Our First Family Christmas

I've discovered yet another reason to love being a parent-- Christmas! We celebrated this year as our own little family of three and I absolutely loved my first Christmas as a mom. I know it will only get better as Alli grows and actually understands what is going on. I can't wait! Even with what little she understood, I still think Alli enjoyed her first Christmas too. She started to get the hang of unwrapping presents and really enjoyed playing with and inspecting all her new stuff. As a matter of fact, she didn't want to lay down for her morning nap. I think whe was too excited to go to sleep, but eventually, exhaustion got the best of her and she took her nap after all. Good thing, 'cause she can be quite the grumpy one if she doesn't get enough sleep.
Now, my biggest goal in the upcoming years is to make sure that she understands the true meaning of Christmas and doesn't let Santa, the presents, tree, etc. overshadow the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!! We'll let her cousin Maddy who just turned 3 yrs old be a little inspiration for us. Maddy's birthday falls on Christmas day, but if you ask her whose birthday it is, without thinking twice about it, she says "Jesus"! How precious!

Before the unwrapping began.

Let's see whats in this big box.

Thanks everybody!

Alli with all her loot.

What's in there?

Playing with her new toys.

This horse is fun!

The swing is fun too!

This was a good day!

Alli & Autumn

This is a picture of Alli and her friend Autumn playing in the laundry basket. You can't tell in the picture, but they really did think it was fun, until of course they tipped it over and Autumn's finger got smooshed. No permanent damage was done. Her finger is still intact. We always have fun visiting with Autumn and her parents (Corry and Stephanie Westinghouse, for those of you that know them) and wish we could see them more often. Autumn is about 2 mos. older that Alli, so Alli learns new things from Autumn. Thankfully, I don't think she picked up that throwing thing though :-) Hope it won't be too long before we see you guys again (before the new babies at least), 'cause after that it may be a miracle if we can arrange to get together.

Random pics

Here are some recent pics of Alli being Alli! Gosh, she's cute. I know every mother thinks their child is cute, but she really is! Oh by the way, she took her first two steps yesterday with both Daddy and me there to see it. Yeah, Alli! We'll see if she decides to do it again any time soon.

I don't think she likes the Santa hat, but she sure thinks it's funny when mom or dad wears it. Still cute, by the way.

Up to no good! Pulling all the diapers out of the basket is one of Alli's favorite activities.

Daddy thought it would be funny to put Alli in the toy chest. Apparently, she did too!

Diapers, Diapers, DIAPERS!!
Again, still cute.

Aunt Marcie & Uncle Jeff visit!

My sister, Marcie, and her husband, Jeff, came to visit a couple weekends ago and we had a great time. We ate on the patio at a local restaurant and they had a fun little playground where Alli had her first sliding experience. She loved it!! And, she thought it was much more fun to go down the slide by herself with one of us holding her hand, instead of sitting on our laps (developing a little independence already). She would giggle and grin every time she reached the bottom. I think mom, daddy, & aunt Marcie had just as much fun as she did! Glad you could be there for this fun first experience aunt Marcie. We love you, Jeff, and the boys very much!

Weeeeeee!

You two look marvelous!

Action photo!! Sorry about the blur.

Thanksgiving 2005

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with the Dement family in Marble Falls. I think Alli really enjoyed her first Thanksgiving meal. We gave her a little of everything and she gobbled it up (I know that was corny- forgive me). But it's true. She couldn't get enough of all the delicious food! And of course, we had a great time visiting with everybody too. Unfortunately, we missed the Holmes Thanksgiving dinner, but we're looking forward to seeing my family at Christmas!

Who are those people?

That's much better. What a beautiful group!

Alli with cousins Lyndee and Meg.

Uncle Roger, Aunt Christie, Lyndee, Meg and Alli

She's a Climber!

It's still sooo amazing to me what a joy motherhood is. I delight in everything she does (well, almost everything). Lately, Alli has started climbing on her walker and her rocking chair and she just cracks me up. She's such a little daredevil. Here are some pics of my little climber and her death-defying stunts. Hopefully she won't repeat my mistake of standing on a toy car at two years of age. That resulted in a few stitches and a residual scar twenty something years later!

Notice that her feet aren't touching the ground, and she had no help from daddy stepping up there.

Oh yes, sometimes she chooses to crawl under things too!

Oh, there will be no sitting in the rocking chair- that's no fun! Again, she had no help getting up there. (For those of you that may be concerned about her safety, try to relax. I'm standing very close by).

