It’s important to test your snowman kits BEFORE winter arrives.

Flora’s church. All are welcome.

Looks who’s at the top of the heap.

Hands down my favorite toy when I was little was my Fisher Price Castle, hence why I still have it. It has a secret hiding spot behind the stairs, a hidden door in back of the cave, and a trap door on the floor of the top that leads to the dungeon. Charley has repurposed it for his dinosaurs and Star Wars guys, and sometimes you can even find an astronaut hanging out in there, too. And, sometimes a cat.

View Charley’s “F.P. Castle” photos

“Kitchen Help”

“Ice Cream for Two”

The big girl gets a big girl ride for her birthday. Of course it is pink. And being that it is January in New England, she’s been practicing in the house!

Apparently they make for a nice shampoo, too.

Charley got a “pih-peht” (pillow pet) for his birthday, and he carries it around with him everywhere. I couldn’t resist getting him some of the limited edition Huggies Jean diapers and taking some nakey shots of him on the pillow. BTW, these pics are taken with our Canon PowerShot SD4000. They’ve improved the quality of low-light shots, making it not just an outdoor camera anymore. It’s nice to have a smaller camera again for when I don’t want to lug the Nikon D80.

View Charley’s “Pillow Pet” photos

Greta finds a place in Flora’s zoo.

Flora’s new favorite thing is to “play zoo.” We build cages with every size lego and block, partition the animals, and repair the set up over and over after Charley gets in on the action. It costs two dollars to get in, none of the animals are mean (including the dinosaurs), they have a pool and diving board at their disposal, and often have inter-species families!