Christmas at our house

We had a pretty great CHristmas this year. Peter and Ellen, and Errin and Brandon came over on Christmas Eve for dinner and then we just spent CHristmas day at our house with Aunt Sarah. Pretty low key, but it was great.
Grandma and Grandpa COrier sent Sam a Jack-in-the-box. He thinks it's great. Wesley loves to put cars in it so when the jack pops up the cars shoot out.
Sam and the famous Jack-in-the-box (no cars included this time)

Aunt Sarah came from Virginia. We had a really fun time with her here. She was a fun treat to have this year (hense the bows and ribbons). It was great to have her here and I know Welsey and Sam sure did have fun playing with her.
Sam playing with his new car carrier.
Wesley was so excited for Christmas morning, he could not stop jumping up and down. ABout 3/4 of the way through opening the gifts he took off and had to start playing with everything. He'd had enough excitment for one day. I think he looks a bit overwhelmed here. Sam didn't really get what all the excitement was for, but he was only 10 months then. . . what do you expect?
Sam did start to walk last week. He is so excited! I'm excited too because soon we will be able to go to the park and I won't have to worry so much about Sam crawling into an ant hill or some equally not so good thing. ANy how, hope all is well at your house!

The Wood family

The Children's museum, Violet swinging, and V's first ponytail

It was particularly warm in our apartment this morning so we gave violet her first pony tail.
Violet taking a picture of me taking her picture.
Violet decided not to nap one day and to get the wiggles out Peter took her to swing on the playground at our apartment. She love it.



For Wesley's b-day Emily and I took the kids to the Children's Museum in downtown Houston, The kids had a blast.  We spent most of the time in the Tot zone.  Here is Sam in the ball area
Violet in the ball area
Violet and Wesley driving the Van, the other kid in the front seat kept talking to me in a language I didn't recognize, it wasn't spanish, french or german so I have no idea what he was saying.
Wesley Driving the Van.  Happy Birthday!  We had a great time!

Christmas and Wesley's b-day cake

Violet riding her hop along pony...she really likes it.
Violet enjoyed coloring on a box the most christmas morning.
Violet stirring up something good.
Violet ready for me to wind up her clock
What a tall tower
Violet pushing "Layla" around.
Layla is hungry- We picked the name, all of Violet's other toys are called doggie or horsey we thought baby should have a name.

Having some trouble waking up with out blues clues on christmas morning.
The manger soon became the jamaican bobsled team
Mary, Joseph and the angel in The manger at our christmas eve Nativity scene
Errin and Brandon
Peter clapping for our performers
Sam the Angel telling of Jesus's birth
Emily and Sam the Sheperds
Joseph and baby Jesus...the glowworm got that role :)
Violet fell asleep in her thinking chair
Sam all ready for bed
Violet "helping" Wesley read a book at bedtime
Wesley wanted Violet to spend the whole night in his bed...something tells me they would be up giggling all night not sleeping!
Jonathan and Sam watching the birthday cake
Wesley and his Lightning McQueen cake
Sam and his favorite toy...Emily
Wesley got a punching bag bozo for christmas...so much fun.
Ready to go visit Wesley and Sam!
Violet got bath crayons from Wesley and Sam for Christmas...she would spend all day in the tub  coloring if we let her.
we left the box of chocolates on a too low table...Violet snuck quite a few before we discovered her chocolate face.

On the Phone to family on Christmas
The cross stitch temple I made for Peter

 Here is a video of Violet playing with her kitchen, now that I know how to post videos I'll take some more and put them up :)

Davids Cabin

I received this article and Pictures from Uncle Dan, I don't know if everyone got the email but I thought you would be interested in the article and the pictures.  

Rebuilding famed Chesterfield cabin

BY EMILY JONES ejones@journalnet.com 

    CHESTERFIELD - It's hard to tell the story of Chesterfield without a mention of "Aunt" Ruth Call Davids. 

    She was a midwife trained in several herbal and natural remedies, and delivered most of the babies born in the community. Her ornate music organ, specially delivered to Bancroft and then transported by wagon to Chesterfield, is renowned. 

    And, as an American Indian woman in a primarily white community, she was a bit more conspicuous than other women. 

    "She was a great person," said Chesterfield Foundation member Chris Knox. 

   In the past, tour guides at the Chesterfield town site, a ghost town operated by the Chesterfield Foundation that is open for tours during the summer, have told Aunt Ruth's story next to her photo in the meeting house. They also talk about her in the Higgins House, where her organ is now located. 

