap.

 It took cuddles with Mama Rae, M&M's and chocolate milk to get her to chill.

 Speaking of chill, last night was the Ward's Christmas music concert.  Ryker at lots of goodies, 

 Jens ate lots of goodies, too.  Rock isn't pictured because he embarrassed his mother and was put in permanent timeout for making faces, bouncing up and down and singing in Minionese during the primary portion.  His explanation for the antics was "I didn't know what to do so I thought I was supposed to try and be funny".  Lucky for him that let him off the hook since his Mommy immediately placed the blame on Papa Dale and me.

 "Bellybutton!"

Cider and Ice Skating and Creeps!

We made cider the weekend before Thanksgiving (whoa, I need to get back on the ball with posting) and ended up making a lot more than we are used to making.  Ryker had fun, but thought that it was the grossest apple sauce he'd ever tasted.

 Jens and the boys found the perfect big boxes for playing.

 "Dad, close the lid and tape us in!"

 "Peek-a-boo!" 

 She saw Bampa on a forklift and demanded to drive it herself.  Not a ride, but she wanted to drive.

 When it was time to go they refused to leave the box behind and carried it all the way to the car without help.

 Jens has been in nursery for a few weeks now and is getting the hang of it.  When Huddy snuck in with her she showed him exactly where to sit for treats.

 Oh, and this wasn't Jens' fault, despite what Huddy keeps trying to say.

 "Hey!  Where are the snacks?"

 Ryker can be an elegant gentleman when he desires.

 Rock has been begging, nagging and pleading to go ice skating for a while now.  It was finally cold enough for Wapato Point to open their rink and so he finally got his ice skating out of his system.  Ryker was happy to just cruise the ice without skates so that he didn't fall.

 Still very elegant. 

 Rock was pretty happy.

 Jens got out there a little bit, but was mostly happy to snuggle with Mommy.

 Speaking of snuggling, she finds creative ways to snuggle.

 "Bellybutton!" 

 Ryker fell asleep playing "Lego Ironman Avengers" while the babysitter was watching them.  DeA demanded that I pay her 1/3 less since Ryker was out of commission, but I refused and paid the entire $4 for the night.

 In other news, DeA hated this: