Hot chocolate and rice krispie treats for everyone. Then reading along to the story of The Polar Express. And singing lots and lots of Christmas Carols.

Here they are on board the Polar Express. Ellie was so excited she was speechless. And Nick was bouncing around checking out everything, coat off and ready to go in his PJs. (Sorry the photos aren't very good from this point on, the train was very dark inside and it rocked as it moved so I wasn't able get the pictures unfortunately) The minute the train started to move, William passed out cold and didn't move again until we returned to the station. He missed the entire trip!

Here is our car, coach number 6. And that is our own personal chef waving to us from the platform!

Here it is!

A real steam driven locomotive from the turn of the last century! Very cool and very loud!

Look! Chefs in uniform, just like in the movie! And the train is coming...

Waiting for the Polar Express!

After Thanksgiving we headed up to Durango, Colorado to catch the Polar Express! (Actually the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway) Nick and Ellie were sooooo excited!! So were we actually, as this was our first time in Durango. Very cute little town and lots to do/see nearby, we'll have to head back when the weather warms up next summer. The kids got to wear their PJs (under coats of course) on the train, so that was quite a novelty. It was absolutely packed with super excited children, and quite a lot of adults fully decked out in PJs/Robes/slippers. Paul and I opted for the jeans and sweaters and saved the pajama experience for the kids. Anyway, here are Nick and Ellie standing out in the 20 degree night air waiting for the Polar Express to arrive.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving was delicious, thank you Nonie! We all ate way too much and had a wonderful time. The kids did really well, but all were filthy before any formal photos could be taken with family. Oh well, at least they enjoyed their meal! William's darling velour outfit was the source of many dinner time jokes: "Baby Elvis", "Where's his gold chain?", "Is that straight out of the seventies?" and so on and so forth. Sigh, it really is a sweet little one-piece and matched the other two kid's outfits. And if you can't wear a velour outfit at seven months, when can you?! Now if I had tried to put Paul in a matching velour one-piece, THAT would have been funny!

William is 7 Months Old

Our little guy is seven months old today. Now he is a "big" baby! He is sitting very well and just learned how to go from a sit to all fours. He has his own unique crawl that he saves for the crib; legs and arms straight and head down on the mattress. It works really well for him except for the one draw back, he crashes head first into the bed railings. But it doesn't seem to deter him at all. He is enjoying strained foods a little more these days, but has some very definite flavor dislikes. Still not a big fan of cereal and isn't really into anything more textured yet like the zwieback toasts or cheerios/rice puffs. No teeth yet, but he sure acts like he is teething! He has had several colds over the last 6 weeks or so and weathered them all fairly well. William is still a really happy little baby, he has a wonderful laugh and a ready smile. He loves people and finds his siblings hysterical. Except when they try to pick him up, which is a very appropriate fear to have! He was surprisingly content on our 14 hour car trip to Tucson, except for the last hour. He was pitifully moaning and holding my hand to his face as if craving some physical contact. It was so sad, we all felt really bad for him.

Sisterly Hugs

Enjoying the Arizona Sun

The kids had a wonderful time soaking up the sun at Nonie and Grande's house in Tucson for the Thanksgiving holiday. Ellie spent quite a bit of time decked out as a ballerina/fairy and practicing her best ballet moves out on the patio. William napped in the stroller outside. And Nick was trying to avoid hitting the prancing fairy/ballerina with his remote control car.

Just because I love this outfit.

OOPS!

I was going to take a picture of William sleeping, but he caught me! I'll try again later....

This would have been sweet if poor Nick didn't look and feel awful.

Mom, Help Me!

Isn't she angelic?!

The Second Attempt at a Christmas Card Photo...

This time only the baby cooperated. Although all three kids have colds today so I suppose they have an excuse. At this rate the 2007 Christmas card will be featuring William front and center, with a couple of wallets of the big kids thrown into the envelope.

Ellie Sings

Nonie and Grande bought the kids singing teddy bears last Christmas and Ellie just loves hers. It is supposed to be Ginger Rogers singing "Sway". I was tickled this morning when she brought the bear into William's room and was singing and dancing along to Ginger. Here she is performing her version of the song, hopefully you can hear her unique lyrics too!

A Day of Firsts

William tried his first green beans today. Yeah, he liked them! Now if it was possible to acquire the nutrients via osmosis he would be all set. He had his second haircut today and tolerated that well. All last week people were complimenting me on what a beautiful baby girl I had (despite the blue clothing), so I thought it was time for a trim. After his total body beans experience William tried out sitting up in the tub like a big kid and loved it! I think he is catching on to the fact that Mommy is a photo taking fanatic as he positioned his own hands like that in the bath.

Saturday Night

We drove up to Golden (home of Coors for you beer drinkers) this evening to let the kids burn off steam and grab some dinner. They have a riverwalk with huge metal sculptures that the kids think are fabulous. The favorites are the giant trout, which Nick and Ellie like to ride on like they are bucking broncos. There is also a giant two story slide that we had to finally drag Nick away from so we could go for pizza. William wasn't terribly impressed with Golden, but it was really close to bedtime for him so we excused his lack of enthusiasm.