One of my New Year's resolutions for 2012 is to keep up on my blog more.  Since the 1st is coming up quickly, I figure I should at LEAST try to catch up on some of what has gone on around here the last couple of months!  Should I go in chronological order?  Probably.  Am I going to?  Nope!  We're going to start with X-Mas Eve instead...because it's fresh in my mind and I just downloaded the pics this evening. 

Drew's parents arrived from Seattle on Friday and spent the holiday with us.  I have to say, it has been SO nice having them here...  The last few years have been a little lonely with just Drew and I and the kids, so having someone else to join us on X-Mas morning was really great! 

On X-Mas EVE morning Drew and his Dad decided to go coyote hunting.  No, they didn't get anything...but I think they really just wanted to dress in their camo gear and run around like crazy men in the local woods.  You know, like role playing or something equally as strange.  They 'claim' that was not the case, but I don't believe them...

That afternoon Shirley and I took the kids outside to put out the reindeer food.  Lili made some with oatmeal, sugar and green food coloring at school...so I split it up into 2 bowls and added some peppermint marshmallows too.  If I were a reindeer I would want the marshmallows...  And yes, I gave them spoons to toss it around so that the food coloring wouldn't stain their fingers.

They did a great job and tossed all of the food using the spoons...

...and gave me some cheesy smiles...

When they were done, I even got a few extra smiles out of them!  Of course even the best smile can't take away the ugliness of Will's '3rd eye', as Drew likes to call it.  Last week he jumped off of his cot at daycare (head first) and got a rugburn on his forehead.  The first day was red and looked painful...now it just looks brown and crusty and gross!  Poor kid...

Lili decided she wanted to leave some rocks for the reindeer too.  She seemed to think those would be enjoyed just as much as the marshmallows, sugar and oatmeal...

A quick snapshot by the tree in our front yard ended the event and then it was time to go inside!  It was getting late and the wind was COLD!