Five Years!

Henry turned five years old on January 17!  Birthday party pics to follow soon...

The Mountains

We spent New Years in Highlands, N.C. with friends.  It was a much needed weekend of hikes, moonshine, football, s'mores, naps, pancakes, shopping and fires in the fireplace...

Here's a group shot, sans adult men, before a short hike to that waterfall in the background.

Here's a shot of the longer hike to the top of Whiteside Mountain.  You can probably spot the problem we encountered about halfway up.  Blues Traveler was right:  the mountains win again.  

But we did make it to the top...

...even Claire!

 

Back at the house, Riley and Claire try to keep the boys out of their castle.

Time for s'mores...

A table of bed-heads 

Lest you be concerned, we were protected in the event of attack by supervillain.

The Rest of December

Here are some more pics from the end of 2011...

Henry, taking after his cousins, is a fish.  Here he practices diving at his weekly pre-k swim lessons.

Happy Hanukkah!  The toughest part was keeping both of them from blowing out the candles!

Claire gets a princess doll in a carrier...

...and Henry gets a guitar shirt that really plays!  Cousin Aliza, Henry's teachers would like to extend a heartfelt "thank you" to you for this gift.

Claire may have been welcomed to Judaism at her naming last spring, but no less so by eating Chinese food on Christmas night.

Some pictures defy description.