Fun in the Snow
We had our first big snow of the year, and it was Maria's first time playing in the snow! We lured her into her snowgear by putting on her favorite Elmo show, and by the time we were finished, she didn't even know she was dressed! The snow was about 6-7 inches deep so she had a little trouble walking in it. But she LOVED going down the slide and landing in the snow. She kept looking at her snow-covered pants and shoes, saying: "Messy! Messy!" She's so much like her Nonna...
(Hopefully the video will be on the YouTube sight soon....)
At the bottom of the slide after saying, "Weeeeeeee!"
And who can resist a first taste of the white stuff?
Decorating for the holidays
Maria also helped me decorate the Christmas tree. After much deliberation, I decided to put up our small 4-foot tree we had when we lived in the apartment. The big tree would have taken up most of Maria's play area in the family room. In hind-sight it was a good decision. It would have been a LONG month with smaller play area. Maria loved putting the 'Ho-Ho's' on the windows, too.
The Gift Extravaganza Begins at Nonna's
Nonna went to California for the extended holiday, so we did a little celebrating and gift-opening before she left. Here are the two 'peas-in-a-pod." She loves her Elmo purse and seek-and-find book from Nonna!
Video of the fun to come soon....
At the beginning of the day with Grandma...
Christmas Eve
We spent Christmas Eve at our house with the Schelich family. The whole clan came over, and after much entertainment by Maria (note the Hokey Pokey Elmo demonstration below), we commenced the gift-unwrapping bonanza. Maria really got a kick out of tearing the paper and tossing the gift. She was quickly onto the next present without a thought of what she just unwrapped! We had a Very Elmo Christmas at our house - an Elmo Aquadoodle, Elmo purse, Elmo drawing board, Elmo sweatshirt... you get the picture. But she also loves the play vaccuum cleaner from Aunt Julie (Mommy hopes this will eventually ease her fear of the real thing) and keyboard from Aunt Jackie (she's already figured out how to turn it on and play the demo songs over and over and over...mommy catches herself humming the tunes in the shower...) She even coerced Papa into dancing! It took years for Grandma to get him to dance, and Maria? Let than 10 seconds!
Christmas Day
We started the day in our jammies, opening Maria's gifts from Santa. (Mommy and Daddy already opened their gifts: Mommy got an iPod and Daddy got some bonus cable channels! How did Santa know???) When I can get the video to download, it will go here! Bear with me!
Christmas Day was spent in Washington at my Aunt Cindy's house. It was a full house this year! But Maria loved asking for Papa and dragging him around by the finger nearly all day. She also enjoyed 'helping' Uncle John play ping-pong and playing the piano with Aunts Julie and Jackie. We took more video than pictures, but here are two of my favorites:
At the beginning of the day with Grandma...
At the end of the day, 'resting' at the bottom of the stairs! How lady-like...
We had so much fun watching Maria enjoy the holiday this year. She is talking so much now, and letting us know exactly what she wants. We looked back at last year's video when she wasn't even walking yet, and were in awe at how much has changed in one short year. This year she was participating in the fun, instead of being a bystander in the madness. We are truly blessed to have this wonderful little girl in our lives! And we know there is only more excitement and joy to come in 2008.
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