a belated holiday post

(warning: there are many, many -- possibly redundant-- pictures here. i managed to get many shots of some things and none whatsoever of others. browse at your leisure.)

Our holidays were good. Simple and good.

Time outdoors (with dogs) . . .

at the tree farm with Ba and Papa John . . .

baking with Ba . . .

walking at the lake with Aunt Annie and "my friend Abby" ( the dog) . . .

a serious pow-wow with Ba (over his first banana popsicle) . . .

we are not sure but she may have been bribing him to dig her holes in the woods (below) . . .

nightly "silly hat dances" with Aunt Annie in the kitchen/sunroom . . .

more walking at the lake with the whole family . . .

laughter and gifts . . .

(the Clemson hat above has become the most worn item of Jack's wardrobe)

Christmas day . . .

our last week in town -- working, playing (in the leaves!) and much more time with Ba, Aunt Annie and "my friend Abby" . . .

puddles!

Yesterday Jack and I made the most of something we rarely see here in Los Angeles. The rains continued all day today so it looks like he will get another chance to don his rain boots, which he loves.

Halloween

This year Jack dressed as a street performer . . . we wanted to keep it simple and use things we had here at the house -- plus this little man loves music and he loves the street performers that we see each week at the farmers market. I found this amazingly cute little suit ( and the converse sneakers) at a consignment sale recently so we borrowed his favorite microphone from his Aunt Chloe, Papa added a strap to his toy guitar, and we turned one of his little buckets into a donations bucket. He loved it and he loved trick or treating! He spent the whole night walking, and often running and saying excitedly , "C'mon mama, c'mon!!" to catch up with the bigger kids we were with. He did not want to be carried and he did want to quit -- even as the bigger kids were getting tired and ready to head home. He was very polite at each house, always saying "Bye!" and "thank you".

Dinner and preparations for trick or treating . . .

Climbing stairs with Aunt Sam . . .

Emptying his bucket (one piece at a time and very carefully) into his backpack to make room for more candy (made all the cuter by the fact that he has little to no interest in eating the candy -- he just seems to like the colors and shapes and the fact that other kids get so excited about it) . . .

. . . and back out with an empty bucket . . .

Back at our friends' house to access the stash ( and get ready for bed) . . .

And then home for a good night's sleep. The bucket stayed in his car seat with him and then went into his crib with him. (I took it out as soon as he fell asleep a few minutes later.)

To this day he has only eaten a handful of Skittles but he inventories his candy several times a day.