2012 Santa Picture

For Eric's first Christmas, a picture with Santa was not in the cards. We gave it our best shot, but our darling little boy wanted absolutely nothing to do with the old man in the red suit. It was very similar to the scene from A Chirstmas Story when Randy, Ralphie's brother, had a meltdown meeting Santa!  Well, this past year, we were able to get E to sit with Santa, but literally for only about 10 seconds or so - not even enough time for Santa to look at the camera. I guess it's no surprise when kids are not particularly fond of being passed off to a complete stranger in a very peculiar outfit! 

Ben's 10!

He made it - Ben reached the 10 year mark Saturday!  Over the course of 10 years, we've spent countless hours at the vet for all of his various ailments and surgeries including the one that I like to refer to as his gastric bypass (not for his huskiness, but for the bloat/torsion problem in Bloodhounds).  Last year, he had two surgeries removing three different types of cancerous tumors, and he's come out of all of that happy as a hound. I'm just estactic that he's doing so well for an old man. 



Ben's brother from another mother.



Ben after running his first 5K.



Thanksgiving & Christmas!

We spent Thanksgiving with family at the Konrad cabin and Christmas at home.  We need to figure out how to fit in more trips to the Cabin this year - we love it there!  Eric had a fun time on Christmas, he spent most of his day opening and playing with presents. He had 5 or so gifts to open, and he had to play with each present for a couple of hours before he was ready to move onto the next.  I think we finally made it through his gifts around 4pm that afternoon which made Christmas seem extra long and that was really fun.

Funny kid prefers to push this toy rather than ride it.  I think it's because it makes a whole lotta noise when it's pushed!  It must be a boy thing - the noisier, the better!

  Eric lined the trucks up as he opened the box and said, "One, two, three trucks!"

Here's 'cheese' face.  I'm happy that he's starting to look at the camera when I'm taking his picture. Hooray!

Cabin trip - even November freezing cold weather can't keep the group away from the fire pit.  I'm amazed that they weren't roasting smores!