Christmas Again

Aunt Dan & Auntie Karen were back from Tucson, so we celebrated Christmas with them, Boppa & Grandma, and Auntie Sherry on Saturday. Daddy made the potatoes for our dinner, and Mommy baked pecan pie and apple pizza for dessert. I got to eat people food -- some of the potatoes, a few green beans, bread, and lots of fruit. I am a kiwi junkie, plus I had bananas and strawberries. I could eat like that all the time!

Everyone must know that I'm quite the reader, because they gave me lots of books: Elmo, sign language, ladybugs, cows, colors/art appreciation, and more! I love to look at them all. I did get more toys, clothes, a giant fish pillow, and other things too. Auntie Sherry gave me a giraffe toy that's supposed to be a stacker/shaper sorter, but I found many additional uses: whistles, a hat (see the Christmas Eve picture), teether, book holder, toy swirler...and probably more soon.

It was quite the tiring week...and not just for me!

Christmas Day

When we woke up, we saw that Santa filled our stockings with all kinds of fun stuff. Mine is the one on the left. You can see the set of magnetic numbers hanging next to it. I wanted to reach up and pull all of it down myself, but I'm still too short. Mommy's is the second one; notice Santa had to put some of her stuff above the stocking. The red stocking is Daddy's. He got Jiffy Pop last year too. Even Shadow got some Christmas goodies and an ornament. That last stocking is hers.




Here I am with some of my stocking stuff. That flip phone in my hands made me very, very excited. At Thanksgiving, I played with Daniel's Cars phone a lot. Santa brought me this fun one with Tinkerbell on it. I also got some new books (my favorite toys), a cd of great dance music (Funky Chicken, anyone?), and of course, socks.






After some fun playtime, Mommy got out the carolers so she could get some pictures of me playing with them. They've been lots of fun! And to think someone gave them to Mommy as a joke. I think they're the most fun Christmas decorations we have. They take turns singing verses of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" over and over. You'd think I'd know the words by now, but I just can't seem to get them to come out of my mouth. Usually I just hum, clap, and dance with them. It was great fun, but then we had to take a break for breakfast and my naptime. All this partying sure wears out a little girl like me!






Check this out...I got Mommy & Daddy got me a rocking horse! I liked it so much, I tried to climb in the box with it. I'm trying to get the hang of riding it, but mostly I like to pet it, lean on it, and squeeze the ears to play songs and horse noises.


My first Christmas sure has been fun, and I've still got one more Christmas party to go! I'm going to need another nap.

Merry Christmas to All!

Greetings from me, Daddy, and Mommy. They put on sweatshirts this morning, otherwise we're pretty much straight out of bed, and in front of the camera...because we wanted to get it on the blog first thing in the morning. I guess the intentions were good, but the back dating was more effective!

Here's a picture of our tree too. I wasn't so sure what a Christmas tree was about at first, but then I decided I wanted to play with the lights, steal the ornaments, hang out under the tree, and consider climbing it. Daddy & Mommy expected that I would be this way so they only put 1/4 of our ornaments up...and put up a barricade so I couldn't try to sneak close to the tree. In the above picture, Mommy let me hold one of the reindeer ornaments I thought was pretty interesting. But then when I tried to pull down other ornaments (I just wanted to hold them too), they moved our party away from the tree. Talk about your mixed signals. Parents, I tell ya!

PopPop & LaLa on Christmas Eve

We had such a fun time on Monday at Grandma Mary's house. We got there just before Daniel, Auntie Jenny, and Uncle John. I practiced walking around in my new shoes so I could impress Daniel with my Mad•Skills. I followed him around right away, but, boy, it was hard to keep up with him. Finally we took my shoes off since I walk better without them. Still, I had to go back to crawling to keep up with him. I walk just okay right now, but Daniel RUNS. I gotta learn to do that.

We had a blast anyhow. He showed me how to pretend to take a nap on Grandma's bed, tried to get some tunes going for us (sorry if we messed up your radio station, Grandma), put Grandma's shoes in the closet...and he tried to shut me in there too, how to practice smiling in from of the mirror (as if I can't do that!), jump on the couch, play with different toys...it was all very tiring. He also gives nice hugs, shares his carrots, and lets me carry around one of his cars (down the back of my shirt).

Auntie Jenny gave me this really fun singing mirror. I play with it a lot. Sometimes, I just like to check my funny hats, at Mommy & Daddy without facing them, and make the music play while I read my books. Mommy laughs when I reach up without looking to it a button and start the music again. Of course, it's also tons of fun to shake the microphone while I dance around the mirror.

I got lots of other fun toys, pretty clothes, books, and ornaments, but the best part of the day was hanging with my cousin. Thanks to him, I now like to jump on the couch...especially since I've figured out how to crawl up there by myself!

Good Dog, Star

We spent some time dog-sitting right before Christmas while Auntie Karen and Aunt Dan went to Tucson to celebrate with Auntie Karen's family. Usually Star and Colter like to play with me and lick my face, but when I picked up a Kong, even Bailey came over to give me kisses. I guess they thought I was planning to give them a goodie. Really, I just wanted to play with the pretty blue toy!

Bailey is to the left, Colter is in the middle, and the one sitting is Star. Mommy told them all to sit, but Bailey can't really hear, Colter was thinking about a treat in his belly, and Star, well...Good Dog, Star.

