All I Want for Christmas...

Yes, I said "Christmas". I've been meaning to post this for awhile now. It's amazing how quickly time gets away from me!

Not too long after Christmas, Amy finally grew in her two front teeth. She is so cute with these huge (for her little mouth), slightly crooked front teeth. She's been fussing a lot lately and I believe she may have another one coming in right along side the top two. I can't tell if anything is coming in (or has already come in) the bottom or not. When she smiles, you can't see the lower gums and she won't let you use your fingers to check. So I guess someday we'll luck out and catch a view of those lower gums and may be surprised to see a whole row of lovely white teeth.

Amy changes so much, almost on a daily basis it seems. She can say just about anything, and not always as an echo of what she's just heard. Her vocabulary is amazing. Right off the top of my head, she can say the following: Mommy, Daddy, Alex, Nathan, Paw-Paw, Granny, baby, puppy, kitty, water, bye-bye, hi, hello, yes (more like yeah), no, mine, night-night, jacket, ball, eat, teeth, hold me, help me, thank you, more, nurse, there-it-is, here-you-go, and Caillou. That covers the majority of her regularly used words. I'm sure there are other words I've heard her say, but I can't think of any right now. We are in constant amazement at all of the words coming out of her mouth. She learns a lot from her brothers. I especially notice similarities between her and Nathan. She mimics Nathan quite a bit, perhaps because her personality is a lot like his. They both seem to feel the need to constantly entertain, whether by acting silly or teasing/aggravating others to get a response. With Nathan and Amy, you never know what's going to happen next!

Oh, and as you can see in the pictures, Amy's hair has reached a length that I can now pull it up. She looks so cute with her little pigtails!

Daddy Time

I don't think I expressed in my Christmas/New Year Update post how much the kids enjoyed having their daddy home. The first couple of days, they would say to him, "Daddy, you don't have to go to work anymore?" They wanted him to play with them constantly, and wonderful daddy that he is, he would often comply.

Bill got a daily workout playing games with the kids. Climbing all over and riding on Daddy is one of Alex and Nathan's favorite games.

What fun Amy had sliding down the slide with Daddy at the park!

Bill even took the boys camping in our backyard. They'd tried it once before but had to bail out when a thunderstorm rolled through. But this time they made it all night and now the boys can't wait until their next campout adventure!

I miss Bill now that he's gone back to work, but I think his return to work was hardest on the kids. They are back to greeting him with excited squeals and hugs when he walks in at the end of the day. Even Amy comes practically running up to him, saying repeatedly, "Daddy!" I think Bill missed that during his time at home. Now he can look forward to coming home each day to an enthusiastic welcoming by his wife and kids!

Christmas/New Year Update

Whew! The holidays flew by once again and here we are in 2007. I don't think I ever got used to writing "2006"! It was a busy and productive break. Bill finished working the flight on December 19th and didn't go back to work until yesterday, January 2nd. That was so nice! Alex's holiday from school also began on the 20th, so we were able to begin our family time all on the same day. Late one evening Bill and I put the kids in their pajamas, prepared coffee in our Starbuck's insulated mugs, and then all piled into the van to go look at lights. We looked and looked until all children were asleep and then drove home to transfer them into their beds. Despite the thunderstorm that had begun around us, it was a very pleasant outing.

We spent the days leading up to Christmas finalizing shopping, baking cookies and wrapping presents. Then Christmas Eve after church we spent the day at my parents house and had an early Christmas with my brother and sister-in-law. It was wonderful as always. The traditional luminarias and light-looking did not pan out this year due to rain. In my parents' neighborhood, white bags and small candles are sold and are supposed to be set out along the sidewalks on Christmas Eve night and lit at a specified time (these are the luminarias). When enough people participate, it is quite the site. We have made a tradition out of climbing into the back of my dad's pickup truck and driving around the neighborhood to look at all the lit up luminarias and Christmas decorations. This year was the first time I ever remember not being able to do this exciting activity. Sadly, Bill and my dad had just finished setting them out when it started raining, destroying all of the bags such that they could not be lit on Christmas night, the appointed rain date. But even without this fun tradition, we still had an enjoyable Christmas Eve. Having not gone on our "Bubba Truck Ride" as my cousin once called it, we were able to get the kids home at a more reasonable hour, which meant our getting to bed at a more reasonable hour - if you can call 2 am reasonable. Christmas morning we thought the kids would never wake up. My parents came over at 6:30 in the morning so that they could be there when the kids came down the stairs to their Santa gifts, but it was probably 7:30 before the kids woke up. At least we had some quiet time to enjoy our coffee. :) When they did come down they were so excited to see what Santa had brought them. Among other things, Nathan got the main item on his wish list - a new vacuum cleaner. And Alex got lots of new superheroes to play with. Bill and I let them play with their new toys for a little while before doing our gift exchange with each other. My favorite gift - the amazing cell phone holder my dear husband made for me so that my cell phone would not just have to lie on the kitchen counter. He's quite the craftsman! We gave the kids the morning to play with all their new treasures at home and then went back to my parents' house for a delicious lunch and Christmas with my sister and brother-in-law.

The boys decorating their Christmas sugar cookies

Christmas Eve at Granny and Paw-Paw's

Christmas morning

My very special cell phone holder (and really neat cell phone cross charm given to me by my sister)

We tried to use the rest of Bill's time off to accomplish a few jobs around the house. The biggest of these was painting Amy's room. It's a lovely shade of purple that compliments her new bedding perfectly. I'll post pictures soon!

New Year's Eve and Day were spent at my parents' indulging in way too much delicious food, as we did throughout the holidays. Now that the holidays are over, we are working to get back onto a healthy diet and exercise program. The diet part is going better, but the exercise... Well, maybe we'll get that going someday, as it is one of my New Year's Resolutions. :) I have lots of New Year's Resolutions I'd love to share, but I'll save them for another post.