Lorelei extremely tired and cold after christmas shopping	Elliott punchy and hyperactive, after an hour of hearing "please don't touch that!"	Church St.
Elliott on the ride home after a long long day. He has these nice head rests, but no, he has to sleep flopped forward like a bad roller coaster ride.	"brrrroom!"	all cozy in her warm suit
Lorelei's first wool diaper cover	soft as a t-shirt, and plenty of room to grow	family book party! or book circus, as I try to hold the book so Elliott and I can see, and Lorelei can't reach the pages and eat them. I try giving her her own board book to eat, but she's too smart for that most of the time.
On our way to get a tree, all suited up	Paparazzi strikes again	What did you say mama?
We never see rabbit tracks at our house, but just in Essex there are clear signs of them	Elliott looks simultaneously grown-up and childlike in his bodysuit	mouse or other subterrestrial rodent tunnels in the snow
Elliott traces the mouse holes	Lorelei tries to see what we're doing, but she's strapped to my belly and has limited mobility (it's FREEZING and I need my hands to haul the tree)	Elliott checks out their tractor
We found out later that they usually help drag the big trees with the tractor, but we came on a Tuesday afternoon when the owners were up at the house napping. :-)	How about this one? Too scrawny (we picked a better one)	Elliott was completely fascinated with the compost crank, even after it turned around and whacked him on the head
Lorelei peeks	Cheerful babe, in spite of the falling temperatures	Elliott "helps" us drag the tree back to the car
Elliott plays peekaboo and warms up in the car while munching on a few swedish fish (emergency rations)	Boo! Silly boy	Even Lorelei gives us a few smiles in the frigid day (happy I didn't put her in her car seat until the last second)
Well, we *thought* it was a smaller tree than last year!	Kira and Lorelei share some cheerios and floor time	Kira: no really, I couldn't eat another bite! Amelia: ok, I'll help myself then! Lorelei: oooh, friends!
they're all watching a magnet roll this way...	and that way!	Mike adds new lights to the new fish tank
Elliott continuing to tie knots in his rope - he twisted it himself while singing his special twisting song	blurry, but such a perfect smile	oh, blocks! Both kids LOVE these blocks
Lorelei is enchanted playing peekaboo with Elliott	Boo!	ooh, spooky! (the fogginess is not some artsy filter I applied, it's just a dirty lens - sigh!)
do I detect a little mischeviousness in those eyes?	Aaww no way mama, not ME!	trying to get a cute picture of both kids..
well, at least they're having fun	Nana carefully cutting gingerbread out with us for the Great Gingerbread Decorating event of the year (stay tuned for next week's pictures..)	We went over Jasmine's house and did a Costco gingerbread kit again this year (see photos of last year) and had a great time
Lorelei's too little, but she tries to make a break for it	munching on wheat thins.. we tried to get some good pictures of the kids, but most of them were just really goofy	Lorelei and Ryan: I'll take off your hat if you take off mine!
Finally, Lorelei in a hat!	the girls pose together, but Lorelei is distracted by the scratchy hat	Ryan tries to eat Lorelei and pull up on her, while she laughs and does a belly dance
I love standing! (she love walking too, if you hold her hands)	Nice comfy seat! Elliott's not so impressed. In spite of their expressions, they had an EXCELLENT evening, playing together for hours peacefully and getting along very well	a little perspective on the tree size this year (baby, preschooler, 6'3" guy on a 10' stepladder, tree)
Hellooo way up there! (it was much easier adding lights now that we have a 10' ladder instead of just a 6')	Lorelei loves the tree	Elliott says, "no Babe, you can't eat the tree"
decorated	and here, with no flash.. yay! (can you hear the christmas music and taste the cider and egg nog?