Playgroup!

We had some friends over today...John and Belle. I think they had a good time playing. Belle and Annabelle had a few tiffs over some baby dolls, but other than that, they all got along great. Below are a few pictures.

Annabelle loves to peek out the mail slot in the door to see what's going on outside. She does it when one of us leaves to go somewhere. I finally got a picture of it.

Goofy Girl!

Annabelle is just blossoming! She has a very strong personality and definitely knows what she wants and doesn't want. Her vocabulary is expanding by leaps and bounds and is now up to a little over 20 words that she can say. Additionally, if you ask her to point to certain things in books she can do that too. She loves to share and wants to include Bailey in anything and everything that is family related. We have family hugs and the three of us will hug and she'll always say "B", "B" (her word for Bailey, which we use with him too). So, Bailey gets to join in the family hugs too. If she shares a cracker with mommy or daddy, she'll give Bailey one too, hence the dog's recent weight gain.

She loves school. According to Paul, who takes her in the morning, as soon as she gets dressed she immediately runs to the coat rack and starts to point at her coat and says "shoes" "shoes." If you ask her if she wants to go to school, she vigoursly shakes her head yes. She is also putting her own clothes in her dirty clothes hamper in her room. We are starting to work on her learning how to put her own toys away.

Her hair is LONG and now it's a game for how long we can go w/o cutting it. She still hasn't had a first haircut and now I am resisting cutting it.

Her words now: B (for bailey), cheese, apple, nana (for banana), Elmo, poo poo, milk, hi, bye bye, book, blocks, bubbles, cracker, night night, football, ball, baby, snacks, shoes, more, and of course, mommy, daddy, and her own name, Annabelle. Currently, we are working on please and thank you. Additionally, she is starting to count....only to 3, but hey, it's a good start!

Another funny thing she this morning. Paul was reading Cindarella to her and on the last page where there is a picture of Cindarella and the Prince, she pointed to the the prince and said "Daddy" and pointed to Cindarella, she said "Mommy." I guess she understands the concept of a couple and or love. I'm thinking that's a good thing.

Here are some recent pictures:

Combing my hair!


Solving a puzzle....

Happy New Year!

The New Year started off with a bang...we went to the Redskins/Cowboys game where, for the second time, Celeste got drenched. Even with the icky weather, we had a good time, especially with the Redskins kicking the cowboy's butts!

With our babysitter out the window, we decided to have a little NYE party. It was a lot of fun and we think even the kiddos had fun. Good food, good friends, and good drinks...what else could you want?

Here are some pictures:

Busy few weeks

Phew...the holidays are finally over. While it was fun, it was also busy...all good stuff, but busy. On Christmas weekend we headed out to Purcellville to stay the night on Saturday. We had an early Christmas celebration with the Kovers. We ate good and laughed a lot so that was a good weekend! Then on Sunday we headed home with Aunt Betty. She stayed with us on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. It was a lot of fun to spend Christmas with her. We cooked our traditional Christmas eve dinner of turkey tortilla soup and then on Christmas morning we had our baked french toast with cream cheese for breakfast, which Annabelle thoroughly enjoyed. Annabelle wasn't too into opening presents but she certainly enjoyed the fruits of mom and dad's labors. We headed over to Goody and Poppy's house for Christmas dinner where we had prime rib and Yorkshire pudding.

Annabelle got spoiled rotten and really loves all of her new toys and books.

Here are some pictures!
Christmas Day:


Julia and Annabelle


new baby stroller....