Christmas in March

Because I am so far behind, here are the videos from Christmas at the Pond house.



Opening our presents...


We were supposed to be singing "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" while Brooke played the music on her keyboard, but we soon realized no one knew the words.

Shout Out

I would just like to call attention to a special event happening today, since someone isn't wanting to acknowledge it at all...

Happy Birthday to my cousin PHIL GILLEN
of Wichita, Kansas
who turns 40 today!

Happy Thanks-Birthday!

We had a great time at Thanksgiving! The trip to Arkansas was about 11 hours long but we managed just fine. It was probably a good thing that Michael didn't drive though.


We also combined Turkey Day with a family birthday party for everyone that couldn't make it down for the party we had in Louisiana. It was a lot of fun! Michael's cousin Mary was there to help him open packages and play with his new toys.

Uncle Joe and Aunt Nattie brought the neat Elmo cake! It was so cool. Michael definitely liked it!

Happy First Birthday!

Michael's first birthday was a success! Everyone at the party here in Louisiana had a great time playing, eating, and laughing (as you can see)...

Here we are singing "Happy Birthday."

Then it was time for the birthday boy to chow down on some cake!


After the party we wrapped up the evening by heading to downtown New Orleans to see some friends.

Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet!

Halloween was a lot of fun! Michael enjoyed the walk around the block and meeting our neighbors and we enjoyed showing him off. Our costumes were a big hit! After we got back from trick-or-treating, we gave him some chocolate. He didn't seem to like it to much unless he was doing this with it...

Now Walk it Out

Michael's walking! He's been taking little steps between Dom and I, but now he's really got the hang of it. I moved all the furniture back to let him have some space and you can see what happened.

Which is great since this is his usual method of movement...

Everything's Just Ducky

Our playgroup went to Ducky Joe's Indoor Playground last Friday and Michael had a blast! There were lots of things to climb on,
a ball pit,

a play house,

and plenty of neat toys.

One of his favorites was a soft jungle gym that he enjoyed doing this...


By the end of our trip they turned on a bubble machine. Here is Michael with our friend, Geraldine, popping them.