Aunt Carol was over visiting us the night before for a little while - and she was just totally unable to keep from poking and prodding at all the gifts under the tree. As you can plainly see, I was left with no choice. I made a search-word puzzle for her. After she found all the words, the unsused letters would spell out all of the hiding places in which she would find her gifts. Here she is diligently working: 
Nathan must have been a VERY good boy this year! He received many wonderful gifts. Although he was indeed a good boy, I really think it has more to do with having a lot of family (near and far) that love him VERY much!
here he is with his new tricycle
here he is with his new cowboy hat & boots - his head may be cut off, but you can still see the excitment on his face!
even at a young age, we really wanted him to share in the joys of giving, not just receiving. here is Nathan helping to hand out presents:
to his friend Kaleb
to Dada
Here are some fun pictures of Nathan enjoying some of his presents. He is a very hard worker at most everything he does. Look at how he examines his work bench in preparation for putting his tools on it to play. 
Nathan sporting his new wranglers and boots and the hat of his choice for the moment. (i am not kidding - he LOVES hats and will pick different ones to wear throughout the day and not want to go anywhere without them. cowboy hats, baseball caps, sun hats, Dada's hats . . . doesn't matter what he is wearing, all are fair game)
Today is new year's eve. It is 9:20 pm and after I finish this post, I am going to bed. Richard is working and Nathan is in bed. Given the options of toasting myself with a glass of ice water versus getting a good night's sleep - sleep wins out. I do have tell you that tonight I did something 'special', something I have never done before. Tonight I made a doggie sweater. :) Not kidding - taylored a sweater for Little Bear. I thought it was only right of me to do since I am the one who keeps insisting on shaving all of his hair off - I should make him a sweater so he doesn't get cold. Afterall it IS going to be way down into the 40s tomorrow! (oh my, i have become such a wimp so fast!! I guess I just figure my dog became a wimp too???) I would really like to share the pictures of him in his new sweater, but regretably i cannot. I took them with our new camera and don't know how to get them off of it and onto the computer yet.
***addendum*** richard showed me how to get the pictures from the new camera to the computer this morning so here are the much awaited for pictures of the doggie sweater ala ann. 