    But Knox and others wanted to do more to tell the story of Davids and her many descendants still in the area. 

    "I thought it would be neat to tell her story from her cabin," Knox said. 

    Until recently, Aunt Ruth's cabin was located just over a small hill from the land owned by the Chesterfield Foundation. The foundation's rules say cabins can be moved to the original platted townsite for preservation as long as they are placed where a building once stood. So two years ago, members of the Chesterfield Foundation got permission from the family to move the now-dilapidated cabin from its original location to the Chesterfield townsite to be restored. 

    "It was in disrepair, and I thought we'd better do it while we can," Knox said. 

  With help from volunteers and Davids family members, the cabin was taken down, log by log. The logs stayed on the ground for two winters. It was then that Knox met Vernon Austin, a Blackfoot resident who is an expert in log-cabin restoration. Austin was able to help make sure the cabin was rebuilt on the Chesterfield townsite as accurately as possible. During the summer, volunteers dug a foundation, filled it with cement and lava rocks, and laid logs. The walls and roof of the cabin were finished this summer. In 2009, workers hope to begin laying the floor and working on the interior of the cabin. 

     It was a wonderful chance that Austin came when he did, Knox said. 

     "Chesterfield is a magical place," she said. "Things like that happen all the time." 

     Now Knox hopes that more of the stories about Aunt Ruth can be told. Ruth was a Piede Indian who was captured by another tribe as an infant and sold to the Anson Call family in Utah. She was adopted into the family, and Anson Call gave her his birth date so she would have a birthday like his other children. 

    She grew up in Utah and in 1863 married James Henry Davids. Her adopted father agreed to the marriage, but only if Ruth promised she would always be near her adopted family. 

    So in the early 1880s, both the Calls and Davids families moved to the Chesterfield area. 

    There, Ruth and her husband became active members of the church community. She was also known for her housekeeping and her ability to bake cookies, doughnuts, bread and mince pies. 

     In the summers, Knox said she often meets descendents of Ruth, many of whom still live in the area. 

     "She's a very beloved character in Chesterfield history," Knox said. 

 The cabin of Chesterfield area pioneer "Aunt" Ruth Call Davids has been moved into the Chesterfield townsite and is being rebuilt. SUBMITTED PHOTO 

 

 

 

SUBMITTED PHOTO An owl sits on the roof of pioneer "Aunt" Ruth Call Davids' cabin before it was moved to the Chesterfield townsite. 

Christmas is coming!

Well we made it to Texas!  We are adjusting to 70 degree cold fronts and the time difference, but over all we really like it here.  Here are some pictures of what we've been up too the last few weeks, some are from Olympia and some are from Pearland. The picture above is my favorite, Violet just looks so innocent and sweet. Violet likes to tickle toes and thought her Dad needed some tickling today.
Here is our little Christmas display, we got a small tree so that Violet could knock it over if she wanted, it's almost like LED one the Corier's have this year.  Violet thinks it's cool, but I don't think she really understands christmas yet.

Here is Violet's bathroom...I'm showing this picture cause her bathroom is the clean one...we never use it.
This is Violet's room, still a few piles and boxes but it's starting to look like home.  The big painting is the one Peter and Violet painted last year at christmas time.
This is the Outfit Violet came home from the hospital in, she was so tiny, this outfit was huge on her! The Hanger was my Grandma Shirley's hanger when she was a little girl, it has a little dog on it.
Part of our kitchen and our bookshelves...we really like books!
Our fireplace.  I don't really understand having a fireplace in Houston, but aparently a lot of people have them, it's nice to have a mantle to put things on though.
Still kind of a disaster area but this is the main living area of our apartment.  Violet likes to cuddle up in the big pink chair and read books.
The China cabinet my parent's bought on their Honeymoon.  I inherited it I guess you could say, it's nice to have a place for all our favorite things that would otherwise probably be in storage.  We have Gr & Gr Brown's yearbooks, Gr. Brown's cufflinks, Peter's special chess set, V's silver cup & Cigar and a few mementos and favorite collectibles.
V reading in her Chair...."There's a monster at the end of this book!"  with Grover.

Before we left, my parents had their tree up and I took some pics of V in her Christmas dress, I had some fun with photo editing.
Violet really liked the balls on the tree, she broke one and we had to box them all up until we left for Texas, I'm sure Mom's tree is all decorated again.


OOOHHH