Winter Follies

I know, I know. Too much time between updates. Consider one New Year's resolution broken. Onto the pics!

Nik's buddy Jack invited him over for a book swap around the holidays. You can see them here keeping an eye on the "suspicious" neighbors.

We also got a visit from Isiah O'Keefe all the way from Dallas!


Here are Emma and Nik getting some sage advice from Grampy.


And here is the twosome in their matching Christmas PJs.


Emma.....you've hit the motherload.


Christmas morning was briefly interrupted when the cousins engaged in a "dance-off". Thankfully no injuries were reported.

Nik stopped moving long enough to get some quality time with Uncle Pete.


Christmas with my family included Story Time with Uncle Anand.


We had another visitor from the Left Coast too. Miles Nanda came out from Seattle. Here are the two little guys at the Museum of Science.

Nik decided to do some longjohn lounging after we did some sledding up at Sunday River.



I had to take care of Catherine , our neighbor, the other night. Despite my vocal recommedations, no food fight broke out. Maybe next time.
Nik's lumberjack shirt has been a big hit this holiday season.


Today's snowstorm got Nik the chance to do some more sledding!

Here is Catherine towing the lil' guy. This time next year, we'll be towing two kids in that sled.


This was our brief experiment with convering Gil to a sled dog. He needs more mushing and less sniffing.

New haircut. See you guys later and enjoy the video!

Naughty and Nice

Back in November, Nik's buddy Alex came out for a visit. I love the band aid on Alex's forehead here. He asked for one that day, "just because".


This is Nik's unnatural, "natural" pose.


Each piece of furniture is another "toy" these days. Our house will be destroyed by March.

Christmas sweater, right side up.


Christmas sweater, right side up.

Christmas sweater, sneaking sips of beer.

Nik's wearing one of the party favors from our friend's annual cookie swap. I think he kept the hat on for 17 seconds.


Back to "furniture" toys. He's turned the Ottoman into his crypt.


"Be honest Santa. Do you ever get sick of Christmas music?"

Boo!!

Here's Nik relaxing over by the outskirts of the "cage". That sweater he's wearing is a Mabs Harris hand knit original.


His first costume was to dress as a Beatnik poet.


But in the end, he decided to go with a bat costume.


"Bee Happy"? Doesn't really seem to be the case here.


Catherine was Nik's parter in crime on Halloween night. Eight tentacles means eight pieces of candy per house. Smart girl.


The happy lil' bat.


For authenticity's sake, we hung him upside for about 12 hours.

Going Mobile

Nik just started walking! We've been taking him down to the lake to get him lots of extra practice.
Struttin' around in his little tracksuit like a giddy retiree.

Slides go by too fast when you're an adult. Luckily it's plenty long enough for him.

We went apple picking and if you look closely, you can see that Nik thinks the baby to his left is totally suspect. Since Nik is walking, we've had to make some "modifications" to the living room.

This face is an unfortunate byproduct of this situation.

As you can see, the downturn in the economy has stripped the shirt off of Nik's back and turned his pockets inside out.

Nik's First Birthday!!

We had a great time at Nik's birthday. This is Cash sneaking a quick ride on Nik's new Radio Flyer
The irrepressible Miss Kamn Shaver. I think she's reacting to another of my mother's dirty jokes.

These are our neighbors the Cranes. Their daughter Catherine is one of Minidhingra's most popular subjects.

Another of our favorites, Miss Josephine Rose. Scientists estimate that she is 98% cheeks.
And the birthday boy. The croquet wickets turned out to be a fantastic steadying source for his newest talent, walking.

Catherine gave him some help with the pinata. Which was filled with....


.. hand puppets and candy.


Our resident landscaper extrordinaire was imparting some advice on how to properly operate a toy lawnmower.

" I love this party!"


Cousin Emma made the trip down from Maine for the party.

And with cakes like this, who could blame her.

" Ok, I'm not so sure about this anymore."

Once he started in on the cake, his mood changed considerably.

100% Dhingra.

This is Nik and I playing a song called "I got Six strings and no pants"


I'm never buying him another toy. From here on out, it's just gonna be balloons.

"What? Is it someone's birthday or something? "

See you guys later!