December 31st, 2017

December 31, 2017 shreffler

Des practicing with his new camera. f/8 and be there, kid.

Upon reviewing, “that good picture!”

Took several weeks, but Eleanor has discovered the Christmas tree loophole: the stairs

At a friend’s house for a family New Years Eve gathering, Eleanor pulls a conversation starter card from the deck.

Des just kinda appeared upstairs with a mask. As you do.

Downstairs it was “controlled” chaos

After an hour or two of trying to put her down in the pack-n-play, mom and dad surrendered and invited Ella to the party. Flirting with the emotional disaster of sleep deprivation, she was surprisingly even-keeled throughout the night. Dad entertaining her with nibbles of baked macaroni cheese cups

“Too much haha, soon boo-hoo…” Eleanor enjoy the noisemakers at first, but her enthusiasm eventually wained

Ok, the yawns eventually settled in

Meanwhile, Des is curled up with Grace downstairs

This is not a picture of Eleanor dealing Cards Against Humanity cards

The countdown…

2018! The first year both children made it to midnight. Tomorrow mom and dad shall envy all those with skull-splitting hangovers.

Yeah, it’s time to go to bed

December 30th, 2017

December 30, 2017 shreffler

Des was proud of his most recent magna-tiles creation and requested a picture

Christmas brunch with friends. Playing catch in the living room, this can’t go wrong, right?

Nap time…

…shift change

More lego builds, with Luigi and Guido from Cars

Mom gets in on the lego action (don’t tell Des- we’re practicing numbers, spatial reasoning and fine motor skills)

TENS! for finishing the build

Suppose that’s one way to play with the tent

Trying a new setup for Saturday movie nights

Eleanor putting away a healthy portion of chili

Ah, they joys of foaming bath soap (“shaving cream”)

Of course he started by putting it on his leg and shaving, cause with dad’s beard, mom apparently has been the prominent shaving role model 🙂 Here we are also practicing face shaving, though following by arm and foot shaving for good measure.

December 29th, 2017

December 29, 2017 shreffler

Desmond taking his new “Desi-sized” shovel for a spin

Sister excels at “picking at stuff,” including the dinosaur decals on Des’ wall. When it unfortunately necessitated wall repair in one spot, Des lended a hand with the painting (aka, dad gambling)

After that, we wanted to “paint” all the things

December 27th, 2017

December 27, 2017 shreffler

Picking up the kids after mom and dad’s date night, the cousins are engrossed in a full-contact round of Hungry Hippos

Some primo lego action going on

Eleanor getting in on activity time with her new crayons, though mom assisting with the mechanics of coloring

December 26th, 2017

December 26, 2017 shreffler

Day after Christmas- let the lego builds begin!

Christmas 2017

December 25, 2017 shreffler

Walking downstairs Christmas morning to see that Santa had arrived

…and ate the pretzel left out for him the night before. And the reindeer somehow ate most of each petite carrot, but left just enough crumbs behind to remind the faithful of the plate’s original content. Christmas magic.

Eleanor, either happy about the orange in her stocking, or just excited to be awake

“Mom, can you open both of these like right now?”

R2-D2 and Stormtrooper plushies for the win (in hand going to sleep most nights since)

Desmond presses forward, Eleanor pit stops with a pouch

TWO oranges? Woah!

Pretzel break.

Desmond opening his first gift from Santa, a barn puzzle!

Sister opening her very own set of crayons

Beyond excited to tug at bows and rip paper

Sometimes you just need take a breather

Brother and sister opening Chutes and Ladders together. These two <3

Des modeling his new Cars robe

This time, the injustice was her inability to get her new forks out of their packaging instantly

Trial run with the new spoon- it works.

Desmond surveying the pair of new LEGO Junior sets (brilliant product, by the way)

Des and his new big boy camera

Christmas lunch with great-grandma Kathy

Cousin Viv supervising the first lego build, Des happily the assistant builder

Viv carefully studying the build instructions

…though occasionally pausing for a photo shoot as Liam puts Des’ new camera through the paces

Upon returning home for nap time, Desmond felt his new Lightning McQueen lego car need to be tucked in for a nap as well

Desmond and Cal continuing the Christmas cheer

Eleanor walking over to mom, and judging from the look on grandma’s face, the first time she saw Eleanor take more than three steps. At 13 months, Ella is practicing more persistently than her brother, who after initially discovering his walking ability, shelved it until a few months later

Squeaker/shaker toys… for babies!

Grandma and Des, reading his new book Here We Are

Aunt Kellie, grandma Anne and dad’s first Christmas together in seven years!

Grandma offering structural engineering advice

Snoopy Bob Cratchit watching after the house, it was so fulfilling to enjoy the first Christmas together as a foursome. Complete.

December 24th, 2017

December 24, 2017 shreffler

Up early for one of our favorite traditions, pretzels in the making

Who doesn’t love to smash a good egg yoke?

Sugar bae

“Hi mom!”

Des holding his prize possession in the cart seat, as you do

Pa enticing Eleanor to play her favorite game- adult hopping! Doesn’t look like great-uncle Pat is having it

Happy, mere moments before pulling on that towel in the background and nearly braining herself with the pull-down cabinet door. A few tears, but barely a mark. 1960’s safety technology at work.

Des staring down a bowl of ma’s transcendent cream of artichoke soup

Pictured: a rare glimpse of what has come to be known as the “Shriek of Justice!” (an homage to The Princess Bride): a high-pitched warning horn Ella sounds at the faint smell of unfairness. This will all get easier when she acquires language skills, right?