Ho ho

Kasper has met his second Christmas and conquered it. This year, he understood opening gifts (but not that he only got to open HIS gifts). He understood the chocolate-of-the-day Advent calendar and started asking to open it immediately after entering the kitchen every morning (sweet tooth? no idea where he got that). He understood that when Dada says "Merry Christmas" he should say "Ho Ho". He understood that lights and trees meant "K-rist" and enjoyed the abundance of treats. Another good year.

He kept a close eye on packages arriving here at Woodford South headquarters.

Smaller trees make the presents look bigger.

Kasper knew that word for the day - "Open!"



A brief pause in the opening to check out one of the fleet of trucks he has acquired.


Trucks? Did somebody say this kid likes trucks?


All that opening makes a kid hungry - and bacon makes everything yummier.

The rest of the day looked a lot like this. Plus lots of naps.


T minus 4 days until Kasper turns 2!

Highchair hijinks

Do find joy in your breakfast? Kasper does. It seems to be one of the great things about being almost two. He also finds yogurt works like hair gel.


Sometimes by lunch he's so tired and hungry he doesn't know whether to eat or sleep. So today, he did both. (He was promptly whisked off to bed after this photo.)

I got your Christmas cheer right here

Wondering why you haven't seen a Christmas card from us yet? It's not just sheer laziness. This is the kind of response I get when I sit Kasper down to capture a little cuteness.

Fortunately, there is tons of brand new baby cuteness going on with the Lewiston Woodfords. For those of you keeping score at home, Molly is Kasper's 10th cousin on the Woodford side and 11th cousin overall. Congratulations Adam, Michelle, Hannah & Shylah!

Santa's Tugboat

In my ongoing quest to find free, not-too-crowded ways to celebrate the holidays, we ventured out to the DC Boat Parade at Washington Harbour Sunday. Our buddies the Kruegers joined us and a good time was had by all. And we remembered to get a family photo taken! The parade was a little boring, but not as bad as Kasper makes it look.

Here's a bonus shot of Isaiah looking cute for the folks in Wisconsin & Nebraska. Kasper, as usual, wouldn't stand still long enough for a photo.

Gobble, gobble, gobble

Kasper knows how to say gobble, gobble and does so very enthusiastically. That was pretty much the highlight of our very quiet Thanksgiving at home. Hope everyone out there had a great day with yummy eats, good company and, most importantly, restful naps.

Here a nap, there a nap..

Mema and Grandpa Rynne came for a pre-Thanksgiving visit. We met them at Ikea. Mema was shopping up a storm and Grandpa - well, let's just say he was pursuing one of his favorite activities.

Kasper quickly made his way to his favorite part of Ikea - the ball pit.

Saturday involved a little more shopping, computer playtime and more napping. Kasper snuggled with Grandpa and his new polar bear but he knew the really exciting stuff is always in Mema's purse (plus, she'll let you wear her extra sweater if you're cute).


Thanks for visiting!
(See what fun it is around here? We love to see more of our family and friends - don't bother with holiday gifts, just come visit!)

Too cool

No job too big

Kasper loves to sweep. After he finished at our place, he moved over to the neighbor's porch. The leaves didn't have a chance.

Of course, the porch wasn't enough. His next stop was the courtyard.
I still have no idea how I ended up with a kid who is so into cleaning.

Reduce, reuse, recycle

Kasper was a garbage collector for Halloween. Well, actually he was a recycling guy, this being 2006 and all. He's been obsessed with trash, trashcans, garbage trucks, dumpsters and their ilk forever, so it seemed fitting. Plus, I could make it from stuff we had hanging around the house and avoid having the same Spiderman costume that 25 kids at the mall had on tonight.

Of course, we have the obligatory messy-chocolate-eating shot. And, yes, he is eating it with the wrapper on. Like his mom, when Kasper needs chocolate, he needs it NOW.

Custom Kasper ringtone

If you have a cellphone, you owe it to yourself to make this your official ringtone.

It ain't easy being green

Yes, that's right, his frog rain boots match his frog diaper cover. One of the many things Kasper already has is a style all his own.

P.S. I didn't dress him like this (not that I wouldn't, but in this case I didn't). He put the rain boots on himself.

Attack of the puddle monster

A local farm puts on a great fall festival. We journeyed out to the country (about 15 minutes from our house, truth be told) and enjoyed a lovely autumn day.


Kasper and Patrick enjoyed the hayride.


Until a puddle monster tried to eat us! (Although Kasper is actually fussing about the idea that he has to sit on his bottom and not try to jump from the moving hay wagon.)


The slides were the big hit of the day.

Mr. Clean

Kasper is a big believer in baths -- most nights he hops out of his highchair after dinner, bolts up the stairs and waits by the tub for one of us to get the water running. He'd stay in there all night if I let him. As it is, he usually sits in the tub until all the water is almost gone, then he lies on his tummy and peers into the drain to see the last drops disappear.

