First Christmas Dress

I love watching my adorable baby girl, especially this Christmas season. I can't believe it's been a year since we found out about her. After we told Mom, she ran out and bought some Christmas clothes in the post-holiday sale, before we knew whether V was a boy or girl.

 

Meeting the Hoopers

In October we drove V to Utah to meet more of her relatives and to celebrate birthdays from the last six months or so. My brothers came with us to conclude their visit, and found almost all of us using different listening devices to fit our tastes when I wasn't trying to get a conversation going. Our first stop was to my cousin's house to see her wonderful family and pick up some toddler clothes she had in storage. Her kids are growing so fast. We have pictures of them on our fridge from...ok, so probably last year, but her daughter didn't have much hair then, and now she's got a ringlet! Her son is getting so tall, and told us about his Halloween plans and school. What cuties.

We drove to my aunt's house for the Hooper birthday party and to celebrate my other cousin's new baby boy. He was still only a couple weeks old, so we didn't get to see them, but we had fun watching family hold V and seeing our other relatives. I'm one of the older cousins, so hearing about the younger ones' college experiences is a little surreal. I have enjoyed watching them hold V for the first time, and seeing her second cousins grow and explore.

Life and Pride

One of my childhood friends, Elise, brought my brothers to us. She introduced me to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, a modern adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, and then we all played electronic Life, also known as The Game of Life Twists & Turns. That's one of our favorites. Elise and I actually bought out the store (three items) a few Christmases ago when we heard they would no longer be available. While we played, Aaron and Ammon created their own game, which involved seeing whose game card V would hold longer between her toes. She's got great toe-grip.