Christmas 2009

These are photos from Christmas 2009, the first Christmas we celebrated in our new Lake Pointe house. It was a white Christmas, of course!





Here's Mommy and me and Skye cuddling in our big Morris chair and reading one of her many new books.

Mommy and daddy made an amazing Christmas dinner, with roast duck and cherry-port sauce, endive-pear-blue cheese salad, roasted fennel, and potatoes with figs!

Here's a video of Sophie discovering a new kitchen that Santa left for her!

I love my new kitchen! Thank you Santa!!!

A Wicked Cool Pillow Fort

Mommy and daddy's sofa in their bedroom is well situated for keeping an eye on the forest and watching for my deer and owl friends.  Here's me building a pillow fort and hiding in it. 

Chicago Shopping Trip

Mommy went shopping and Daddy and I hit the Chicago Children's Museum.  It was a wonderous place- I was captivated for 4 hours and didn't want to leave when the guard came at closing time to kick us out!

We had an awesome room at the Chicago Sheraton.  Very cool.  And we ate Giordanos' famous pizza!

This is the amazing view from our room of the Chicago river and Wrigley building

this was daddy's favorite exhibit at the museum:  A tall room where you could put together foam airplanes and helicopters and use a winch to haul them to the top of the room and drop them off!  Daddy and Sophie's helicopter design stayed afloat the longest, of course!  Hey, Uncle Kurt: try to beat our record of 32 seconds of flight time!!

I got to slide down the file pole!

I wanted to feed the T rex- he looked hungry

This was an exhibit where I got to dig for dinosaur bones.  It was very cool

I dressed the snowman- he looked cold!

The Blizzard of 2009

Daddy escaped to Dallas, but mommy and I survived the blizzard while playing inside for a snow day.  Mommy spent hours shoveling- I was so impressed!  After the storm finished, the house and our forest was trasnformed into a beautiful winter wonderland.  So daddy and I hit the slopes with our skis as soon as he got home!

Our front yard was breathtaking the morning after the storm

The house looks good- any season!

Our rain chain in the back has turned into a giant icicle!

Looking from the kitchen down the length of the great room.  It's extra cozy for the holidays

Our backyard- the deer still come around, but a little less freqently now

This is our living room sofa where the TV is.  The light reflecting off the snow and the absence of leaves makes it even brighter and cheerier than ever.

My Tree Tent

Mommy got me this really cool tree tent for Christmas!  I can fit and Skye and most of mommy!

Isn't cool?  Skye really likes it.  She sometimes sleeps in it when I go to bed.  It's like bringing my forest in from outside!

Thanksgiving Leftovers

Before I post the pictures from the snow and Christmas time, I wanted to get these last Thanksgiving photos loaded.

Here's the family on the stairs beneath our beautiful Chinese hawk painting

Great photo of me and Boppy and Dad-dad before they left for the airport

Do you like my party dress?

You do?  YAY!!!

Gran showed me how to make luminarias.  They are bags with dirt and candles in them.  We used them to light the walkway before our big Thanksgiving dinner.  Gran says that they are very common in Santa Fe, where she used to live and she will take me there some day.  Mommy wants to come, too, during Indian Market and the Santa Fe opera season.  Daddy wants to go, but just to eat green corn tamales and drink margaritas. 

Thanksgiving Photos

This is the amazing honey-lavender duck that mommy and Boppy made for Thanksgiving.  Dad said it was the best duck he ever tasted

Here I am with Gran making a gingerbread house.  I was totally obsessed with the idea of making a "house out of cookies"

The Final Product! 

Go Hawks!

On November 15th, daddy took me to the opening game of the season for the Iowa Hawkeyes.  Sure, they're not very good, but hanging out with daddy in the arena was well worth the trip.  I got to see Herky, the Iowa mascot, and got to hear the band play the fight song.  Did you know that I can sing all the words?  Cool, huh?  My favorite part was hanging on the railing at the top of the arena and watching the action go on below.  We had courtside seats, but I preferred to be at the top row- I can run around more up there!

Owl Bed

Mommy got me really cool owl sheets to go along with my owl wall stickers and owl lamp.  I am surrounded by owls!  No wonder my owl stuffed animals in my bed are so happy. 

Here's me tucking in Lundy (named for London, where he's from) into bed.  To his right is the big owl, who I named "Owlasaurus" (Owl-dinosaur!) and to his left is one of my oldest owls, who doesn't really have a name.

Lundy is my favorite and is often my pillow at night.