Wake up! It's almost Christmas!

Look at that girl . . . greeting the day with a huge smile.

Now, onto greeting her cousin Hanna.

And then, onto her Aunt Jamie. . .

Check out all the Christmas cookies we made!

Here, Jay delights Eden by playing Ring-Around-the-Rosy with the tree and Christmas lights.

Here is our little "Linus" . . . since the cold weather hit, whenever she sees a blanket on the ground, it becomes her shawl/stole/robe/headdress . . .

The finished product . . . our first official "real" Christmas tree!

Long November . . .

Filling up at Thanksgiving . . . It was a wonderful feast, but I think Eden would have been happy just eating the green olives and the squash.

Reading with the two monsters . . . an almost nightly ritual.

Jumping on the bed in the morning . . . she always wakes up with the same impish grin :)

And there she is . . . our little beauty . . .

A New Beginning . . .

We're due in May!

Now Ozma won't be her only partner in mischief at the house! ;)

Ahhh, yes. It is certain, "the more, the merrier" :)

Dance Revolution!

Take it from me, these dance moves are going to be the next big thing in lazy people dance. You know, leaning against a couch, swaying, one arm moving, and a snack in hand . . . Everyone is going to be doing it :)

(Song courtesy of good ol' Burl Ives :)

At Long Last, a New Post!

Finally, after almost a month, I return to the blog. Sorry for the delay. The time just seemed to slip right on by.

This month has been marvelous again! Eden is quite the curious girl. Her obsession with books continues, to my great joy.

Her favorite meal, since our apple picking adventure, is a nice juicy apple. They fit nicely right into the palm of her hand and she can carry them everywhere she goes! I am quickly learning that apple can in fact stain clothes. Anyone with hints, bring 'em on, because several of her shirts have red/orange stains all around the necks.

Her games with Ozma have grown more complicated, and Ozma seems to be quite confused over how rapidly an immobile, drooling, sleeping baby has turned into a wild animal with no regard for either of their safety. Here is Eden, drunk on apples ready to head-butt the dog. Poor Ozma seems oblivous to her imminent doom. Thankfully, Ozma still seems to love Eden, no matter the onslaught.

For Halloween Nana and Papa came by to hang out with our little ladybug. We had so much fun watching her reactions to all the trick-or-treaters! She squealed at them, and even barked at the ones dressed up as werewolves and dogs . . . what a goof! She quickly caught on to the procedure for the evening and even handed out some candy!

The biggest news of all is that on Halloween, Eden walked for us . . . quite a bit! However, no pictures survive of the occurence. Hopefully the video footage is salvageable. We'll see if I can figure out how to get that on here.

And at the end of the night . . . she was exhausted!

Our Little Bookworm . . .

There's nothing better than relaxing with a good book and a little girl. She seems to be taking after my love of books . . . Currently she is ignoring everything in her playroom except her baby dolls and her bookcase full of books!
Slight similarity . . .


Kissing Tristan Herro . . . her new "cousin".

Eden in the Orchard

Here she is, a tad overdressed for the hot weather . . . but safe and comfortable in her Papa's arms.

What a picturesque spot!



Eden found the horses to be quite interesting.

Ahhh . . . life is good.

What a Girl!

Eden's new favorite toy . . . baby dolls. She holds them, kisses them, rocks them, and pats them on the back! Amazing how quickly she has begun mimicry!

Unless you are afraid she has become too soft in her old age, I can assure you, her monster side frequently comes out. Occasionally she'll growl at the babies, but more often than not she chases after me!

And she has the manners of a queen!

I think her mouth doubles as a black hole, because I could have sworn I had just loaded her high chair tray with noodles!

And, although her first words were "stop" and "doggie", this is probably her first highly distinguishable word. Sorry for the sideways screen . . . I'm still learning.

A Wedding in the Family

On Sunday, Eden gained 4 cousins and an uncle! And what a party it was!

She missed a nap somewhere during the day and was not the most attentive member of the crowd. Unlike her Nana and Papa.

After the ceremony she was only too happy to be free from grasping arms and uncomfortable chairs.

Eden passed out fairly soon after and let Jay and me dance the night away.

1 Year Old!

She began her birthday, just as she would any other . . . cleaning up her birthday suit!

In this picture she seems to say, "How dare you! Don't you know who I am?!?" {pose dramatically}

The day continued with the wonder of opening presents.

And ended with chocolate on the face . . .

I can't believe it has already been one whole year!

Door County: Episode 2

Here are some more pictures from our week up in Door County. This is a only a little less than half of the entire group that was up there.

Wide-eyed and beautiful in the morning.

Grandma feeding her in the swing . . . what a lucky little girl to have such attentive relatives.

Not a morning person. Don't let this picture deceive. She and Izzy got along famously :)

A typical day, spent mostly in the water!

Some pictures from the Farm: The sheep were very friendly . . . Eden wasn't quite sure about them . . . she pulled her legs in closer, quite suspiciously.

Baby chicks: she loved these tiny creatures . . . no danger of losing fingers in their mouths :)


Baby goats: if I hadn't been there to hold her down, she would have climbed into that pen quicker than you can blink.


A HUGE Brahma cow. And she seems fairly unenthused . . . Of course she wasn't allowed to touch it, so that changes things a bit.

After all that, a little sleep is unavoidable.