Lizzie pics

Here are a few Lizzie pics. Here she is painting - she loves it! I asked her to smile for the camera and this is her smiling, though I couldn't get her to look away. I think she likes it! Here she and Gramp are on an adventure. Even after waking up very early in the morning, she is all grins as she is about to get underway.

Here we all are in front of the elephants at the zoo. It was a beautiful place to visit and we were some of the only people there (the area was under severe weather watch for wind and thunder, so I can understand why!)

Baby Maeve!

Aunt Emily and Uncle Ryan and Cousin Lizzie are so excited to share pictures of our new niece/cousin Maeve! Isn't she precious?!
We were getting ready to leave the hospital this morning when Lizzie asked to hold Maeve. She did such a good job - very gentle and loving.

Lizzie also scored a pair of rubber gloves for herself - here she is pretending to 'doctor' Kate's feet.

Uncle ('super') Dan scooted home yesterday to meet the newest addition. Maeve appears to be taken with him already!

Thank you Maeve for making your entrance - we have been so anxious to meet you!

January

We are fresh off of a nice weekend. We went to a shower for Isabella:
We went to a basketball game. She really enjoyed watching the women play and the band and cheerleaders ("Mom! Those girls have their mops out!" (pom poms)):

She played with her new mega blocks, building tall towers:

And she tried skiing for the first time! She was very interested in the chairlift, though they didn't go that far on her first day:

We are keeping ourselves busy this winter!

Christmas!

What a great Christmas we have had! These photos are a bit out of order, but I think tell most of how we spent the last week or so. Here I am reading "T'was the Night Before Christmas" to Lizzie. She had much of it memorized this year and was very excited about it! Uncle Dan bought Lizzie some new rain boots - she was so excited to try them on (this is what we call "new boot goofin'").

Earlier this same day we (mostly Kate - I helped with sprinkles and baking, Lizzie helped cut them out and made finger prints on them) made Christmas cookies.

Another photo of Lizzie meeting Santa - I was so excited to get her picture with him this year! She was not shy at all - she went right up to him and shook his hand and was the first to sit on his lap. He asked her what she wanted for Christmas and she said "a candy cane, please" (which she received from Mrs. Claus when she hopped off his lap - pretty easy to please!). I was so glad she wasn't scared!

Do you see her below? The other kids are sort of hanging back and she ran right to them when she saw them. I know it might not be like this another year (I think she was the youngest one there), but I hope she continues to feel confident when Mom and Dad are there.

Right before Christmas we got a nice snow storm - perfect for making snow balls! The three of us spent much of that afternoon outside. We made a fort, snowmen (2), snow angels (many) and used the little sled. What a nice time!

Here is Lizzie opening one of her gifts at Mimi and Timbers - a big jar of olives! She loves olives (we all do) and this was a great gift.

The photo below is also at Mimi and Timber's house - before we opened presents. Lizzie got her first real taste of major present opening of the year here. She was exhausted by the end of it!

Lizzie and Aunt Angi, patiently waiting for present time.

We opened presents at home the night of the winter solstice. Ryan surreptitiously bought and wrapped a necklace for Lizzie - she was pretty excited to have a necklace just like Mommy! I asked her to look at us so we could take a picture - this is the best we could get from her. She really likes looking at it in the mirror.

This is Lizzie looking at it before she discovered the mirror.

Merry Christmas!

Holiday shares

Ryan is delivering his winter holiday produce shares this weekend and he took this cute picture of Lizzie while they were boxing up the produce. Here she is wiping any dry dirt off of the squash - she loves to help and have a job to do!
We have a busy week ahead of seeing family and friends - I love this time of year!

December

We haven't taken any pictures in the last two weeks, so a few minutes ago we snapped a few of Lizzie. She is very excited about Christmas and the tree - she is learning the words to all of the Christmas Carols (especially Rudolph and Jingle Bells).