Dec. 2011

It's beginning to look a lot like..... CHRISTMAS!!! My favorite time of year... and I can say I hope this is one thing I do pass on to my precious little angel.... I hope she loves Christmas as much as I do..... So far, so good!!!!

The house is all decorated.... We put our tree up the second week of December.  Elizabeth and Daddy decorated our tiny tree while mommy was at school one day.  Elizabeth says "ho ho" when asked what Santa says.  Christopher Popinkins visited after Thanksgiving.  Elizabeth notices him but is too busy to pay much attention to him.  Hopefully he'll come back again next year!  We went to Daniel's band concert and she just loved to hear the music (and I think loved staying up past her bed time.....)  We also went to Rachel's choir concert.  (see below)


I'm happy to say she is now very good at feeding herself.  She's shown some interest in the fork, but hasn't really used it herself yet.  She loved to feed people though. She chased Grandpa around all night feeding him apples one night!  Speaking of Grandpa.... she's now decided to call most people 'gram-ka'... which she does quite loudly!  NICE!  At Rachel's choir concert she was obsessed with this older gentleman and kept calling him Gram-ka all night and wanted to go to him!!!!  EEK!

I can finally say she says 'mama'.... I swear she's said every other word in the book (loves saying 'appy' for happy now)... she's been holding out on me but I think she finally felt bad for me and frankly tired of me trying to get her to say it, so now she uses it...

She's so good at walking, she basically runs all over the house and says 'go go go go'.  She did get her first big bruise on her head this month... OOPS!

As for Christmas it was a wonderful time, except for seeing Santa..... We took her to the mall to see Santa, she was fine, all smiles and waves until Audie set her on his lap and we started to back up.... then came the screaming/crying..... The pic is adorable as she tries to jump off of Santa's lap!  Maybe next year we'll get a smile!  We went to Nana's for Christmas Eve.  Elizabeth started off as her typical 'shy girl' but after a while warmed up and was trying to run the show!

I must point out the most funny story from Christmas Eve was my attire... I got 'all dressed up' but apparently forgot to put on my dress pants... I went to Christmas Eve still wearing my sweat pants! NICE! BUT Elizabeth was in her dress and looked very cute

The kids singing (OK, Jenna sang and the rest played....)  

So I brought Elizabeth home for a good night's sleep before Santa arrived.  On Christmas morn Elizabeth had a blast.  She definitely 'got it'... she knew to open the presents... something is inside! It didn't dawn on me that she'd want to play with each thing as we opened it.... DUH!  It was so much fun seeing her little eyes light up as she found what was inside.... She got an elmo who plays with alphabet blocks, a talking wooden puzzle, clothes, Tag JR, singing/walking dog, David books, and much more!  Elizabeth's stocking was knitted for her by Mrs. Hawkins (Kathy's mom, from my work).... has her name and Rudolph on it... so special!

Elizabeth and I then went to my dad's to open presents.  She was a trooper as it was right at her nap time.... since it wasn't her house she pushed through and opened more presents! She got a slide, a toy box, and much more....she went home, got a quick nap in and then we were off to my moms!  At mom's she got a baby which she absolutely loves and drags around everywhere! 

I know people say each year gets better and she'll know more next year, blablablab... I can't imagine her being any more perfect than she was this year!  Such a wonderful year with just the most precious sweetheart!  Audie and I are so blessed!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!