Cousins

Here's Zach with most of his Jones boy cousins on his birthday.

It makes you wonder what kind of trouble they'll be getting into in a few years.

Pirate Piñata

Zach's birthday is January 4th, so it comes right after Christmas. Being a Christmas Eve baby myself, I know that a birthday this time of year can get eclipsed by the holidays.

This year, I decided to get Zach a piñata, and this one of a pirate seemed particular perfect.

In the second picture, we have Zach telling the Pirate what for. Some toddler intimidation tactics, I believe.

A little later, they were joking it up after drinking some Grog & Eggnog. This is Zach telling the punchline of his most excellent Pirate Joke, "Arrrrr! It's driving me nuts!"

Later, Zach had the Pirate walk the plank until it gave up his booty of candy.

Hoarfrost Storm

We had what technically could have been described as an ice storm, but it was not the kind to break limbs or even bend over grass with the weight of accumulated ice. It was a gentle ice storm that deposited a hoarfrost like coating on everything and it was stunningly beautiful.

Zach kept saying "lights" and pointing to all the trees. It did look a little like the trees had white Christmas lights on them.

The sun came out a little later and the frost simply disappeared when you weren't looking.

Bye Bye Breakfront

We have an old piece of furniture that my parents bought before we moved here in 1973 that they always called the Breakfront. It was an enormous and imposing piece of furniture that we finally decided to move out of the dining room because it was just too big.

We waited until Steve was around and took it apart before moving it downstairs.

Zach thought that the disassembly process was great fun. Fortunately, he did not insist on staying in the drawer when we took it downstairs.

Christmas II

We had our Christmas on Christmas Eve because Andrea had to work on Christmas Day.

Zach had the 2nd Christmas of his lifetime good fortune to get a 2nd Christmas in 2010!

We went over to Uncle Warren and Aunt Barb's house and they of course spoiled him with more presents. Unfortunately, Nick was not feeling well at all, as you can tell by the hangdog expression on his face in the background.

Zach couldn't have felt better.

Goodbye Hen House

I went in quickly on Christmas Eve to grab something quick from the grocery store and noticed on the way out a memo by customer service. The store was going to close at 6pm that day - permanently!

I went out to the car and got my camera and started taking pictures of my favorite grocery store that I had just realized I was inside of for the last time. The manager came up to me to ask me what I was doing, and I explained that I wanted pictures of the place. He said the place had been there for 16 years.

This was were I spent a lot of time shopping with Zach. He always pointed out the giant metal chickens hanging in the front atrium and managed to get mesmerized by the big light covers over the frozen vegetable aisle. I loved watching him enjoy the Christmas decorations. He always pointed them out and managed to bring me out of my single minded focus to enjoy the fun things the store had to offer. There were simple Christmas ornament colored balls that hung from the ceiling down to about 8 foot over the floor. Zach always wanted me to spin the ornaments as we walked by. There were at least three big Santas and several Frosty the Snowmen, which Zach always pointed out.

The manager said the workers decorated the store themselves, often with their own decorations. He said that the store had been loosing profit ever since the WalMart across the street started selling groceries. Thanks a lot WalMart! Bringing cheap Chinese crap to America and driving American stores out of business since 1980!

My favorite produce stocker was there, and he told me that Hobby Lobby was going to move into the place. He said the store had a basement almost as large as the upper store space and that was very appealing to them.

I was still in shock and didn't want to leave, knowing I would never come back again. Sometimes you don't realize you're attached to something until you lose it.

Christmas Morning

It's always over before you know it. Here's the aftermath of Zach's second Christmas. He figured out the whole opening the gift wrap concept about half way through. Although he liked to point out Santa every time he saw him, I do not think he made the connection between Santa and presents yet. Wait until next year!

This is one of only two pictures I have, as I left my camera upstairs and didn't want to leave to get it until after all the presents were open. I may have to find more pictures on Mommy's camera and put up another post later.

Radio Flyer

Who did not have a little red wagon growing up? It's like a rite of passage or a staple of life.

Grandma and Grandpa brought a fancy new one down to Zach for Christmas! He did not want to get out of the wagon, and we were tuckered out from pulling him around. But you can't put a price on a little boy's smiles.

Grandma & Grandpa visit

When Grandma & Grandpa came to visit before Christmas, they got the grand tour. Zach went around the house and pointed out all the decorations to them. You couldn't understand what he was saying, but he got the message across!

Have a Very Fudgy Christmas!

We made so many batches of Fudge this Christmas to give away for gifts. Here's the platter that went next door for the neighborhood Christmas Party.

Friendly Frosty

Zach loves the Frosty the Snowman doll in the entryway at his day care.

He points to it and makes a welcome surprised sound every morning, and he usually says goodbye to it when he leaves the room.

The Christmas card he got from his grandparents has the Frosty the Snowman song in it, and he has a Frosty book with the whole lyrics in it. I think he really likes Frosty. We'll see if we can actually make him one this winter.

Santa's Clothesline

At Zach's day care, they have a little puppet sized clothesline with Santa's clothes on it. They have elves and Mrs. Santa clotheslines, too.

Every time he passes by, he wants me to lift him up to touch them and he says "Santa!"

Unity Village Visit

I took Zach to Unity Village one day in the cold

Sticker Maniac

Zach loves to take the stickers off the bananas and put them on his forehead. This after his Uncle Warren showed him how to do it just once.

Putting up the Christmas Tree

When we put up the Christmas tree this year, Zach discovered quickly that he really liked it.

He started dancing around and pulling out ornaments and pointing to where he wanted them on the tree.

Little Man Hole

Zach loves manholes for some reason. When he sees one, he stops to stand or dance on it.

I had him in his backpack for a long walk, and finally decided to let him down to walk himself. We walked 15 feet, and he found a manhole, which he wanted to stand on indefinitely. I finally had to pick him back up in the backpack or we would have been there all day.

Locked in Rocks

Zach quit in the middle of our walk when he realized the road was made of rocks. He would have been content to sit and play with the gravel for an hour, if I would have let him. I had to distract him with the red berries and some picnic tables.

A Walk in the Park

Zach and I went out to Fleming Park on a Saturday morning in November to take a walk in the woods like we used to. There were cross coutry runners with their loudspeakers and banners off across the field.

We parked at the entrance to the camping area, which was open. After walking down the path for a while, we started seeing Boy Scouts camping in the woods. They were crawling all over the rock bluffs around the lake and hanging out around their tent camps. Zach enjoyed a Ritz snack and eventually got down and walked the road. I think he liked it as much as he used to when he was a little guy, tucked in the backpack the whole time.