God Bless Us Everyone

Wow! Talk about a fun night...we took a relaxing car ride (read: nap) to Dick & Dee's for the family Lutefisk and Spareribs Christmas Eve Dinner, a tradition shared with Great-Great Grandpa & Great-Great Grandma Cecil many years ago. It's been going on as long as Daddy can remember...and then some. He may be Norwegian, but Daddy doesn't eat lutefisk. Mommy was brave enough to try it once (or was she tricked?), but really once is enough. Nowadays, the gathering is on a different night, and lutefisk is absent. The spirit of family, fun, and togetherness still remains. If you listen closely, you can still hear Great-Great Grandma Cecil following the prayer with, "God bless us everyone."

During dinner, I got to sit on Mommy's lap and steal her potatoes . That was a lot of fun right up until I did my master impression of former president George H. W. Bush in Japan. Yes, I got sick right on the table. I also hit Mommy's pants, but in a stroke of luck, missed her plate of ice cream cake (it was also Dick's birthday). I felt just fine after, and spent some time playing on the floor. Then when we went downstairs the real excitement began. First Domino (their Brittany Spaniel) kept licking my face. Maybe I still had some food and stuff on me...or dogs just love me! While everyone else was involved in a fun gift-stealing game, Dee let me play with some of her pig collection. When she first showed me the little girl pig in a charming dress, I began to giggle. Dee started to talk to me using the pig's voice, and it made me laugh even harder. She also brought out the pig's brother. He was funny too. Grandma Mary might have some pictures or video to share; we didn't have our camera in the house.

I think I slept the entire ride home.

Walking

Okay, we don't have pictures yet, I am officially a walker now. Dear Marsha, I do solemnly swear to try to avoid all injuries -- big and small, and to not demolish Christmas trees, eat dog food, or empty wastebaskets (and for Daddy, I won't mess with the wastepaper basket either)...then again, I don't even know what solemnly means yet, so I don't think anyone can hold me to this.

At Thanksgiving, I took my first few steps, and have tried more here and there when the mood found me. Last week I decided it seemed a better method of travel. By the weekend, I was shaking off Mommy if she tried to help me. Today I was impressing Boppa and Grandma G with my newest mad skill by walking more than they've ever seen. I can't wait to show Grandma Mary (Mommy better get me to town for lunch soon) too! Then on Christmas Eve, I can show off to Daniel.

My Mad-Skills have come on fast and strong recently. I'll post some pictures of my tricks, and maybe Mommy can get some video of me walking too. I've been only been promising some sort of video since July. I've just been so busy learning everything possible, I couldn't find the time!

I Finally Ditched Them!

Saturday night, I had my first overnight without Daddy and Mommy around. It was so much fun! They dropped me off with Boppa and Grandma on Saturday morning, and headed off to celebrate their 14th anniversary with a trip to Duluth. While I was here having a blast, learning how to do So Big, and tugging at my socks every time Boppa said sock, they were busy being boatnerds.

They stayed at the Inn on Lake Superior, which they highly recommend. The room had a nice hot tub which was very useful after standing out in frigid temps watching the ships come in and out of the harbor. Two of the 1000-footers (of 13 on the lakes) made an appearance, one going and one coming. Both ships had lots of ice down the sides, and the crew worked hard to clean off some of it.

First, they saw the Indiana Harbor departing with a load of coal headed for St. Clair, Michigan. In the evening, the Oglebay Norton or American Integrity (it's new name) came in light (empty) to load coal. There was a photographer on the deck taking pictures of the crowd on the pier. He stopped to wave for the Boatnerds that were taking pictures and filming. The saltie Kwintebank also left, and the Frontenac came in, but Mommy & Daddy missed those because they went to dinner. They may be boatnerdy enough to stand in the rain at to watch a ship come in at 23:00, but not enough to stand in sub-zero temps!

They had a happy, relaxing trip, and I really didn't even miss them. It was like being here for an extra long workday, so I guess it worked out well for everybody. Not that they need to do it again too soon!

You Say It's Your Birthday...

Happy birthday to you...
Happy birthday to you...
Happy birthday, Auntie Jenny...
Daddy's younger than you!



Tee hee hee! Hope your birthday is a wonderful day.



P.S. Check out my new "big-girl" car seat. Just two more months, and I can sit facing forward too. Sometimes it IS good to get older!

M is for MONKEY

This week we have an extra dog staying with us. She normally lives with Mommy & Daddy's friends Pat & Lisa. Her name is Kiana, but Daddy & Mommy call her Monkey. They've called me "M is for Monkey" since I was very tiny because Daddy bought me an outfit that said that. When they say Monkey, we both answer.

She's a very sweet dog, and likes to play with me a lot more than Shadow does. Sometimes she just lays there while I make her collar jingle, and other times we play together with my toys. Her favorite game is to hang around my chair when I'm eating. Once I realized what a fun noise it makes when she chews, I started dropping all my food for her! I like to smile and wave at her a lot, but she never waves back. She does smile a lot though!

I Look Sweet & Innocent...

I really do. But Mommy & Daddy's friend Pat likes to call me Mad Mary. He's either thinking of Typhoid Mary or something he saw in a movie. Nobody should tell him what I did for Thanksgiving.

I told you I got sick, and then Mommy did. The rest of the story is that I am so spectacular at sharing, I helped some others get sick too. First Daniel, then Daddy, then Morgan, Auntie Sherry, Grandma G, Aunt Dan, and then Auntie Jenny. I think that's the whole list. In order. Mommy & I felt a little sick again the next week.

I must be an amazing little girl to share with so many of my loved ones. Really, all I was doing was sharing very nicely.

You think that will keep the coal out of my stocking?!