Happy New Year!

So much has happened over the last month!   Lincoln collected lots of signatures on his cast.  He has now had it removed, and just wears a splint for another couple of weeks. 

 

Lincoln's "The Grinch who Stole Christmas" Cast

We attended some fun Christmas parties, and Marina loved all of them.  She is still insisting that she wants to be a poser when she grows up, and she taked every opportunity she can to practice.   

Lincoln had his school Christmas program, and he memorized the entire Night Before Christmas poem.  He also has big news - he gets to play Oberon, the Fairy King in his class play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. 

 

We had a great Christmas as a family - here are some photos of the present opening at our house and at Grandma Paul's.   We got lots and lots of presents!

 

Lincoln's dinosaur bank from Grandpa Terry

Marina's duck bank from Grandpa Terry

 

Marina's New Zhu Zhu Pets

Rina's New Pet Net

Marina's makeup from Nana

Ryan's airplane - it navigated our driving, and now flies in his office

Lincoln and Ryan trying out the new Bop It!  

Lincoln and Marina flew to Maine for Christmas - here are the hearty travelers right before their plane ride. 

Before the kids left, they helped with a big family project.  We pulled up two layers of linoleum on our kitchen floor.  Both kids were really good workers - they pulled strips of linoleum and used scrapers to help pull up others.  While they were gone, we finished the project, which was to put tile down. 

We love the new floor!

The first week of January, Marina got tubes in her ears and her adenoids removed.  She was a very good patient, and in a couple of days, she was back to her normal self.

We went to Salt Lake last weekend to see both families.  We spent time with cousins Kyle, Carter, and Ella. 

Aunt Karlene is a very good sport!

We went to the Museum of Ancient Life with Carter and Ella, and we had a great time.   

 

Marina and Ella were good friends at the museum

We also got to go the Will's 5th birthday party, and was it a party!

That's Marina climbing!

Marina Tried roller skating - for about three minutes

The Countdown to Christmas

Thanksgiving was a really good day.  We had a nice (and yummy) dinner at my parents' house.  Then we visited Steve, Valerie and Kyle that night.  Kyle is really into fixing things - he does have every tool you can imagine.  Marina became an auto mechanic that night and learned a lot from her cousin. 

The next day, we made gingerbread houses to start getting ready for Christmas.  Here is Marina with her house 

 Here is Lincoln with his.  He did need a little help with it, but he was certainly the creative director of the project. 

 We visited the Pauls, and Lincoln and Marina participated in"Find the Pickle" 2010.  Their aunt Kara hides a pickle ornament on the tree.  When the kids find it, they get a present.  They get a little help finding it too. 

When we went to have a doctor cast Lincoln's arm (they wanted to wait until after Thanksgiving), the doctor recommended that we have his arm set while he was under anesthesia since it would  hurt a  lot.  Here is Lincoln having a great time at the hospital while waiting his turn to 'take a nap.'  He did great and made friends with all the doctors and nurses there.  

 

Here he is with his "Grinch" green cast.

The rest of the San Diego Photos

Here are some photos from Grandpa Paul.  So, here is our San Diego trip - from his perspective . . .