A Home in Mound

I thought this was a cute picture of Josh, even though he's not really smiling.



Isaiah resting comfortably in the bouncy seat. He's smiling... really.



'lia is so cute sometimes, it makes me mad.



Kendall has cute smiles, but I have difficulty getting pictures of them at times. I seem to get great pics like this one... I love her eyes.



Lunchtime always brings smiles. I gave the girls all yellow dishes, but they didn't notice. They usually comment when they get matching dish and cups or whatever...



I find I don't always need a bib for Josh... but this was one time when I should've...



Josh trying to cheer Isaiah up.



This didn't happen during daycare hours, and is not acceptable behavior, but she looks so pleased with herself, don't you think?



Mmmm, George. You built me a tower... what should I do?



BOOM!



I spent the last two minutes working very hard on coloring this pad. Are you proud of me mommy?



A new friend today, Skeeter, checks out the refrigerator.



Ok... now I getting really mad. Try to ignore the cuteness here please.



Polka time today, started when Maeve danced with the doll.



Soon joined by her friends.



Kendall takes a spin.



Skeeter didn't know what to make of Polka time.



At the end of polka time, he found our hearth, climbed up it, then subsequently slide down it on his tummy. He had a great time.



Here he goes for another round.



Maeve thought it looked like fun too.



Isabella proudly showing she can climb on the coffee table.




Nice smile.



Skeeter tries to show Josh a book.

A strangely quiet day here at Basso... Josh is home with an ear ache, Isabella's off to her big photo shoot, and everyone else fell asleep! Well, ok, Isaiah's here in my arms....




Let the girls head out after lunch for a bit. Cecelia's holding an icicle she found on the deck.




A bird's eye view of the girls.



Kendall found her own icicle.



How the girls fell asleep...

Last week, we got out the cookie cutters, and made some cookies.



It's been fun watching Maeve, Cecelia and Kendall play more with their imagination. Somehow, they were all playing with the Little People house here. Very cute, don't you think?




Got a new friend at Basso now, welcome Isaiah!




Baby Josh isn't the baby anymore...



Put the girls hair in headbands today... they lasted for a while!

Many are offering thoughts and opinions on our usual 4 or 8 year changing of the guard. I am marveled every time it happens here in the USA. What it truly says about our principals and convictions, despite the fact many people didn't vote for the winner. Even when President Bush took the oath 8 years ago, I had a knot in my stomach that day knowing it was the right thing to do, even though I was not an admirer of his.

So my stomach turns again Tuesday, January 20 when Obama takes the country's reins. I am very excited about his presidency, as well as reticent. Like this person, I think back to when Bill Clinton became president, and there was so much hope and potential in his presidency. Then it came crashing down in the wake of Health Care reform, Newt Gingrich and the 1994 elections, and totally fizzled because of his bumbling around with Lewinsky. Think about all that happened during those 8 years that were not taken advantage of properly. The rise of democracy in the old Soviet Union and the technological and economic boom happened, and our country remained stagant, unable to capitalize. President Clinton screwed that up... big time.

Now Obama takes the country lead. There are so many challenges, it's hard to believe he will successful with all of them. And how he deals with it when people get disappointed will be important. People in this country need to manage their expectations. Be realistic with what you expect to our country to accomplish. Hopefully he can motivate, as he did in his campaign, people to act to improve our country and our communities. In my lifetime, I have never seen so many people moved by an individual or a movement, like Obama has moved the left. I am, in part, sorry I never participated with it. Actually, there was one time I went to Obama's website. I was so impressed, as I went there to get some issue information the first page to come up was a link to Red Cross, urging visitors to support the victims of one of the hurricane's last summer. I immediately went to the Red Cross and made a $50 donation. I never returned to Obama's site after that, I guess I got the information I needed.

Hopefully in ways like that, President-Elect Obama can improve our country during his term. His call to us tomorrow will be about what we ALL need to do, and we can't forget it, nor should he let us forget it.

Ways Obama has moved people I have been intrigued with...



Born Again American

Yes I Can - This story from NPR over the weekend I found fascinating about the following video...

Our weekend started a bit early for the Maeve, Cecelia, and I as we found ourselves alone on Friday, and we headed to the Minnesota state capitol for near repeat visit we did 2 years ago.




