Merry Christmas from the Metz Family!
We wanted to share some of our memories from this Christmas season - Clementine's first Christmas! Have a wonderful time with your family and friends!

Clementine loves her new noisy toy from Aunt Abbey that she can't wait to share with a new cousin next Christmas!!

Breakfast with Santa at Alum Creek....

Clark was o.k. standing in line to see Santa as long as Lacy was with him. Lacy is such a ham for the camera! This is as close as Clark would get to Santa, but he was determined to ask for his tracks for Thomas and Annie & Clarabel. Clementine had just woke up from her nap when it was her turn to visit with Santa. She wasn't fully conscious yet.

Christmas with the Metzes in Defiance



This is what happens when you tell Andy to clean off the counter. Very nicely done!

Clark liked decorating cookies with Grandma - she gave him a really big one to eat when he finished working.

The kids were thoroughly spoiled in Defiance, and I'm sure the spoiling will continue when we arrive in Tennessee tomorrow to celebrate with the Hastings side of the family. Clementine loved her baby dolls and Clark was ECSTATIC over his Thomas train set. He played with it for hours and was very protective of it. Andy got to play with it for a little while. Everyone else's participation was by invitation only.

Christmas Eve

Finishing the countdown to Christmas, cookies for Santa, reading the Christmas story at bedtime when we got home from Alum Creek's Christmas Eve service......it was a wonderful Christmas Eve for the Metzes!

Christmas Morning!

An Alum Creek Milestone

Clementine reached a major milestone yesterday as a member of Alum Creek Church - her first cradle roll class with Ruth. She lasted for 10-15 minutes. It was a great introduction, though, to this important part of her early life. Ruth is the greatest cradle roll teacher I've ever met and loves both of our children so much. What a wonderful influence and blessing she is - a terrific first teacher for our kids! Clementine is looking forward to all of the exciting things she will learn in Cradle Roll! Even Clark was excited about Clementine going to class and having time with "his Ruth."

First Snow Day!

When Clark saw the snow Wednesday morning he was speechless at first - a very rare state of being for Clark Metz! The words soon came - "I so excited! It's Christmastime! I go build Frosty! I so excited! I so excited! I wear my boots! I wear my snow pants! I so excited!"

After careful consideration (but no crying), Clementine decided she liked the snow, too. She was very content (not overjoyed, mind you) cruising the backyard in her infant sled.

Christmas Decorating Time!

I (mb) love decorating for Christmas. I love the glow of lights and smell of pine for the whole month. Christmas clean-up is very sad. I am ready to have the tree up and Christmas village lit the day after Thanksgiving. Adam made me wait a week to get the tree! How frustrating! Well, Clark helped pick out the tree (sort of - he was cold and tired) while Clementine watched all nice and warm in her fleece and blankets and then we got to come home and start decorating!! The Metz halls have been decked for 2007 - Clementine's first Christmas!

Ready to go to Grandma's! That is ALL I have heard this morning. Clark is going to Grandma's today so that she can take him to his friend Brennan's birthday party on Sunday. He is VERY excited about going to Grandma's, but he is especially pumped about going to Brennan's. Happy third birthday, Brennan!

Look at that look of concentration. Or is it his gorilla impression?

Clementine hit the age of 6 months a couple of weeks ago and
now she is eating solid food! She really likes most things she has tasted - especially bananas, but her digestive system is having a little difficulty adjusting to the new diet this week.

We went to see our friend, Andrew, play the last home game of his senior soccer season a few weeks ago. His dad got these pics of Clark playing soccer after the game. Look at Clark's tongue while he's running. These shots capture Clark's real passion for ball!

No Rocks Here

Clark just went to bed after an exciting night of trick-or-treating. Right before he went upstairs to his room he asked if we could go trick-or-treating again tomorrow night. This was his first Halloween that he could really get into the hype.

We've been watching "Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin" and he goes around all the time saying, "I got a rock." Before we hit the streets tonight he informed me, "I not want rocks." I think someone should market Charlie Brown Halloween candy that looks like rocks. He was not disappointed. The bowl in the kitchen is definitely not filled with rocks. Thank goodness we work with teenagers that we can share this candy with!

Checking out her Halloween card from Grandma & PaPa - thanks for the Halloween package!

