Beginning to play catch-up

Okay, no excuses, it's just been too long since I've posted anything. (I did have camera and computer issues but mostly I was just busy). So, here are just a few to start off with, I'm going to try to add more this week to slowly sort through the 4 months of pictures since I've last posted. These first pictures are of Mitch and his good friend, Elliot, reading books at Elliot's house.

And what play date is complete without a little game of chicken?

Here's Mitch making valentines for his teachers at school. He's pretty good with a glue stick!

And the big news is he's wearing underwear! Potty trained except at night and occasionally during nap time at school. He was inspired by Thomas the Tank Engine underwear, I think! Way to go Mitch!

New Year Fun

Super duper tall lego tower!

We got so many good new books for Christmas...here we are reading a Curious George one, I think. Thanks Aunt Caron!

At the zoo with Gillian, riding the tractor.

Apparently cardboard boxes still make for good toys, especially with Corduroy.

Playing with Elliot

We made play-dough the other day. Mitch wanted orange, green, yellow and purple. He wasn't really keen on actually touching it at first but did enjoy squishing all the balls I made for him!

Learning to roll it in his hands

We made a train (sort-of) as Mitch has a fairly large obsession with trains. He wanted it to "go by itself" and I'm not sure he was satisfied with my explanation that it wouldn't because "it's only play-dough".

"Go Pack GO!" Preparing for the Super Bowl!!!!

CHRISTMAS!!!!

Mitch trying to drive the truck to go pick out our Christmas tree.

At the tree farm

Helping Dad set up the tree stand

Decorating the tree was pretty fun this year...Mitch actually helped with (for the most part) unbreakable ornaments. He really liked to put them all in the same spot so Mom and Dad had to decorate the rest of the tree!

Putting the star on the top was a bit challenging. First Mitch and Mom tried...

...but we were too short so Dad came to the rescue!

Ta-da!

All dressed up after church

So this year instead of a gingerbread house we made a gingerbread train. Mitch was really into decorating it. He picked out which color frosting to put on the engine and the caboose and was pretty good about putting the candy on. And he didn't care too much that we told him not to eat the candy! He did get to eat the cookie part a few days after and really enjoyed it.

Here's our final product along with the example given on the box. We actually used shredded coconut for snow to complete our train!

Christmas morning...evidence that Santa came and ate the cookies we put out for him!

Presents! Here's Mitch with a sandwich made from Aunt Allison's gift...

...acting train conductor with hat, scarf and whistle from Grandma and Grandpa G...

...and loving the sock monkey from Aunt Beth. All the gifts were very well received (we just didn't take/post pictures of all of them because I've already got enough pictures on here!)

Mitch was singing "Twinkle twinkle" to his new bear, Corduroy and rubbing his back (like Mom rubs MItch's back when he's going to sleep). Then he started "the banjo song" which I caught on film!

"I love my trains sooooo much!"

Mitch linked all his new trains together to make a super train (23 cars!). The only hard part is pulling it across the floor while keeping it together.

Showing Charlotte his new trains

Lately Mitch has been wanting to use sidewalk chalk (even when the rain washes it away the next day). He requested a train and helped me decorate this one.

This video is a little dark but Mitch was taking a trip on his train (like a book we have)

The baby doll and stroller from Aunt Caron were a big hit. Here's Mitch "fixing" the stroller with the baby still in it and holding his wooden knife in the other hand. Not quite ready to babysit, but getting close!

Just a few pics of play time-legos...

...taking a walk with Dad (and sporting a Sephora bag)...

...and another new favorite thing--using his step stool from the bathroom to build super mega lego towers!

Holiday Season!

Here's Mitch making Green Jello Salad for Thanksgiving. He did a pretty good job and liked licking the spoon!

So we went to the Christmas tree lighting in downtown Portland the day after Thanksgiving (you know, the one where the FBI busted a potential terrorist). We got there pretty early and there was already a huge crowd of people. So we got a pretty good spot across the street from the square where the tree was but it was hard for Mitch to stay interested for an hour and a half while we were waiting! (they were a little late lighting it).

The above picture is the closest we could get to a self-portrait family photo.

Getting sleepy...

Ta-da!

Mitch mowing the lawn one day. He decided after a while that it was fairly difficult to mow the actual grass and instead turned to mowing the sidewalk. He went all the way to the end of the block and probably would have crossed the street if I hadn't turned him around!

Just a few pictures at the zoo. The baby elephant is the same age as Mitch and getting big too! We were pretty lucky we got to see them getting bathed! Mitch was pretty excited.

Just playing...

Here's Mitch singing some combination of "I've been working on the railroad" (which he calls "banjo song") and "The wheels on the bus" all while playing the xylophone. He is one talented kid!

Zoo Lights! The Portland Zoo decorates with millions of lights for the holidays. We met up with Mitch's friend, Gillian and her family to walk around and see them all. It was really pretty and at times I think I had more fun than Mitch did! It was cold but at least not rainy!

Sitting on the zoo train waiting to see the lights

Just some scenery pictures. We took a lot of pictures but only a few turned out really nice mainly because it was so dark and we were moving a lot.