I parked as close as I could, as it was very cold. But it was still a bit of a walk.



The girls did great though, and were following directions really well.



Lots of steps to get up there.



The girls really impressed me with the way they handled the stairs, and the cold.



We're finally inside!



First to the rotunda.



"No Cecelia, you can't walk on the star."



More stairs inside.



Looking down on the rotunda. "No climbing Cecelia!"



Watching some meeting from the House galley. The building was very quiet, as the Governor's State of the State was the day before, and it was the Friday before the MLK Holiday. We really had the place to ourselves.



The girls had a lot of fun, and I really did. The state Capitol is a favorite place of mine, and I was so glad to take the girls there.



In the basement of the Capitol.



My favorite moment of the day, and so sorry I didn't get it on video. We sang "Ski-da-ra dink" as we waited for our cheeseburger. They were so cute I could've cried.



The meter was done, so we had to leave. Until next time!



Saturday night, we visited the Dales. Chris and I raced podracers in Legos Star Wars.



Cecelia prepares for Rock Band.



Maeve is too interested in playing percussion for my comfort...



I take my turn singing. (I rock)



Fortunately the Dales had plenty of toys to keep the kids busy.



Scott and Laura (newlyweds) sing Total Eclipse of the Heart.






Cecelia stikes a pose as Spiderman!



Sunday we had tickets to the Gopher women basketball game.



So the girls donned the Gopher cheerleader outfits. They were so cute of course, they ended up on the Jumbotron.



Friends watching the game.



Cecelia get's a little love from Gail.



We had a fun time! Oh, and the Gophers won.

Probably feeling overconfident with the success of Cecelia and Kendall going outside yesterday, I decided to let Josh play in the snow too...




He did fine for a while, then bee-lined for the doorway where I was taking his picture. I put Maeve's boots on him, thinking he would stand. He rather sit I guess.




He and Cecelia enjoyed a moment.



The girls started dressing up Isabella. She would've goine outside too, but she was eating breakfast, and the other kids came in rather quickly to make it worthwhile.






Here, Isabella actually walked a few steps, to the couch, with those red slippers on. She is really moving around today.

Here's a quick video of todays action.

It's here, we might as well go put some footprints in it...





It takes a lot of stairs to get to the yard, and the snow just piles on them.



More stairs, the girls did great!



The yard before the girls get down.



The girls asked, how can I refuse them hot chocolate?

Here's a short video of our first attempt ice skating.


If you can't see this video, try here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrlHtkfTfvE

The girls took part in their first Christmas pageant at church.

If you can't see the video, try here....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA9_oEfumV0

The fun continues...



Isabella been getting much more social in her time here. She and Cecelia are playing with a baby doll together.



Josh takes a bite out of Curious George's head.



Cecelia joins the fun.



Cecelia and Kendall make a meal together. It's been fun to watch their imaginary play grow so much these last couple months!



Princesses for a while.



More princesses. Isabella is finally starting to walk about our home.



Josh prepares for his performance. "For my next piece..."



The kids spontaneously start working on a puzzle together... they didn't finish it, but was cool to see them work together.



Josh and Isabella play.



Maeve's finally learning her letters. She's does real well on the letter game you can see her playing here.



Josh asks... Is there any snack for me?!

Cecelia, Kendall and I did some lacing today. Here we show off our handywork... (I did the gorilla).



It's great when there are more kids, as they more easily entertain themselves. Here Kendall is reading to the kids.



At Basso, we're celebrating the Year of Astronomy... and colored some pictures. Here's Isabella's stars...



Kendall chose to color the Moon.



Cecelia colored the sun (which, as we talked about, is actually a star).



I left Josh half way through feeding to take care of someone's problem in the bathroom, and Cecelia decided she should try feeding him.



The girls decided to walk around with their shoes on their hands today.



This was actually a couple weeks ago, and thought it was funny. Kendall decided to put the toy buses into the toy oven. So now around here, whenever things start going crazy, we ask, "Well, are the buses in the oven?" just to check how crazy things are. So that's the new catch phrase, start spreading it around!

Us singing to our beautiful Maeve. Got some new video software I'm trying out, hopefully will be putting more videos out for all to see!





How long til Warner pulls the sound on this? Anyone have a guess?