Oh, Christmas Tree!

Alison and I decided that we need to go to cut down our own Christmas trees this year.  It's something neither of us has ever done, though the idea is treated as no big deal around here!  We went this afternoon and though it was freezing cold and windy, it was really great fun.  We brought our own saw and went hunting!

"Mom.  This one.  This tree.  It's perfect!  PERFECT."  (Also what, 10 feet tall?)

That one was a Douglas Fir -- very pretty, but the needles and small branches all drooped fluffily to the floor.  This made us think these trees wouldn't be great at holding ornaments.  (Especially when kids are helping to hang them!)

Jack fell asleep in the car but Alex basically dragged him out by his ear, at my insistence. 

He did NOT approve.

The Webbers thought they found the perfect tree!  But was it tall enough?  And just the right shape?  You can't be sure until you look at at least a hundred more.  ;)

Meanwhile, Alex found a tree for us that was quite nice.  After I browsed around a bit myself, I conceded that he really did find a great tree.  ....Timber!

As usual, Jack thinks his daddy is awesome.

He can carry a Whole Tree!  I think Jack was torn between the desire to help move the tree and the desire not to get smushed flat underneath it because Daddy was moving too quickly!

Meanwhile, the Webbers shopped on....  :)

Okay, no, SERIOUSLY.  This one is PERFECT.

Alison sawed down her own tree! (With a hefty dose of heckling from Alex....)

She even helped to carry the tree back to the car.  It was REALLY heavy.

Jack decided that maybe this whole tree farm thing wasn't such a horrible idea.

We even got a smile out of him after all.  :)

Our tree.  :)

And where was Evie this whole time?

Where do you think?  :D

For Those That Like Cute

Here is a video of Evie playing...

Evie just stood up on her own... and told me, "ta-ahh!" :D

Bonus Video: Peek-a-Boo

Evie was playing peek-a-boo with Melissa one evening and I managed to capture it National-Geographic-style.

Fall is Here

I have a few videos from the leaf raking today. Some of you might not know that here in McMinnville, you can simply rake your leaves into the street and the street cleaners will take care of them for you. :)

The videos are now linked from YouTube so that you can view them in full 720p resolution (for those of you that know and care what that means). :)

Jack started out raking them out of the tree:

Then after a little bit of a lesson was doing this:

Finally, the master makes his own piles and jumps in them:

Evie helped by playing with a plastic softball:

(Duck fans, please excuse the Stanford hoodie - Evie's grandma is an Alumna.)

Checking In

I'm putting up plastic sheets on the big windows.  They're supposed to be energy-efficient but the cold just pours off them. 

playing at the park

Auntie Alison took the three big kids to the park to have some playtime today.  They had so much fun!

Sent from my Nokia phone