Christmas #1

It is a wonder of technology that I have any pictures to show of our Christmas. The camera was accidentally formatted before we downloaded the pictures.

Despite our little technical glitch we did get some fun family time on camera.






Daniel's Grandparents were able to spend a few days with us over Christmas. Rather than overwhelm the little man with all his presents at once, we let him open a couple a day. By Christmas morning he was a pro at opening gifts (even mine).

Every Day Silliness

Daniel has such a great sense of humor and we have so much fun just playing. Here are some fun playtime pics.

2010 Christmas Tree

In attempts to return the emotional undertones of our home to some level of normalcy after the loss of a second baby earlier that week, we headed to the tree farm to find our Christmas tree. Santa was by-passed this year as just looking at him made Daniel upset. We wondered around for about an hour before picking the "one".



Kat's parents came for a short visit that weekend, helped with the decorations, and tried to keep Kat off her feet. Daniel helped prepare by mowing and decorating. He also enjoyed pulling the ornaments off the tree and telling us "No! They're glass. Don't break them." Oh Well.

18 Month Check Up

Daniel had his 18 month physical yesterday. I can't believe how fast he is growing up! Finally he has grown too - he has gone from the 25% height bracket and 15% for weight to 75% and 25%. Graciously he has remained very healthy, although now that he is spending more time with other young kids he has seen a few more runny noses than before.
I don't know much about little kids so I assume that what Daniel does is normal, so to speak, but the doctor has always seemed amazed at his physical development and this past visit they whole office was surprised by his verbal development too. A child his age should have about 10 words in their vocabulary - Daniel speaks in sentences, knows about ten songs including ABC's, can express several of his feelings into words, knows more animals and their sounds than Jason, and knows most of his colors.
Basically Daniel is awesome.

BFF

Saturday morning after Thanksgiving I took Daniel to visit my Ang at her house (it's been a few years since I have driven up to see her). The drive up along the Susquehanna River was relaxing and I was truly blessed by our time together. The kids had so much fun playing. They spent the day jumping on the couch (which Ryan and Taliah are not allowed to do), playing with a giant tiger, and otherwise trashing Ang's living room. Daniel seemed to develop a crush on Taliah and kept trying to hug and kiss her - much to her disgust!
Thank you for everything Ang. I love you.

Thanksgiving

We only get to see Jason's sister and brother in law about once a year so we try to make the most out of it when we can. This year they came home for Thanksgiving weekend. We managed to pack Thanksgiving, sight-seeing, and Christmas into the weekend and had a great time.

Meg and Jonathan - thrilled to be in this photo.


G.G. Meiss and Great Grammy Marquiss


Playing in the Visitors Center and on the Battlefield in Gettysburg

Boo at the Zoo

Jason and I felt that we needed to get a few more cute picutres out of this costume so we dressed him up again, tried to get more pictures at home, and then went to Boo at the Zoo. I'd have to say that we managed to get some adorable memories!














Daniel loved picking out candy from the bowls and then running back to the stroller to put his prize in the trick or treat bag. (He also loved all the attention he got from being the cutest little man at the zoo that day.)

Pretty Animal Pictures

Halloween with Tigger

Daniel's first Trick or Treat night was a success. We went to a few houses in our cul-du-sac and handed out candy to all the neighborhood kids. Daniel also spent a while practicing his bouncing with the neighbors and their bouncy Tigger doll.



My office had a costume contest that morning - I won of course. Only three of the 12 employees dressed up though which was totally lame.

California

It has been about four years since I have visited my oldest sister Laurel in California so we decided to take a trip.
We took the first couple of days to just relax and play at home.




Saturday we went to Silverwood Lake in the mountains to play on the beach, picinic in the woods and relax.






Sunday we rested a bit and played in the neighorhood park.





Our last day we went all out and spent the whole day at Disneyland. We had an awesome time. Daniel seemed to enjoy himself too, although I am pretty sure he had no idea what was going on most of the time. Unfortunatley we didn't take many pictures but we had so much to do in just one day!