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!