17 months old

• This month her vocabulary has exploded, she is learning new words by the minute.  She attempts to say anything we say now and has picked up several things we have not tried to teach her (like mi-mou, for Mickey Mouse and  memo for Elmo, which is funny because we have not ever watched Elmo with her that I can recall, but she loves him). 
• With the increased vocabulary, she has also become increasingly bossy (such as screaming BITE or WALLER when she wants a bite of food or a sip of water) so we are working steadily on incorporating please (peas) and thank you (ta-koo) in to her "requests". 
• She prefers to drink from a water bottle or cup now and is slowly fading out the sippy cup, which I am not too fond of because she is not quite coordinated enough for that, which means Mommy or Daddy have to work a little harder. 
• Speaking of Daddy, he is seldom Dada anymore unless she is saying "Hi Dada"; she is now calling him Daddy. 
• She is developing her own independent ways of doing things and knows certain sequences and routines- after we put on her socks she goes and hunts for her shoes.  If her brother is not up after she eats breakfast she will start saying "Bubba" and will head upstairs to wake him up. 
• She is still our little climber, cabinet opening, drawer emptying, dog-loving, non-stop mess...and we love her more than we can express. 

This is such a fun stage, we get to see her transform from our ever dependent baby into a true toddler....I cannot believe it is happening so quickly, but I love every minute of it and know it will just keep getting more fun!

Christmas Eve/Day

We went to Christmas Eve services at my parent's church...and boy did we look good (if I do say so myself)

My handsome nephew and gorgeous sis-in-law and niece

One of the greatest gifts I have ever received!

Then we came back and Logan (the oldest cousin) read Charlie Brown's Christmas before we tore into presents.

I am just going to have to say my kids are blessed (because that sounds so much better than spoiled, doesn't it?) to have so many people love on them and give so generously.  I think this was about their 5th Christmas gift exchange this year...and of course they got way to much stuff...but it is appreciated.

The adorable granddaughters

Hyped-up superheros

Then it continued and they opened their Santa gifts on Christmas morning

Honestly, one of the best gifts was the snow, now that I don't have to deal with it on a regular basis, I can sit back and appreciate it.  I loved it and loved that my kids (and husband) had this experience.

Then we drove about an hour away to visit Mommy's cousins whom we have not seen in about 4 years.

This threw 3 more young kids into the mix, it was a lot of fun!

This was a pretty amazing Christmas for us- friends, family, snow, and seeing the magic through young eyes.  I cannot think of a better way to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior.  Happy Birthday, Jesus!  Thanks for blessing us so much!

Snow on Christmas Eve!

When we weren't busy sleeping,

Or playing with technology,

We were out enjoying the snow!  It snowed all night so there was plenty of fun for everyone!  There were snowball fights, snow angels, and of course the best snowman my kids have ever seen (ok, ok it is the only one they have ever had).  Here are some pics of this snowy adventure.

Traveling to our cousins' house

We are lucky to have two pretty good little travelers.  Marissa got a bit fussy as we began the descent and fell asleep the last 10 mintues of the flight, but overall is was a good experience.

Our neighbors gave Nathaniel some Angry Bird stuff, he just HAD to take it on the plane so he could fly as an angry bird!

The younger cousins discuss plans for the week...

Marissa is apparently pretty pleased with the discussion!

Is this the look of trouble, or what?

However by day 2, snow began to fall, and all previous plans were out the window.  Everyone got bundled up to enjoy the snow (this was Marissa's first real snow expereince).  They had a blast...and it had only begun at this point.

That night, the kids regrouped and decided a snowman must be on the to do list for the next day!