dancing with the kids

both kids are big dancers. its so much fun to watch as ezekiel is learning actions for songs (itsy bitsy spider, wheels on the bus) and diedre is inventing some very graceful ballerina type moves. she will set up her little music player and just dance around and around and around. last week, she brought it to the bank and was about to do a routine for everyone in line, but she got a little too shy to go through with it.

recent cute sibling pics

i really needed diedre to get a head start on a nap when i couldnt join her one day. so i told her to go lie down with ezekiel. this is how they were sleeping when i came in. so cute!

diedre has been asking to cuddle with ezekiel almost every day lately

last night they were wearing their new housecoats (Christmas gifts from Grammy & Grandpa). they look so dapper.

Our Happy New Year

here are eli and ezekiel playing together on New Year's Day morning. we stayed over and our friend's house so we wouldnt have to be on the roads with crazies...it was a good party. we played alot of wii (my brother and i both got one for Christmas) and had a great discussion til the wee hours of the morning. just like old times.

diedre's circles are starting to look like the letters from her name...

a fun day at McD's with friends. all ezekiel could do is crawl in the bottom of this slide. thankfully they go up too steep for him to actually get away from me.


now that ezekiel can walk, we discovered he could play games like ring around the rosey

on a sad note, our kitty missy (only 8 months) got hit by a car just outside our house on tuesday night. it is reinforcing to diedre how dangerous cars are. R.I.P. Jan 15 08.

December Highlights

Time to Party. i brought out some costume jewelry that belonged to my Grandmas.

she's saying "Good job, Zeke!"

Mellenger Christmas Party

she fell asleep in the car and really needed more napping.
(ok, seems weird that that was my only highlight picture...i have 40 pics here, so i had to be selective somehow!)

Thomas Christmas Party

our salmon family

andrew freaking out b/c poppy grabbed some whole food from ezekiel

the puppet show the kids love!

santa arrived with a cool gift for every boy and girl

diedre and miles awestruck. waiting for their name to be called...

Back around home...

biking with her new dress and great shot of her hair

missy under the tree

Salmon Grandparents come to visit

happy to be doing the jobs that are mundane for parents :) and i'm so thankful for them and for their willingness to help out with the kids. They're awesome grandparents (and parents too).

Papa gives directions on the gingerbread construction...diedre drooled all over some of the candy, so we had to throw it out! ha ha

looking like a little princess lady wearing her new outfit and shoes from grammy and grandpa

Christmas Eve

we opened a few gifts Christmas Eve morning.
ezekiel loves this little dump truck.

playing with her new teaset

the kids got a wagon for two with a small cooler in it :)
we took it for a walk while our dinner cooked.

we decided to have our own Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve Day since we were heading to my parents the next day. For some reason, we always have rushed dinners together...last year it was because we planned it on a Saturday, and then i went into the hospital for an assessment...and stayed to give birth to ezekiel!
this time it was b/c i dont know how my oven works and i had broiled something before putting the turkey in. and you have to turn the dial off before turning the oven back on to cancel the broil...argh....so the turkey "cooked" for 3 hours, without barely cooking at all!
so it was a rush to eat before heading off to Christmas Eve service at 6pm where Derek and I were going to perform the Christmas song i wrote this year.

Christmas Day


diedre opening her stocking (it was my stocking as a little girl).

our morning went a little something like this:
we all opened stockings. ezekiel spotted a ball at the top of his stocking and didnt really progress past that as far as opening presents from the stocking. so his stocking took all day to open really.
we had a wonderful breakfast by grandpa.
daddy read the Christmas Story.
called auntie M and opened gifts online with her for an hour.
then we started opening gifts as a family around noon!
we didnt get all our gifts opened because of diedre getting a little burnt out, so we saved a couple to open either the next day or later.
then we headed over to my Mom & Dad's for Christmas Dinner.

ezekiel with the nativity set.

Christmas Dinner

heather and derek relaxing before dinner

the big feast

diedre being some sort of flowery monster

ezekiel sports a groovy cap

poppy wakes up for a present

Papere and ezekiel by the tree

"Happy Birthday Grandpa Salmon" (yes, on Christmas and we had a cake :)

The Windup

swimming with the grandparents

ezekiel is always happy if he's holding a ball :)

i was taking too long to give him dinner

he loves hats and he learned to walk around Christmas Day so he enjoys showing off his new skills.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year (much belated) from the Salmon Family
xo

25 Years for Mom & Dad!

Their anniversary was actually November 13, but snowstorms and busy schedules kept changing our family gathering date. We finally celebrated together on Dec 9.

a special wedding cake for my parents 25th wedding anniversary

so young and cute, they are!

the cake cutting.

the topper is actually a Christmas Tree decoration that they can keep.

Congratulations on 25 years together!

xoxo

decorating the tree

diedre puts the star on top

i have been so happy with derek's Christmas "spirit" this year. usually, we have a bit of a battle (its mostly him teasing me, i think) where i have to "fight" for a tree. this year, he was totally willing, ready to go, etc. and even got decorating before me! look at him caught in the act!

ezekiel takes a look at the tree

diedre plays in the snow again on our back deck.

derek's snow sculpture. titled something like "i'm the man"
diedre said, its me pregnant with "zeeko"

merry christmas!

perfect family day

i've been waiting for a day like this. this whole weekend definitely would be in my top 5 weekends ever (that i can remember ;)


derek was home saturday because of the snow-Yay! here diedre made her first snow angel.

snow angel

we went out to brunch at our fav breakfast place and then off to the tree farm which we found out friend's from church own!

a lady from church offered to take our family picture. tis a bit of an action shot because diedre was hitting snow off the branches.

ezekiel fit nicely into his 18 month snowsuit (a lovely hand-me-down from a caregroup friend)

could diedre look any cute? those rosy cheeks? focused mischievousness? i love it!

daddy carries out our gorgeous tree

this farm offers cookies and roast-yer-own hotdogs for a donation to the Union Gospel Mission. diedre looks so old here!!!

ezekiel plays some reindeer games

we were advised to let the tree thaw out for the day and then decorate it tomorrow. i wanted to rush it a bit, so we let it thaw for 5-6 hours then brought it upstairs. by the time the lights were up, it was 10pm and i thought the kids better just go to bed and we can decorate on sunday morning.