merry merry

Another successful Christmas. Santa was a generous as ever. We had a great time over the cousins' house. Genna and Vivi got a princess table where Genna went straight to styling Lucy's hair. All of the kids had fun running around playing with all of their new toys.

While Lucy is afraid of all dogs, Beatrice went straight up to Gus's crate, stuck her fingers in, and tried to pat him. She loves puppies [woof.woof.]

In true family fashion, we tried to get a group shot with all of the cousins. Poor little Freddie seems to be getting left out of a lot of them . . . when you get a little bigger and stronger, you'll be right there with all the big kids. [Trust me, Freddie, it really is safer this way.]

Lucy and Beatrice are sporting their new, matching Christmas dresses - thank you, NanaPat, they look adorable!

Merry Christmas!

all aboard!

For Christmas, Grammy bought herself a special treat - tickets for herself, her children, and all of her grandchildren on the Polar Express!!

A local school was hosting the Polar Express as a fundraiser. They borrowed a train, decorated it with lots of lights, and the students dressed like elves. They then took us all, pajama-clad, to the North Pole. [Because we had connections, and ours was such a large group, we had early boarding and our own train car!]

On the way, we were treated to a dramatic reading of the book, Polar Express. Once we arrived at the North Pole we picked up Santa, Frosty, and Rudolph. They rode back with us while we enjoyed complimentary cookies, cocoa and a spirited sing-a-long.


I must say, they really did a great job with it - a good time was had by all! Let's hope they do it again next year.

a bunch of turkeys

The cousins all had a great time today. Beatrice enjoyed her first real Thanksgiving dinner. [Yummy turkey . . . mashed potatoes . . . squash . . . stuffing . . . cranberry bread . . . pie . . . ]

Auntie Janice managed to snap a pretty decent picture of our motley lot [not an easy task, I know . . . ]

After dinner, the kids all sported their new Christmas jammies from Grammy - the older kids had fun showing them off - even Hamlet got into the act!

Happy Thanksgiving!

trick-or-treat

The cousins are all dressed up for Halloween.

Clearly the cutest witch, duckie, and vampire in the joint!

Happy Halloween!

hmmm . . . maybe that scratch did come from Trixel . . .

happy birthday, trix!

Beatrice is one year old!

She has added some new sounds and words to her repertoire - she likes to "booooo" when talking to the ghost at the top of the haunted house, and she'll tell you the puppy says, "woof."

She has 5 teeth and a few more on the way . . .

So much has happened this year. And, I am sure next year will bring even more.

Happy Birthday, Birthday-buddy Max!

piano player extraordinaire

Now that Beatrice can reach the keys, there is no reason not to start playing.


Happy Birthday, Auntie Megan and Uncle Pfisch!

october snow

6 to 7 inches, really?

This is so wrong, we are ready to crunch in leaves - not slush through snow.

pumpkin patch

It's that time of year again and we took the girls to our favorite pumpkin patch to pick out their pumpkins. In addition to pumpkins of all shapes and sizes, they even had some funky gourds this year.

It was a beautiful, crisp, fall day and the girls had a great time making their selections. We got pumpkins for everyone including Grandma and the cats.

Can't wait to turn them into jack-o-lanterns!

month 11

11 months has really gone by much faster than I could ever have expected. Beatrice continues to be a very happy baby and finally has some more teeth. She now has 4. No, not 2 on the top and bottom but, 1 on the top and 3 on the bottom - making her look like a little jack-o-lantern. [Very befitting of a Halloween baby, don't you think? ]

Trix has also started combining sounds and signs [her version of them, anyway] to ask for things. When she sees/wants a banana she'll say "bababa" and put her 2 pointer fingers together. She'll say "meemeemee" and sign milk, and also more [which is "meemeemee" too - actually, anything she wants she'll point to and say "meememee"

She can't wait to get walking. She pulls up on everything [whether it will support her or not] and will cruise along the furniture.

