Visitors beware

Apparently, our apartment is haunted. The ghost at our house likes to do many things, particularly with doors. It likes to open them, shut them, lock them, and knock on them. Though my favorite antic by far happened today when the ghost pulled the stool out from under Vance while he was painting. Vance informs me that it's not a scary ghost, so I guess it can stay. Hey, maybe I'm not clumsy, it's just the ghost that keeps putting things in my way.

Happy Valentine's Day

These are the Valentine's that Vance made. And yes, they are from Vance, Caleb, Mom & Dad.

Vestavia Nature Trail

It's been a beautiful and warm February, yesterday was in the 70's. After finding the local playground extremely crowded (like the Somerville Market Basket on a Saturday), we explored the area for something else to do outside. We came across the Vestavia Nature Trail, which turned out to be a great family friendly hike. There were enough sticks and pine cones for every one, so joy was had by all. We even found some wildlife -- a small snake that Vance took 20 pictures of. I know I just ended that last sentence with a prepositional phrase, but I just don't know how else to end it.

He must get it from his dad

This is how Caleb watches TV. Kids are strange.

Bubble Wrap!!!

There are few greater joys in this life than popping large amounts of bubble wrap. I let the boys have at it and it entertained them for two days.

Proof that Birmingham actually gets fairly cold on occasion

Here are the pictures that everyone has been waiting for: the kids wearing winter coats in Alabama. It was good that we didn't leave these coats in Utah, because for one day in January, our children actually needed them.

Ryan had the day off, so we planned out a hike, but by the time we were ready, the temperature was dropping quite quickly. So we just ended up walking around the botanical gardens for awhile.


Caleb had a blast. He loves being outside. He had fun wandering around, despite the cold which made his eyes water like crazy.


He kept handing me rocks and buckeyes. It was fun seeing him try to hold as many as he could.

Vance hung out with Ryan. I love this picture of the two of them:

Ryan told Vance that there was a monster in the pond. As Vance was trying to find it, Ryan grabbed him and said, "Raah!" Vance didn't get the joke. He later took me to the pond and said, "Daddy said there's a monster in here but I can't find it the whole time."

My new toy

I must have been a really good girl this year because Santa was very nice to me. I finally have the digital SLR I've been wanting for years. It's been fun practicing with it on such good looking subjects. The boys seem to enjoy being models, though Ryan wasn't amused. (In my own defense, that was the picture Ryan allowed me to post. He thinks it gets his point across, and yes he is eating cereal).