carruthers: On the 2nd Week of Christmas...

The second week of Christmas was nearly as uneventful as the first!

So uneventful, in fact, that I grew crazy and took this motley crew for a freezer-walk. Brrr.... I'm definitely a fair-weather-walker these days!

You wouldn't think he's the most protective dog I've ever owned, would you?

Then we played in the freezing cold garage for a bit...

I've learned Nate is quite the dare-devil climber these days. That kid can wiggle his way onto anything or turn around and drop off the side of anything. Just the other day, I sat James on the coffee table and (after much encouragement) he was so proud of himself for making it to the floor. On the other hand, I've caught Nate - legs and belly hanging off the changing table ready to drop off.

If we need to burn some energy inside, I'll shut all the doors, block off the hallway and let the boys play on the stairs. Nate intently climbs each stair - enjoying the process, I'd say ;-). James spends all his time shuffling toys and animals up and down stairs to "follow Mom".

Nate's happy place.

Apparently (fat) Nate can even wiggle out of his (tight) high chair. I found him like this when I came downstairs one day.

And of course, Nate was the first to attempt the step stool. Now it's the coveted activity at our place.

One afternoon, I got so fed up with little toys everywhere, I organized the toy bins and made spots for "special toys" (ie - all the toys with small parts) in the upstairs closet. OCD?..... Maybe. Probably not if you've seen my other "need to organize" areas!

Playing with birthday present boats. It was very convenient that we received two! (Notice the clean play space around them with only one toy to occupy their imaginations! Yeah, that didn't last long.)

The Saturday before Christmas Eve, our good friend Wade (of the Wade and Angela crew) was visiting Seattle for a business trip. We had some people over and it was great to catch up with them!