The big birthday is just around the corner . . .

Happy Birthday, Auntie Linda!

how to push a cart

A training video by Beatrice.


sunflower secrets

Lucy and I grew sunflowers from seed this summer. This one did exceptionally well. And, it has stories to share.

school days

Lucy started preschool today.

She loved it! She was actually fine being dropped off too. [To be honest, I was a little nervous how it would go - I was prepared to leave a screaming child. Happy to report that was not the case.]

As for me, the drop off was okay. It was when I picked her up that I became a little vaklempt. To see her walking in line back from the playground . . . really got to me . . . she looked like such a little girl . . . [sniff.sniff.]

getting ready for school

Lucy starts preschool next week. I've been getting her new school clothes washed and ready. As I was putting them away, Lucy decided she wanted to put some outfits together and try them on. [she especially likes her new tights]

month 10

Another month has flown by and Beatrice is now 10 months old.

Beatrice still continues to be a very happy baby. She loves to babble and sometimes says words. We have heard: "hi", "mamama", and "dadada", among other things. [I would love to understand what she is saying because she really thinks she is telling stories!]

She is a very busy baby, prefers to be on the move to just sitting still. [Which means, we spend a lot more time on the move too.]

Her hair is finally long enough to sustain an upnotch for more than just keeping hair off her face while eating. She still only has the same 2 teeth, but has started cutting a third one.

Can't wait to see what next month will bring . . .

baptism

Finally, after many months of planning, Beatrice was Baptized. In a very unorthodox fashion, Beatrice was able to stand on the altar. [We thought she might be walking down the aisle too, but she's not quite there yet.]

Lucy brought her baby, Grace, to be Baptized too. Grammy bought both of the babies pretty white dresses for the occasion - Thank you Grammy!

It's nice to finally have Beettris Grace, [as the Priest pronounced it] Baptized. [Even though there is no fear of Limbo any more, I am sure her grandparents are pleased.]

By the way, can anyone tell me what white stands for?

and jax



In honor of this auspicious occasion, I got some baby Jax for Beatrice. Like a true member of our family, she thoroughly enjoyed them . . . and really, why wouldn't she?

donkeys, chicks, and bubbles

We went back to visit our old friends at the farm. Of course our day started with a visit with the animals. Lucy was a little shy of the big animals and didn't want to feed them cookies*. Trix, however, got right in there, and even wanted to eat the cookies herself. Lucy preferred to entertain them by blowing bubbles.

Lucy and Beatrice both loved the baby chicks! And liked patting them too. They really are soft and fluffy.

Lucy had a great time with her old friend, Marnie. She held her hand as she took her down to see the llamas; donkey; kittens; turkeys; and of course, Lucy's favorite - the chicks.

*cookies = dog biscuits

beach trip

We went to the beach for a few days. Both Lucy and Beatrice loved it!

Lucy is a regular beach bum and liked playing in the sand and water. She made lots of new friends and built all kinds of sand sculptures. She much preferred building crocodiles and water dragons to plain old castles.

Beatrice mostly enjoyed the people-watching.

month 9

This month has been a very busy one for Beatrice . . .

She has started to wave her arm to say “hi” or “bye.” And, she has started clapping and playing peek-a-boo.

Beatrice now crawls very well and nothing can stop her once she's got her eye on something [which usually ends up in her mouth].

Now, she is pulling up on everything - she can’t wait to get walking.

A quick Lucy update - She has taken off the side bars on her bed.

getting her dance on

Beatrice just can't contain herself when she hears Neil Sedaka's "Dinosaur Pet"



She did have a little help from Mommy to stand up.

open. shut them.

Lucy is singing a favorite song to Beatrice. As you can see, Beatrice is fully engaged in it.



Thanks to Auntie Linda for teaching us this song!

This movie was filmed from the iPhone so the image is a little stretched [I am still trying to figure out how to fix that . . . ]