We’ve been on a bunch of family day trips lately but I’ve been so bad at blogging things!  I apologize to my vast readership.  And since I probably won’t be getting better at it anytime soon, I stole a blog post from my sister Cecilie.  I give her full credit for the entire post. (Although I do take full credit for the cuteness of my children, along with Jake.)

The Exploratorium (as told by The Lee Family)…

Friday night we got a last minute invite to be Young Makers at the Exploratorium. We weren’t exactly in the target age group but for free admission we were happy to look a bit creepy. (It’s hard to look natural at a kid’s activity when you don’t have kids…)

It took tremendous concentration for Scott to make the biggest bubbles around. He beat out all the other kids!

Scott and Rush worked very well together.

Stepping into the bubble proved to be a bit difficult.

Just 2 boys workin’ together.

The future Dr. Spurlock.

Hailey just chilled the whole time and was happy. She’s such a good baby!

Scott made an awesome drawing to put up near his desk at school.

And Rushton helped me with mine. I tried to explain about putting your pen in the hole and going around the circle but he had bigger plans.

Working together.

Scott and Melissa were very proud of their arch.

What better way to end the afternoon then soaking yourself in bubbly water!

Thanks Spurlocks for inviting us! I guess this is going on once a month until April so if you have Young Makers and want to have fun then come check it out.

via The Lee Family: Exploratorium.

It seems like Hailey has grown a TON in the last few weeks.  I love her chubby little legs and her happy face – she’s seriously such a happy baby!  She just popped her first tooth two days ago and I’m pretty sure she’s working on the next one right now.  It’s been an eventful and very fun month with both sets of grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends, Melissa’s cousins, Christmas, and Jake off of work for almost 3 weeks…  But it was a blast and we’re so grateful for all the love we have in our lives.  Here’s the monthly photo – she’s almost too wiggly to sit next to the teddy bear anymore.

And for all the Hailey enthusiasts out there, I just can’t help but add the outtakes.  They’re just so cute!

We went to the Sebastopol Christmas Tree lighting a few weeks ago.  Of course Santa made an appearance, and he came riding in on a fire truck!  Rush couldn’t care less about Santa, but he couldn’t WAIT to get inside that fire truck.  He got his wish.  (The line for Santa was miles long, the line for the fire truck was about 3 people long.  Excellent choice, Rush.)

It was so exhilarating that he couldn’t be bothered to turn around for a picture.

You can kinda see in this picture below, that the fire truck was parked right in front this little cafe that had outdoor seating.  While Rush was in the fire truck, he accidentally (or intentionally? we’ll never know…) blew the horn, giving everyone at the cafe AND everyone in line for Santa quite a scare.  That’s my boy!

Hailey was happy and warm in our new super awesome double stroller.  Now, if only the double stroller would also make dinner, it’d be the perfect sister wife…

Eventually we had to pry Rush out of the fire truck, and he was NOT happy about that.  Super sad face, all grown up…

He was trying so hard to be brave and accept the fact that we needed to go and give other kids a turn, but you can still see the heartbreak in his face…

But we are super good parents, so we knew exactly how to make it all better!

That’s right kiddo, ice cream makes everything better.

Now whenever we see fire trucks, he reminds me the he was sad on the fire truck, and that other kids need turns.  But that he was “bery sad” indeed.

As if I don’t see enough of my kids during the day, sometimes I totally watch videos of them after they’ve gone to sleep.  Can you blame me??  They’re hilarious and adorable and you know it.

This kid loves tools.  If he sees a screw on anything, he needs a screwdriver so that he can FIX.  I can’t tell you how nice it is to have a handyman around the house…

As you can see, Rushton is very serious about his work.

Hailey caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and realized how adorable she is.  Can you blame her??

Rushton’s best little buddy out here (almost since the week we moved in) was a cute little boy named Jack.  These two little boys ADORED each other – they would squeal in excitement when they saw each other and would even hug so hard they’d usually knock each other over. (Boys…)  We played almost every week!  And then one day, a week after Jack’s birthday party, Jack moved away.  I don’t know who was more sad about the move – me or Rushton.  Jack’s mom has been my best buddy out here, too, and his dad a good friend of Jake’s.  Moving is so two-faced – on the one side, it’s great to have a steady job, but on the other side, it’s soooo hard to say goodbye!  We miss their family so much!

Tawny did such a cute job with the birthday party!  It was Toy Story themed, so a definite hit with the little boys.  If there’s one thing Rushton loves as much as Cars, it’s Toy Story.  Rush was almost TOO helpful with opening presents…  And this is the best/only picture of them that I got.  (I really need to make more of an effort to take good pictures!  Put that one on the list for New Year’s Resolutions.)

How cute are these cupcakes?!

Don’t mind Jake’s villainous laugh in this video – I hope that the cuteness of our kids makes up for it…  Nothing super life-changing, just Hailey laughing and Rushton talking about Cars and Grandpa’s broken leg.  But cute nonetheless!

I guess Hailey heard about the fairy tale and thought she’d give it a try…

Shockingly, it didn’t work.