Full speed ahead

Mikey had a great Friday the 13th....he figured out how to crawl!  He loves phones and that turned out to be his 'down fall'.....he just couldn't resist going after Bruce's cell phone.  Prior to this he'd been scooting & rolling everywhere, which he seemed perfectly content to continue doing.  Andrew & Jenna get a kick out of seeing him crawl & so far think it's pretty cool.  Not sure they are going to think what comes next is so cool, but we'll see.  He's already pulling himself up on things & loves to hold onto our fingers and 'walk'.  I think he looks pretty darn adorable crawling, check it out:

Skating

Since Andrew is testing out Hockey as his winter sport this year, the kids have been doing a lot of skating (at least it seems that way).  I've been staying inside where it's nice & warm with Mikey while Bruce has been out skating with them.  I hadn't really seen either of them skate this year so I was amazed when I stopped by the pond to watch them.  Last year Jenna needed a chair & this year she's all on her own & is continually improving each time she's out.  She's already announced that she's playing hockey next year (if she actually does is still TBD).  Andrew could skate last year, but this year he looks more fluid & I was amazed at how comfortable he looks.  You can tell he really enjoys skating.
Here are some video's I took (these are from a few weeks ago - they've gotten even better since then):

Here's Jenna (she fell on purpose....)

They've even convinced me to buy a pair of skates and learn to skate (wish me luck)...now it just needs to get warm enough to bring Mikey out in the snow & I'll be able to give it a whirl.

Rock Band

Thanks to all the musical instruments the kids have, the Fullerton kids band is back in action. 

Mikey was supposed to be playing keyboard, but had a hard time resisting the drum...must be something about those Fullerton boys & drums.  I'm sure that there are lots of concerts in our future (we can't wait!).

Franklin Visits

Franklin (Beth & Travis too) came to visit and it was fun to watch him explore.  He liked following Sadie around and REALLY liked playing in her house.  Here's a picture of Franklin checking out Sadie's house. Mikey enjoyed helping him open & close the door to the kennel.  Every time Franklin would come out of Sadie's house, she'd go over & sniff him.  It was as if she was going "nope, still not a puppy".  Here he is in her house:

Children's museum

Thanks to Aunt Lynn & Uncle Tom, the kids get to go to the Children's museum whenever they want (& time allows).  We love that it's so close, and that we can go & not feel guilty about leaving after a few hours.  After finding new homes for all the gifts, we took the kids to the mesuem to burn some energy off.   They really enjoyed the story book exhibt.  Since we have 3 little cookie monsters, we HAD to get their picture by one of their favorite books:

Here's Jenna checking out one of the cityscapes:

 Andrew taking a break 'in' part of the book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom"

 Playing with the magentic pictures to make a story (even Mikey joined in!):

 A trip to the musuem wouldn't be complete with out stopping to paint their faces:

 The last few times we've been at the museum the crane has either not been working, or the line has been super long so Andrew was really excited to get a turn running the crane. 

 Playing with the gears:

 We had 3 very tuckered out kids by the time we left.  Good thing Mikey still faces backward & is in his carrier :-)  Apparently he makes a great pillow!

Bongers Family Christmas

Christmas at Grandma & Grandpa's was a flurry of activity & trying to take pictures of all 3 kids and keep track of gifts got to be a little interesting this year.  Good thing Mikey was still more interested in the paper than he was in opening gifts :-)  Here are some pictures from the Bongers Family Christmas:

Andrew opening the presents in his stocking

Jenna opening her Santa gifts

Wow - a drum set!

Uncle Nick tuning Jenna's guitar for her

Mikey with his ride on toy

Jenna opening her pink gun (that way the boys won't use it!)

Our little present :-)

 All the Christmas's gave us 3 tired kids by the end of the weekend.  I had to laugh when I turned around to see who was still up and found all three sleeping.  Good thing Mikey makes a good pillow!

Tired munchkins

Christmas @ home

 After all that fun opening presents at Grandma & Grandpa's the kids came home & got ready for Santa's visit.  They sprinkled the reindeer food in the front yard, wrote Santa a note, and set out milk & cookies. 

Santa came!



Opening their Santa presents



Playing with wrapping paper was WAY more fun than opening the presents

That Santa is one smart cookie...not only did Andrew get a Nerf gun from him, but Daddy did too!

Jenna w/ her doodle bear

Paper is still awesome



Jenna on her stick pony ( I just LOVE this pic of her, even if it is a little blury)

After opening presents at our house it was time to head down to Faribault to open presents with Grandma & Grandpa Bongers.

Fullerton Family Christmas

We kicked off our Christmas festivities by spending Christmas eve in Owatonna celebrating Christmas with the Fullerton side.  We started off with a delicious meal of BBQ ribs (sorry about the floor Barb!) and then moved on to present opening.

 Here are some pictures from gift opening:

Andrew w/ his new spinning reel

Jenna w/ her awesome cookie set

Wow - look at all those buttons!



Andrew's cool new bow (he loves shooting it!)



Hmm if the xylophone makes noise, I wonder what these balls sound like?



Jenna w/ her Rockin' Barbie Guitar!

After opening all those presents we were all pretty tired, so we headed back home to get ready for a visit from Santa.  Even tho a brown Christmas isn't ideal, it did make for easy travels.