February

February was nice and full. Grandma and Grandpa Rudd came to visit us, and so did my sister, Janelle, and her family. These beach/park pictures are from a day the three kids spent with Grandpa Rudd watching the sea lions and playing at La Jolla. It was a little shocking to me that my dad can just hop in the car with three kids and few granola bars to be gone for the whole day. I am so used to packing and preparing for every contingency: jackets in case it's cold, swimsuits in case it's hot, sand buckets, hats, chairs, etc. They had a great day.

It was nice to have a sister in little kid mode, too, to pass the time with.

Todd and I spent a wonderful 3 days in Los Angeles. We stayed in Beverly Hills and went to Knotts', the Getty Center, a Jazz/Clippers game. It was so fun to have fun, without keeping track of anyone. The folks at home held FHE without us.

Parker's 6th birthday!

He wanted those (I think) icky pink-frosted "Lofthouse" sugar cookies instead of birthday cake. But he agreed to also have cupcakes so the rest of us could choose which we preferred.

With his birthday money from Grandma and Grandpa Everett, Parker wanted to go to Build-A-Bear. He walked in, knew exactly what he wanted, and was back out in around five minutes. I admire decisivesness like that. He named his bear, Sporty, and dressed him in karate clothes because he was taking karate at the time.

My favorite bikers.

Why is it so entertaining to watch two babies together?

Graham and Daisy

Christmas

Here is the best photo to help us remember Christmas 2009. Emma followed my family's tradition of sleeping by the Christmas tree on the night before Christmas Eve. Except she got hit with the flu in the middle of the night, which is why the slipcover is off of the couch; it was being cleaned. So, the flu bug got in the way of our planned Christmas Eve party. The two families we had invited were left in the lurch, but were gracious about it. Our Christmas Eve was very quiet. These pictures are in backwards order.

Graham's first Christmas, but not his first "re-gift". What is the point of buying MOre baby toys? In fact, this toy was even a hand-me-down when Emma received it. I'm guessing it was purchased in 1993.

Gerber Puffs: the perfect stocking stuffer.

All Truman asked for was candy. And I was surprised by the pink bike!

Parker's Polar Express

Parker's kindergarten class as engineers.

Walking out with 100 kindergarteners to perform for the the kids at the flag ceremony.

Truman's Christmas Program

Truman's preschool program was funny. We had expected him to be our most "stagey" child, but he was really shy (as you can tell from the shoulder shrug pose.) During the songs he would try to discreetly scoot behind the other kids, a little side step at a time.

A day or two before this program, Truman burned the back of his hand really badly when he pulled the iron off the ironing board. We had to take him to the burn clinic in San Diego. I hate injuries. He still has a good-sized scar, but is otherwise fine.

His class this year is all boys - 2 of them are missing in these photos. His teacher's afternoon 3 yr. old class is all boys, and his Sunbeam class is 10 boys, no girls.