Happy Birthday Papa!

Well, Dad's birthday came and went. He's now 3/4 of a century old. He didn't ask for much. He wanted a funny card and a marble cake with chocolate frosting. Easy enough! But Jon & Kerry brought the kids over a few days later to help continue the celebration. Would you believe, we put Bella on Papa's lap and look what happened:




Nothing says "Happy Birthday" quite like putting 2 of your grand kids on your lap and getting your FIRST photo with the two of them. Bella didn't cry once for him. She was in awe of him at first and then she realized that Big Bird had joined her. Jonathan only smiles if you tell him to 'cheese the camera'. But I'm thrilled that Bella has seemed to get over her fear of Papa.

Now, will she still be fearful of the Easter Bunny? Only time with tell.

It's been too long!

It has been too long since I have last visited my playground. So, let me start with a re-cap. When I last saw ya'll, it was time for Christmas! We did LOTS of baking in the days leading up to Christmas. For the first year ever, I made thin mint cookies (yes, like the girl scouts but BETTER! and cheaper).

I also decorated Gingerbread people. Mom baked them, I decorated them. I only had to decorate about 40 of them this year (compared to 80 or so previous years). This year I made our people into family members.

This is Karen's Hawaiian dressed Gingerbread woman. Notice the big red necklace. Hehe.

This is Chris' Gingerbread Man in his Hawaiian swimsuit. Both Chris and Karen loved their personalized cookies. Mom made Whoopie Pies as well. I was not brave enough to try them, but they looked good.
Jonathan and Bella (plus the rest of the family) came over for Christmas. Jonathan had a great time, he was very cranky though. Not nearly enough sleep plus all the excitement didn't go well with him. Bella slept through most of it. I managed to get her to sleep right before dinner (only after she babbled through ALL of Papa's prayer and breaking out into a high pitch squeal at the end). She slept through opening presents but got up in time to open a few of her own.



I found the greatest shirt for Jonathan to wear on Christmas. It says: "Dear Santa, For Christmas I want: A puppy, A red fire engine, A blue bike and P.S. Put my sister on the naughty list." How could I resist?! I don't know how i'll top it next year, but everyone agreed it was darn funny.

Once Bella woke up, she was one happy little girl. A nap did her good.

Bella was chewing on everything! She was cutting 2 teeth on Christmas, bringing her total up to 4. She soaked her Christmas bib in drool, so her favorite Winnie the Pooh bib was put on. All day, she tried to get both her hands into her mouth.

Jonathan joined Mommy and Bella. I love this picture of the 3 of them.

The day wasn't complete without trying to put Bella on Papa's lap. She still screamed for Papa at Christmas. Silly girl.

New Year's Eve!



I rang in New Year's with Mark and some of his friends. It was a fun time. We played Wii, ate a lot, played Apples to Apples and had some general good time. I was, unfortunately, getting sick. I ended up falling asleep about 2am and sleeping until 3:30 in the afternoon. I spent the rest of my winter break sick and went back to work sick!

I rang in my 25th birthday on the 25th and had a great time. I spent it with the family. Mark came out to my big birthday dinner that we had on Sunday. It was the first time that Papa held Bella and she didn't cry!

And now, i'm working like crazy and find myself exhausted most nights. I'm excited to watch the Olympics, but it's making me think a LOT about my aunt and my cousins who are still live in Vancouver.

Alright, now you are caught up. I will try not to let it go so long.