10 Months

Finishing up from the drafts folders:

The theme of his 10th Month: "I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me" (and when I'm tired and wanting space, the next line sometimes feels a little applicable....). But we love you so much, Samuel John!

Samuel was all about crawling everywhere and worked on pulling himself to a stand.

Samuel entirely gave up napping on his own; so he logged many, many hours on my back. Why sleep in a nice quiet room when you can sleep to the sounds of math lessons?

But matching babies is so cute!

Big brothers love to snuggle with him first thing in the morning!

Hands through the screen

These  two are pretty silly together,

He loves, loves, loves the swing! So many laughs!

Other highlights include a trip to Fresno:

First Thanksgiving:

Helping make apple pie!

And anoth trip to the beach (Torrey Pines):

He likes the beach as much as his siblings.

January Snapshots

Our new year started with a trip up to the snow! The boys absolutely loved it; Claire wasn't so sure about it; and Samuel just wanted mommy to hold him.

Go, Josiah!

Dustin's brother continued the Kleinsasser tradition of waffles & Rose Parade. So many cousins and second cousins!

January brought lots of hours of play with new toys.

Balls!

Everyone has wheels now! They can all head to the park on bikes.

New bath toys= apparently they all can fit in the same tub

After Spanish class play time!

And more rainy day play than we've had in a long time. 

Lots of gravel work

Volcano!

And plenty of sunny day play, too:

So much walking practice!

Beware the flying sword

I like that the boys are walking around with swords and weapons, and
Claire is walking around with her baby on her back.

We did schoolwork.

Egyptian water clock

Building the Multiplcation Table

The Aquarium x3 since our pass expired at the end of the month (Dustin is somehow able to go on a field trip and take zero pictures.)

Enjoying the new moon jelly touch tank!

Pick a Penguin!

Samuel loves getting close to the tanks.

The octopus was in rare form -- especially convenient since we were
specifically looking for the cephalopods.

Eating mollusks was a big hit with Josiah and Claire (the sacrifices we make for education! Let's eat the animals we are studying!).

Mussels & Clams

Mussels!

The eels were on the move for our last visit.

Jellies!

The Seals and Sea Lions re-opened just in time.

Hungry Lorikeets!

More Jellies!

19-armed Starfish -- perfect for that week's chapter on echinoderms!

We're going to miss our Aquarium visits.

Sea Dragon

Claire moved into her little girl bed (she is adamant that she is a "little girl, not a big girl."). "I can tuck myself in!"

I think she likes it. :)

We pretended to move Samuel into the crib -- he sleeps there for about 3-4 hours a night before returning to the spot where babies belong next to mommy.

Morning snuggles!

We enjoyed my favorite food with our church small group:

Korean BBQ!

It's intense.

Dustin helped the boys design and make cars for the AWANA Grand Prix.

Grandpa & Grandma Guenther came to cheer
them on, too.

Josiah's sword car got 4th place for Sparkie design.

And, of course, celebrated Samuel's first birthday with Disneyland and grandparents, but that got its own post.