Hurray for Violin!

Here's footage from Christmas morning, where Xavier finally gets what he's wanted for quite some time.



Xavier was half awake for this episode. For those who cannot decode Xavier-morning-whine, here's the transcript:

What is it? What is it? What is it?

A Violin?!! Hurray for violin!! Hurray!! A violin, Dad!!! Hurray for violins!

Christmas!!!

Howdy Folks!

(I got this hat for Xavier at the airport. He was absolutely enamoured with 'Big Tex' and said 'Howdy Folks' every day throughout our vacation.)



Bad hair X-day for the Daddy.



Dude, my turn. Gimme that violin.



K-I-T-T-Y spells kitty! (Cousin Nina teaches Xavier a spelling song.)



Xavier and Grandmama (Dr. Louise).



A Gen-u-wine rootin' tootin' cowgirl!



Bubba and Bapcia (Xavier and Christine Cowan).



Tilly and Grandmama get acquainted.


We went to Texas for Christmas and for Grandmama's 90th birthday. We had a fantastic visit! And Santa was very good to us. Xavier got his long awaited violin, and Tilly got to meet her grandmother and great-grandmother for the first time.

More Pre-Christmas photos

Tilly did it! She is officially crawling!
Here are some photos unrelated to crawling.

A New Camera!

We just got a new camera! Yippee! And I thought I'd been bad! I tried taking pictures of the little people--with little success. However, I persist and include some of them here. Will, on the other hand, worked on the video capabilities with better results. Keep scrolling down and check it out.

Lunch time!

Christmas came early here, and Aimee got a special present from Santa-- a new CAMERA! Well, I've already hogged it-- "No, no, honey. Let me show you how to use it." The result is this enchanting view of our daily luncheon routine. Enjoy! :) (I couldn't get the format to fit right in the screen --sorry.)

As requested: Tuesdays with Andre Rieu

Unfortunately-and strangely- it turns out that Andre Rieu doesn't show up in photographs... So I am including these pictures without him. But he is in our hearts.

Dec. Update

The latest from the Cowan home front:

Tilly has cut her first teeth--two at once, on Thanksgiving day to boot! Now, every day is an adventure in eating. She has almost perfected the combat crawl and is working on the regular crawl. And just in time for the tree, she is pulling herself up any available surface and standing while holding on. We are very proud!

As for Xavier, he is well and keeping us busy with his questions about God and the world.
The other night we watched Frosty the Snowman, and afterwards, he said thoughtfully, "Hmm ... Frosty has magic like Dr. Sampo."

Towards the end of October, we had another serious conversation. Xavier told me "I want to be a saint; You and Daddy and Tilly want to be saints. I want you to be saints. I want to be a priest."
I was feeling pretty good about my boy and my nurturing, mothering skills, when Xavier finished his thought:
"And Jesus wants to be a puppet."
Apparently, he was considering his halloween options, not his life goals.
Though as for Jesus and His Halloween plans, I'm not certain where that idea came from, or even, sadly, if that is the option He finally went with...

Day in the Life-

Mmmmm! Oatmeal! (Click on pic for all the grainy detail!)







Xavier and his lego merry go round








What do we need for Christmas? Books! Of course!