Pre-Christmas

I thought I'd post some photos of our pre-Christmas activities!

Sam was in his first school program, the "Peppermint Parade". He spent a lot of time practicing his songs at home (the laundry basket was his "stage"). At the end of the song he would jump off the basket, bow, and say "thank you!" He was a little bit shyer at the actual program. He also had his last day of school this week (ending his first "semester"). So, we finished the way we started...with chocolate chip pancakes! Last weekend he also got to eat breakfast with Santa - quite a big deal for a 3 year old.

Anna, as you can see, got to sit on Santa's lap for the first time. I don't think she told him what she wanted, though, so he'll just have to guess on Christmas Eve! Here are also two pictures of her favorite activites...playing on the kitchen floor and feeding herself.

Merry Christmas, and more photos next week!

What's new? Not much...

There isn't too much new going on right now, but I realized I haven't posted here in several weeks! I'm trying to slog through my end-of-semester grading. I have about 65 students (all graduate level) and they all turned in their major course papers/projects last week. As soon as I'm done with this I'm not going to look at my computer for a week! (And, I'll probably need to spend some quality time with my kids since they've been with babysitters all week!)

But, I have spent enough time with them to report some new things. Anna is having a particularly eventful last few days (for a 9 month old!) She has never been too excited about rolling, trying to crawl etc., but she has been spending a lot more time doing these things. The other day she had a great time scooting herself across the slippery wood floor in the dining room. The days of sitting her with some toys to play are quickly coming to a close, I think! She also just learned how to feed herself food as well as imitate clapping her hands when someone else is clapping. Yes, in the grand scheme of things these are pretty small occurances, but when just a few months ago she couldn't even hold up her head or focus her eyes, these are major accomplishments!

Okay, back to grading...