Holly Pictures

Holly is a little Linus.

Stickers are fun.

Like I said...little Linus.

Holly and Daddy.

Holly and all her black bean glory.

Play area at the Olympic Structure Park in Seattle.

Daddy did Holly's hair like Cindy Lu Who.

Holly and Mommy...

...and sippy cup and pig-tails.

Yogurt face.

Linus strikes again.

Holly found Daddy's sweatband and apparently knows how it's worn.

Christmas Eve 'Eve'

I think we're about ready for Christmas. Pretty much all the presents are purchased and wrapped. We've already done our trip to the grocery store. I have cupcakes baking as I type this. Tomorrow night, on Christmas Eve, there's a party at my step-cousin Donnie's house. I guess he recently bought a house in Lake Tapps and it's a good way to throw a house-warming. There will be quite a few of the relatives there including Grandma Claudia and Grandpa Jet. I think my brother and his family will be there too. Hopefully Holly will feel better soon. She's still got that cold lingering from last week and she's pretty annoyed with all the snot. I keep hoping for a giant sneeze just to get it out and over with. Although she loves going out to other places with other kids to play with so much that she probably won't notice the stuffy nose till we get home.

New Stuff

Holly had a cold earlier this week. She's feeling much better now, but now I have it. My major symptom is a sore throat, there's stuffy nose and ear aches but in general not the worst cold I've ever had. I mostly just feel ... off. It's weird, like my brain's numb. I probably just need rest. Holly's terrible two's come in waves now. When she was sick she was fine, yesterday I feel like I lost a couple years off my life it was so bad. Today she's much better. Yesterday, Holly verbally counted to five. Last night Holly was in her highchair and she must have dropped something and she said, "Uh-Ohhhhh...Spaghetti-Ohhhhh." Now that can be hard for older children to say, so needless to say David was tickled pink. I've actually been saying that to her for awhile but not for a couple days, so she does listen to us she just repeats as it suits her.

Holiday Portraits for the Holidays

These pictures came out great. My mom made Holly's dress you see there as a present last Christmas, and it still fits. We went to another Meet & Greet on Saturday at the Olympic Structure Park. There were a good stock of toys to keep toddlers interested. Holly had a great time running around with other kids. She even kissed the 9 month old that was there. It looks like we need to work on the concept of "share". Little Ben was happy to give toys to Holly, and Holly was only too happy to take them. At least everyone was happy. We're still working on our Christmas cards, which will probably go out this week. Maybe one more shot at the mall and we'll be done with shopping.

Thanksgiving and Beyond Pictures

You can see Holly with a microphone with Uncle Drew and some of the kids on Thanksgiving Day.

It's so funny that Holly knew how microphones worked...she picked that up on her own.

Here's Holiday with Daddy and Ellie.

Daddy and Holly playing guitars with Uncle Drew.

Holiday and Asa.

Holiday and Anna.

Holly had fun playing with all the kids.

Holly in her Christmas jams right after a bath.

Cute stuff.

Chocolate face!

As you can see, Holly likes it when Mommy and Daddy sit with her in her new chair.

On Saturday poor little Holly woke up from her nap crying and cried for quite some time before we tried giving her teething tablets. That calmed her down enough so she could eat some crackers and milk and get back to her normal self. I'm wondering if those second molars are starting to warm up back there. We set up the tree and the Christmas decorations last night. Holly is way excited. We sifted some stuff out of the living room into storage that Holly doesn't play with so much anymore to accommodate the tree. Holly does like touching everything on the tree so my goal is to teach her not to take stuff off. All the breakable stuff is closer to the top of course, but that is nothing new since I've had at least one cat for the last 10 years. Holly's doing quite well with it considering she's really into her explore and get into everything phase, climbing up and down on the couch, trying to on the bed.

Snow Pictures

This was when the snow was coming down last Monday. Vader and Holly are fascinated.

Before it started to stick to the pavement.

Holly just stood there and wouldn't move (maybe she couldn't). She just happily chatted away watching the snow fall.

"I can't put my arms down!"

I guess this would be her first snow.

Blankie as a toy, it's fun to use as a cape or a hood.

And terrifically messes up hair.

This was the next day. We have busted out all our sweaters, big coats and hats now.

Which Holly is sporting Daddy's hat here.

Mommy's trying to play the "Knock, knock, who is it?" game.

Little face.

Everything's going good. Holly is playing with her crayons a lot lately...quite a proficient scribbler. The dish set she got from Aunt Toni gets a lot of play time too. She's also been playing with the lego wagon Grandma Linda got for her birthday a lot all of a sudden. Holly's quite a pro at stacking legos now, her favorites are the single round ones. She says "Oh, no!" when her stack of legos fall. We called Grandma Claudia last night to her wish her a happy birthday and Holly had a quite a good stab at saying "Gamma" for the first time.