You can't see the jack-o-lanterns that Adam carved in this shot, but you can see Clark's pumpkin he carved with Ruth. He is very proud of it. He wants to make sure "everybody see it" sitting on the front porch.

Clark thinks he's picking out his one piece of candy to eat after trick-or-treating. What's really happening: Dad is surveying the loot to see what he wants to eat as soon as Clark goes to bed.

Trunk-or-Treat & Hair Club for Babies

She loves her wig!

Showing off his fangs from the party he attended with Ruth. He is still talking about being a mummy. I guess they played a game where he was wrapped up in paper towels. He likes to tell about busting out of the paper towels.

The two dolls. Camryn & Clementine have started their own business: Hair Club for Babies.

Our own Justice League.

Wonder Woman. The costume has armbands, too, but they were too tantalizing to Clementine's lips!


Last night was Trunk-or-Treat at Alum Creek. This was Clark's first year to really be excited about wearing a costume that he picked out. Appropriately and not to anyone's surprise, he decided to be Superman. Believe it or not we already had a Superman costume - shocking, right? Clark also decided that Clementine would be Wonder Woman. What an adorable Wonder Woman she was!

Don't you love the wig? She actually wore it all night long without a fuss. Clementine's wig inspired her friend Camryn's mommy to go get her a wig, too. They look like two little dolls with their wigs on. It was kind of creepy at first to see Clementine with that much hair on her head! Adam & I went as Clark Kent & Lois lane, but the kids were so cute who wants to see pictures of us? Our costumes were nothing special. I wore a suit with my "Lois Lane" press pass from the Daily Planet and Adam just wore a suit and tie over his Superman t-shirt.

Thanks to Grandma Metz for coming through on the Wonder Woman costume. We were so relieved when it finally arrived yesterday - 3 hours before Trunk-or-Treat. Without that package she would have just been a baby Linda Carter with only her red tank top and wig on!

We'll put more pictures up later this week after we go trick-or-treating. Hopefully Clark will be more cooperative for the camera and let us catch his Superman pose!

Imagination

Here are some highlights from our day at the zoo yesterday. This was a special outing because it was the first time that I (MB) took the kids to the zoo by myself. Clark was so tired when we left that he didn't complain about leaving the zoo (a first). His exact words as we were walking to the car were, "My knees tired. My foot start to hurt." Needless to say, he took a great nap yesterday as did Clementine - both of them asleep at the same time=my dream come true.

The picture above is what I saw when I turned around ready to say, "Come on, Clark, stay with Mommy," as we walked from one side of the zoo to the other. His imagination is going crazy right now. When I asked what he was doing he informed me that he was a cat in a tone that suggested I should have known that. Then he experienced a metamorphosis from cat to frog instantaneously. It took a lot longer to get to the other side of the zoo this way, but it was so much more fun than just walking. If Clementine didn't need me to push her stroller I probably would have pretended with him. O.K., so I probably wouldn't have got down on all fours and crawled around the Columbus Zoo, but I like to think that I would have been the kind of mom who does that with her kids!

Clementine was fascinated by the penguins and the aquarium - things she could see from her stroller.

At each exhibit, Clark had to find it on his map. He found the map on the ground and being very litter conscious picked it up and carried it around the rest of the day. He was especially cute while visiting "Chicken Nugget" and telling her where she was on the map. I couldn't believe he remembered this chicken from our last trip. He was eager to visit her and stood there talking to this chicken. Not only did he point out her location on the map, he also informed her, "You say bok."

It so much easier to take pictures of the two of them now that she can sit up! There was a perfect sized dip in this statue for her to nestle into. Mind you, she can still be a bit unsturdy so I am only an arm's length away (I can't believe my outstretched hand is not in the picture!) and this was a quick photo-op.

And I thought Adam took care of the kids while I was away. The cat's out of the bag now - Clark does all the work. What a grown up!

THE ALUM CREEK PUMPKIN PATCH IS BACK!

I'll take........that pumpkin!

Clark had just awakened from a nap, so he wasn't feeling very photogenic.

More of his imagination coming to life...he and Adam built Jacob's Field last night while I made dinner. Speaking of dinner last night...I made squash. Not only did I make it, but I also ate it. Not only did I eat it, but I also liked it! For those of you who know me, this is a big deal! What has come over me - eating vegetables?