Sikorski Saga

Even though Luella had a cookie and Santa seemed jolly, she still screamed when he held her. Even better, when we previewed the picture, she brightened right up, pointed, and said "SANTA!" with a big smile on her face.

Tim's unit held a Christmas Party. One unit fund raiser is voting for stand-ins for elves and Santa. The Battalion Commander was voted in as an elf. He realized too late that he forgot his shorts at home. Luella did not like sitting on Santa's lap. Odd, because her word of the month is "SANTA"! Poor Adam. At least Santa gave her a cuddly teddy bear that says "roar".

For the record, yes, Luella loves eggnog! Luella's first lefse! (It's Norwegian potato bread/ tortilla type thing best with butter and sugar!)

The huge Christmas tree in Union Station with US and Norwegian flags as decorations. The Norwegians , Kyla and Luella, in front of the tree. Tim showing Luella the full scale train model, complete with trolls!

In case you were wondering how much bigger Luella was than Goobers. Kyla giving Luella kisses. Tim bench pressing Luella!

Mom, I don't really remember this white stuff falling from the sky! The first few flakes falling in the morning of Dec 5 th . By the end of the day we got 4 inches of snow! It melted away completely 2 days later.

Yes, the horns hold up her halo!

Even though there's banana up/on her nose, Luella says I'M NOT A MONKEY!!!

This is the Center for National Response. It's right off I-70 in West Virginia. It was part of the interstate, but the tunnel thru the mountain was too difficult for the state to maintain , so they let people train in there. They can make it rain, blow wind up to 40 mph, fires, explosions, all kinds of awesome training. Here's Tim's company at the entrance to the tunnel. Tim was playing Army while we were hosting Ginger before her big move. Tim and April Miller - team leaders discussing their missions from the day. Tim and his company commander, MAJ Alex Lovase discussing football, or something. Take cover! They have paintball gun attachments to their weapons so you can see where you got hit. One of the missions was to rappel down this hill... Then wade thru this tunnel for 1/4 mile in icy cold water to get to the objective site... As you can see, it was a really long day. Tim was the commander for this mission. The Soldiers had to traverse thru a collapsed tunnel....

Luella loves giving raspberries to any exposed skin. Luella gets a kiss bye bye from Auntie Ginger. Luella practicing talking to Auntie Ginger on the phone. Ginger, good luck in command in the sandbox! See you April 2009!

Our rule is after Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas prep can begin in earnest. Tim's hanging lights! Luella is looking up on the rooftop for reindeer paws, or Daddy hanging lights. The final outside decorations. Maybe next year we'll get more lights to cross the entire front of the house. But Tim's not getting on the roof again this winter and Kyla never will! The living room - yes, we did rearrange the furniture if you haven't been here since the middle of October. The stockings were hung by the window with care - since we don't have a fireplace. The village people get two trees and massive protection with those sabers! Did you start singing YMCA? The other stockings were hung in the other window! Guess how many people live here! Our nativity scene is near the clock. Yep, it's almost 5 pm when these pictures were taken! The tree set up with all the toys underneath. Yes, Luella knows what they all are, she plays with them everyday! The other nativity scene with ang...

The bib is a present from Suzy - "Result of Mommy kissing Santa" - yep! Members of our church family invited us to dinner. Tom Glose and Luella playing after dinner. We invited Auntie Ginger to dinner with us. As always, Luella and Ginger had a ball!

We've been sitting Luella on a potty chair before her bath at night for about a week. Tonight was the first time she really used it! One step closer to no more diapers!

Luella gives Tim raspberries!

Tim was notified on Wednesday that he will be taking command of HHC , 20 th Support Command. On Thursday, the outgoing commander and Tim settled on the end of February for their change of command. You are all invited to come witness this historic moment! Kyla assures you there will be cake. Command is a huge step forward in Tim's military career! This particular command will be very challenging and full of character building. Tim will have a 1-star general, a few full-bird colonels, a bunch of lieutenant colonels and majors (who outrank Tim) and many fellow captains in his company he will have to wrangle, along with approximately 200 other Soldiers that Tim does outrank (but 90% of them don't work for him). Hopefully it'll be easier than herding cats!

Luella got this nifty coat from her Great-Aunt Nancy. She loves to wear it all the time - even with her jammies ! We are taking our family photos on Sunday and Kyla decided to practice with Luella. Here is her cutest smiling picture! Here is a typical photo from our practice photo shoot!

Inger Talbot's baby shower! The fall colors on APG / Edgewood post thru the windshield. More fall colors while driving off post.