Pics at the Park

While Kasper and Mommy were at the park today, Daddy was at a workshop about creating multimedia content on the web. Here's a link to a little slideshow I put together from some photos Meaghan took. Enjoy!

A subtle hint

Do you think Mema would like to have both of her grandsons on the same coast? Just for one reading of "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" and a snuggle.

Tummyache Central

The fun at Mema & Grandpa's continues...

-Extra ketchup on the high chair tray? Use your natural flexibility to get every last bit.


-Show off the results!(Notice that I've given up having him wear shirts while eating lunch.)


-Cooking with Mema means licking the spatula.


-Hanging with Grandpa means you can eat and drink whatever you can reach (in this case, Fresca).

Hanging in the NC

The three of us set out Thursday night to visit my family in NC. We filled our days with shopping, eating and a fabulous dinner out for our anniversary (made possible by Mema's generous babysitting offer). Patrick went home via Amtrak on Sunday and Kasper and I are staying here for the rest of the week. So far, we've discovered a few things.

-Mema will let us eat as many grapes as we want.


-A whole morning with Mema will tire out Kasper completely.


Stay tuned for further updates - Dada has requested daily entries while separated from his boy...

All aboard!

It's been raining here for the last two weeks. Not a ton, but enough to tax our resources on indoor activities (in particular, indoor activities that don't destroy the house or cost money). Friday afternoon we ended up at the train table at the Barnes & Noble, which was mysteriously empty. Maybe they heard Kasper Kong was going to make an appearance...

Before the rains, we went to the zoo and we actually remembered to ask someone to take a family photo. As usual, Kasper managed to get his latest boo-boo in the shot.

Bookworm

We love a good page-turner.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Blogosphere ...

Things at the Woodford South global HQ have settled down since our recent barnstorming trip to Maine and subsequent hasty move to our new apartment. Despite what you may have assumed from the above picture, we have unpacked the silverware, Kasper's clothes and most of the rest of our baggage, and everything is now put away in its proper place. Or in a sky-high pile behind a locked door in the spare bedroom, never to be seen again. Same difference, really.

So with things quiet here -- at least until Kasper makes another Prison Break-style exit by popping out the screen on the living room window -- I thought I'd direct you to places in the blogosphere where things are happening.

Like Left Coast Rynnes. Big news -- and cute pictures -- will be showing up there any day now. The Woodford North crew (we're franchising!) has returned from their Rangeley vacation with tons of pics, and they also have the family clan photo from Kingfield Days. And Adam's Angels has great pictures of Hannah and Shylah at the beach.

Cruise over and check them out, and we'll probably have something to post by the time you get back. With Kasper, things never stay quiet for long.

E, i, e, i, Kasper

Kasper was only kind of interested in the farm animals. But, my oh my, he loved the tractors!

Candid Camera

This is about a month old -- Kasper's second directorial effort*. Shortly after filming, the camera went missing and wasn't found until the final hours of our move. It's 8 megs, so if you're on dialup you've got time to make a sandwich or mow the lawn or something while it downloads.

*Kasper's first video, a dark odyssey into the realm of film noire, is a bit too abstract for the webmasters at Woodford South. It also induces violent motion sickness, so we have declined to release it in spite of (quite literal) howls of protest from the director.

Newsflash: Our kid is weird

How else can I explain this picture? Among the things unearthed during our move were a few ancient cans of club soda, back from the pre-kid days when I could imagine stocking a modest bar so other adults could drop by for a drink and engage in quiet, adult conversation. We were such dreamers then. Now Kasper has taken up that dream. He enjoyed playing with the cans so much he insisted taking them into his crib two nights in a row. Sadly, those cans have since mysteriously disappeared, but we'll always have this picture to remember them by.

You're On Notice!

It has been made clear to us, by a grandma who shall remain nameless, that we've more than used up the grace period our move two weeks ago granted us. We either restart the blog now or face the consequences, most likely dealt out with extreme prejudice via Chuck Norris.

So we're back. Sorry no pictures as of yet -- most of the computer stuff, including the cord that connects the digital camera to the computer, is still packed away somewhere (no fear, I'll find it today!). But we are slowly getting settled into new place and are loving the additional space. Kasper has his own room and a 'big boy' bed, and he makes the trip up and down the stairs a bazillion times a day or so.

During our blog-out, a few things were left undocumented, including our awesome trip to Maine for Kingfield Days. I'll post about that a little later, but for now I just want to thank Mema and Grandpa for all their help moving, and our good friend Joe, who qualified for sainthood by putting in a day of backbreaking labor to move all our junk crosstown. Thank you all very much!

His middle name should be Trouble

One night, after bathtime, Patrick got Kasper into his shark pajamas and ready for bed. Kasper went to find a few books for Da-da to read. I called Patrick over to watch the video of the head butt from the World Cup (ouch!). Meanwhile, like a thief in the night, Kasper makes his way back into the bathroom, home of the world's slowest bathtub drain, and "continues" his bath.
Kasper likes Goldfish crackers (now with whole grains, still very tasty). Evidently, so does Patrick's old computer tower.