The little peoples in priso... I mean, up on the playground equipment.

Playground action shot!

Yay teeter-totter!

Little climber.

Eating chocolate-covered peppermint pretzel stick = mess.

Merry Christmas 2008!

We celebrated a wonderful, peaceful Christmas with Grammy and Grandpop here at our house. As you can see from the photos, we all had a fantastic time with one another, sharing lots of laughs, lots of presents, and lots of bridge-playing at night after the kids went down for the night (Grammy and Grandpop won, by the way). Merry Christmas everyone!

I thought everyone should see what a beautiful table my wife sets. :)

Mommy got a beautiful hand-decorated apron from Abby. As you can see, she was quite touched.

To quote C.S. Lewis, "How Everyone Was Very Busy."

Cute boy opening presents.

Abby got many, many awesome presents, too many to show them all here. This one bears showing a picture of, though -- a mock dissectable frog, complete with a full set of jelly-like innards. Yum! She and Daddy worked on it, and she thoroughly enjoyed taking Froggy apart.

Old-fashioned toys often last because they're actually lots of fun. Sean loved his horsie.

New big-girl boots for Abby -- big hit!

Seanie got himself a new wooden train set -- he ended his Christmas morning in the den playing with it. As a friend from church has said about Sean, "He loves him some trains."

Trip To The Dulles Air & Space Museum

Just before Christmas, Grammy and Grandpop came to celebrate the holiday with us, and Daddy, Grandpop and the kids decided to visit the Air & Space Annex out near Dulles Airport in Virginia. It's basically a super-big hangar with tons of planes, helicopters, gliders, and even a Space Shuttle in it. Tons of fun, and the kids really enjoyed themselves. Yay!

Abby! Sean! LOOK OUT - THAT PLANE'S HEADING RIGHT FOR Y...

Oh. It's just hanging from the ceiling.

My bad.

Grandpop is always great about explaining things to the kids.

One-man seated helicopter contraption thingy!

Cool!

I only took this because of the name of the plane. :)

Look Sean - a guided missile!

Seanie in front of a Space Shuttle engine.

We ended the visit with a trip up to the Observation Tower, where we got to watch planes taking off right over our heads from Dulles Airport right next door. Pretty cool!

(I was just proud of this picture...)

Abby and Sean's Overnight With The Russos

In mid-December, Mommy and Daddy went away for the weekend for out 10th wedding anniversary, and Uncle Karl and Auntie Susan were very kind to watch Abby and Sean for almost 48 hours -- wow! As you'll see, they had a great time, and much cookie baking ensued.

The little baker. Takes after her mommy.

The Pilsbury Dough Boy. A.k.a. Sean.

They really did make cookies -- we ate 'em! Yummers!

Adam (the Russo's little boy) kept an eye on Abby and Sean, as you can see.

Happy Advent, From The Erwins!