Merry Christmases!

I just celebrated my first Christmas... or more accurately, my first several Christmases! Apparently there really are 12 days of Christmas!

On Dec. 12 & 13, we drove from Madison to Boulder. It was a long car ride, but I didn't mind it too much. On the way we stopped in Kansas City and visited Aunt Kyle and Uncle Jodi. They gave me my first presents, Winnie, Eeyore, and Tigger, who kept me company on the long drive through Kansas to Colorado.


Back in Colorado I've had so much fun with all of my family. We visited GG and saw Papa Steve's family, and took a picture of four generations of hands (me, Mom and her cousin, Michelle, Great Aunt Missy, and GG).


We spent lots of time with Avia, Uncle Logan, and Uncle TyTy and Aunt Sara, who came in to visit from Lake Tahoe. We had a fabulous dinner at the Flagstaff House on Friday the 19th, and then enjoyed Ty's world class cooking (lamb and couscous) at our early celebration of Christmas at Avia's house with GGpa and Great Barb on the 20th.

On the 24th we went to Grandpa & Grandma's house in the morning and had a yummy brunch. Grandpa read us the Christmas story and I played with my cousins. That night we went to Nana and Papa's and had another fabulous dinner, and played some more! I'm so lucky to have so many big cousins to take care of me. I've really enjoyed my cousin Maggie -- to show her how much I love her, I like to suck on her cheeks!



We slept at Nana's on Christmas Eve and had a relaxed Christmas morning the next day, and then visited Aunt Jen's and Uncle Ian's families to see what Santa brought all of my cousins! In the afternoon we went to GGpa's and took a long walk on their land, and then enjoyed MORE great food and a concert by Uncle Logan.




I am so grateful for all of the wonderful presents I got this Christmas -- way too many to list here... books and toys, cute clothes, and some wonderful creative artwork and photo gifts. Our family also donated money to build deep wells in Africa so that little kids that aren't as lucky as me can have clean water to drink. It's been a busy and fun couple of weeks, and I'm glad I get a little more time to hang out with friends and family before we go back to Wisconsin!

In the meantime, I've also been doing lots and lots of work on my standing and crawling! I'm getting pretty good at moving short distances, and I love to pull up on anything I can grab on to. I love moving my body and exploring the world from my new vantage points. It's all very exciting!

What a crazy world I live in.

I don't know if any of you noticed this when you were six months old or so, but all of my toys are now mysteriously located just beyond my reach. It's driving me crazy. I remember when everything used to be placed in my hand and I didn't have to struggle to find anything. Now it seems that even my favorite objects are ALWAYS a couple of feet away. Even when I go through the whole ordeal of getting onto my belly, pushing up onto my knees and lurching forward to grasp my prize, it seems to tear itself out of my hand and relocate a couple feet away. I get so fed up with this, that I usually just sit back up and stare at the mischievous magazine or stuffed animal for a while before I turn my attention elsewhere.

I made my parents take some videos of my crawling and my standing so you can all see. Plus, I've got this one little sign language thing going on. One of my boyfriends, Miles, used to do this cool thing where he would put his arms out to be picked up when his dad clapped his hands twice. I thought it was pretty cool, so I picked it up.

One more thing. I'm not really all that religious, but I'm really excited for my first Christmas. I'll make sure to do some posts about the trip to Colorado. I'm driving with both of my parents, both of my dogs and my cat from Madison to Boulder through Kansas City, where Uncle Kyle and Aunt Jodi are living. Should be pretty awesome, but I have to watch the whole trip out of the back window. Try it sometime, it's weird.

Thanksgiving in Washington

I spent my first Thanksgiving in Bellingham, WA, at Nanny and Papa's house. Avia and Uncle Logan were there, too, and so was Nanny's sister, Auntie Caca, and her mom, Nunu! We had lots of fun, and I even tried some sweet potatoes. I've sort of lost my enthusiasm for food, though. Mama's got the good stuff. Also, I'm not crazy about sleeping anymore, either. I had Mom and Dad on a pretty good schedule for a while, but now I'm mixing it up a bit, waking up every couple of hours at night. Good thing I'm so cute!

After Thanksgiving we drove down to Chehalis and spent a couple of days with the Smith family -- I met Great Grandma Dorothy and Great Grandpa Don, who just turned 80 years old!! I also met lots of aunts and uncles and my cousin, Tamira -- she's even littler than me, and I enjoyed grabbing her hands and face.



Here are more pictures of our trip to Washington.