I just had to include this picture of my little ballerina. What a beautiful pointed toe. I'm so proud! And, this was not just a timely picture. I had quite a few oppurtunities to catch that pose.

Caught ya!

Grandparents are Great!!

Grandma & Pawpaw, Grandma & Pop....these are Alli's wonderful grandparents! We've got some creative Grandma's don't we? Just teasing. I guess they will have to be Grandma Peggy and Grandma Elsie which I'm thinking might lead to some nicknames due to Alli mispronouncing them. And then, we will have some adorable "grandma" names. Time will tell!!

We recently had visits from both sets of Grandparents! Here are some pics from the visits. Unfortunately, Pawpaw was on the wrong side of the camera so I don't have any pics of him to include. We'll get you next time Pawpaw.

Grandma Peggy loving on Alli!

Pop and Grandma Elsie keeping a close watch on Alli

Pop and Alli on the hammock

Father's Daughter

Toilet handles, plastic coat hangers, magazines, dog toys, vertical blinds, tags, dried leaves...
Have you guessed it? These are a few of Alli's favorite things. Forget all the colorful, musical, light-up toys- she'll take the coat hanger any day over those. I hear that's not uncommon. I just find it amusing and I guess it's justification for not spending a fortune on all that stuff! Don't worry, she has plenty of it and I'm sure she'll get lots more. And maybe she'll even start to appreciate it a little more in the future! None of that has anything to do with today's pictures. I just thought it was worth discussing.

About the pictures: Alli absolutely loves to be outdoors. She is definitely her father's daughter! She practically begs to go outside sometimes. She definitely fits in around here. And hopefully that means she'll enjoy camping, hiking, fishing, etc. 'cause that's all in the near future for her!
And thankfully, she's learning to not put every single leaf and blade of grass in her mouth, which is smart because that means she gets to spend more time crawling through the grass!

Who? Me?

Can I please go outside?

I'm gonna get it!

Just hangin' out in the hammock (that's Pop hangin on to me)

I got it!

Our Little Stinker

I know in a couple of short years, Alli will have a preference about what costume she wears for Halloween. So while I am in total control, I can dress her in whatever I want. And, call me crazy (or cruel), but I wanted her to be a skunk. Maybe I have a strange sense of humor, but I think it is funny 'cause it has lots of meaning. As most of you know, babies often stink (dirty diapers, spit up, etc.) Also, as Alli is beginning to develop her personality, we are finding out that she can be quite a "little stinker" at times. I like to say that she is strong-willed and determined (it sounds nicer that way)! Anyway, Happy Halloween!!!

Is that a skunk stripe or a mohawk?

Cutest skunk in the world!

Why do I have to sit on this pumpkin?

Oh... it's for the camera again.

Pip Squeak

We had a doctor's appointment yesterday for Alli's 9 mo check up and she weighs a WHOPPING 16lbs 15.5oz. Yes, that's sarcasm 'cause for those of you that don't have the infant growth chart memorized, just under 17lbs is a little on the small side for a 9 mo old. The doctor referred to her as a pip squeak :-) Not to worry though, she eats anything you put in front of her, and quite enthusiastically I might add. I was always a small child, so the doc just says it's a genetic growth pattern. Sounds good to us. We'd like to keep her small as long as possible!

These are some pics we took of our pip squeak just the other day. The rocking chair has been passed down Dwaine's side of the family from the time he and his brothers were babies. She seems to enjoy it!

Hello... I need some help here!

Look closely- there's a tooth in there!! Finally!

Just chillin'

Bye-bye now!(Okay, in all honesty, that wasn't an intentional wave. I just snapped

the pic at the right time, but we're working on the real thing!)

Baths are fun!

Okay, here goes... I'm trying this blog thing out. Now that I've got it all set up, hopefully it will be fun and easy and I'll be a successful blogger?!:-) I don't even know if I'm using the right terminology but I've got to sound official.

Now for the first post...

Alli has really started to enjoy her baths lately. She even protests a little when we take her out. Thankfully the protest doesn't last long, until of course we try to put her pj's on her. She hates that for some reason so Dwaine and I team up on her (yes, it takes two grown adults to put pajamas on an 8 mo old). Anyway, here are some recent pics of Alli in the bath. Isn't she adorable?




Goofy girl!!


This cup makes a great toy!

Do you have the camera out again mom?

Beautiful happy baby!

Oh no... not the pajamas!