She Tricked Me Again

I've been trying for months to get Bryn singing Beyonce's Halo on video but she always stops singing as soon as I bring out the camera.

The other day she kept singing when I told her I was going to get the camera, but being the strong-minded little girl she is (translation: she prefers to do the opposite of what I ask her) she switched gears when the camera came out and started singing her own words to part of the melody of Halo. I was trying hard not to laugh but lost it near the end...

Storytime

This story went on for about 20 minutes but, drat the luck, I ran out of memory on both of my cameras.

It Gets Better Every Year

The Christmas season started about two months ago at our house. Bryn has been singing carols and talking about Santa for a long time. We shopped and wrapped presents, baked cookies, drove around looking at Christmas lights, saw the Santa Claus parade and had her photo taken with Santa. She was so excited she could hardly sleep the week before Santa arrived.
She woke up Christmas morning and ran to the tree to see if he had actually been here. Her stocking was stuffed, the milk and cookies were gone and the smiles on her face lit up the room. A few weeks ago she said to me "Mom, I can hardly wait for Christmas. On Christmas Day I can unzip my mouth and tell you all about the slippers me and dad got you for Christmas!" On Christmas morning, after she'd checked out what was in her stocking, she hunted under the tree until she found the package with my slippers. "Merry Christmas, Mom, I can unzip my mouth now!" Then she hunted some more til she found Jessie's gift. She didn't want to unwrap any of her presents until she'd given each us one of her own. 
We were thrilled to have my dad for Christmas this year and that he was here for our very first Christmas dinner at our house. The week after Christmas was busy and fun with family visits -- Auntie 'Mon, Anna and Katja came for an overnight stay and Girard's mom and dad, Dave and Rita, were here for New Year's Eve. Thanks to everyone for coming, we love your visits!
We also spent some time with Monica, Paul, Claire and Ren at Shea and Caia's house. We're always happy they take time out of their busy schedule to see us and thanks to Shea for hosting our visit.
It was a great Christmas season all around and though we're a bit sad it's all over and we'd be happy to stay home and play rather than get back into the routine of work and daycare, we're curious to see what 2010 has in store for us. 

CHRISTMAS EVE

Milk and cookies and chocolate for Santa.

(I just noticed the Bacardi glass!)

Waaaay too excited to pose for a photo.

CHRISTMAS DAY

Look, mom, Santa brought me stars!

"Now I can be a rock and roll star!"

Helping Papa open his gifts.

I love you, Grandma.

Bryn and her Papa.

Our third Christmas as a family.

BOXING DAY

Another great visit with Caia, Claire and Ren.

Our Xinyu girls and Guangdong boy.

Our little lady.

MORE FUN & FAMILY

Baby, it's cold outside.

We have a built-in hill in our backyard.

Storytime with Katja.

Having fun with Anna.

NEW YEAR'S EVE

Chatting with Pubba.

Helping Nana with her crocheting.