December/January

This was taken before Christmas when we had a significant amount of snow on the ground. She was dressed to play in the snow but didn't actually enjoy the snow. She fell backwards into the snow after like 2  minutes and started crying. And that was the end of it. We haven't had enough snow to bring her out again.

Christmas morning was extra fun this year with a little one who actually got into the whole opening presents thing. She got new snack containers, a doll, and tights. It's nice to have the only grandchild on my side. Grandpa Scott spoiled her big time. He gave her a zoo toy with all of the major climates represented and lots of zoo animals to go with it. There is a button to place the animals on to hear their name and sound. She loves it!

She LOVED unwrapping gifts. She helped everyone, everywhere we went open their gifts.

She still carries her baby around and cuddles with her. She loves to bring me clothes to put on her baby. I love that she loves her baby.

We went to Dallas, TX after Christmas to visit family. Anya had her baby boy a few days before we got there. Baby Matthew is precious and it was so fun to hold our newborn nephew. Turns out Anya doesn't need any help after she has a baby. She did more to serve us than we did for her! We stayed at Joel and Anya's for the majority of our trip. We drove down to College Station and spent one night at Grandma Kuttler's. It was so wonderful to see Grandma, Keith, Kathy, Reagan, Riley, Jess, Spencer, and Kingston. We were sad to leave TX, knowing that we won't likely see our TX family for awhile. But, it's always good to be back in our little home.

Annika LOVED "helping" Anya care for baby Matthew. If the bedroom door was ever open, Annika would run in and check on Matthew. I enjoyed watching her and thinking about her helping me with her little brother in a few months. She is a tender little girl.

She has recently developed an affinity for purses. She empties my purse any time it's on the floor. And she loves to put things into her own little purse and carry it around. such a little lady:)

Grandpa Scott brought Annika this adorable dress back from his trip to Cozumel.  We love it!

Cute Annika and her cute daddy

Annika's current favorite book. It's fun to see her enjoy a book that I remember reading as a kid.  It is the 1st book that she started bringing to us to read to her. She has always liked to look at books on her own. Up until "The Snowy Day," she wouldn't last more than a few pages on our laps. And they were always books that David and I picked out. We have been reading "The Snowy Day" several times a day for the last week. I was a little worried about her obsessing over a non-board book. But, so far she has been very careful with it.

We finally put the infant carrier away. I just kept her in that seat as long as I could because she can sleep so much better in it on road trips. She still is under the max weight but she looks pretty huge in it:)

In her new car seat! We had it inside for a day before putting it in the car. She loved to sit in it and insisted that I buckle her up. She has a lot more room in this car seat and I think we're both used to it now (Daddy is still figuring it out:).