The Holidays (and baby info at the bottom)

Sorry for the long time between updates. The pictures below range from Thanksgiving thru New Years, out of order of course :). We have had a wonderful holiday season with family and friends. Piper has been so sweet and helpful, practicing her manners and speaking in short sentences. Of course she's still in love with everything animals, but is also enjoying baby dolls, stuffed animals, books, and her new dollhouse from Ms. Joyce. Bash is just Bash, he's lost another tooth while he's been here, grown over an inch this past year, and really enjoying 5th grade. He's been spending a lot of time with the boys in the neighborhood too.

Here's what we've been up to:

We celebrated Christmas at our house on the 27 once Bash got here. Piper (and us too) has loved having her big brother here. They have been so cute playing together and she looks for him all the time.

We spent the week before Christmas in Charlotte with my family. Mimi was able to join us too. We took Piper for portraits in her beautiful Christmas dress from Tilly and Ellie. We also looked at lights at the Botanical Gardens and had lots of fun hanging out at the house, most of it centered around food. Unfortunately a cold spread through the family so we were under the weather while we were there and spread our germs - sorry Mom and Mimi. It was also our last Christmas with our family dog, Colby. She had to be put down on Dec. 30 and she is dearly missed. Piper had a great time with "Kabe" while we were there and has truly overcome her fear of big dogs. Also it snowed Christmas night and we woke up to 6 inches on the 26th which was great, except that was the day we had to fly home.

Opening presents Piper started copying my dad and saying "oh cool" with each gift she pulled out of the wrapping.

Another try with Santa, he's just not her favorite person to sit with.

Getting a close look at a train at the botanical gardens

Piper thought these fish were so cool jumping out of the water.

We went back to ICE again at the Gaylord hotel. The theme this year was Charlie Brown. We weren't quite as impressed this year, the ice display was shorter so not really worth the money, but Bash and Chris did try the snow tubing hill and had a great time.

The kids love watching fountains, we have many pictures of them enjoying the water sprays.

Bad lighting at the snow tubing hill

Piper loved going down the ice slide and went about 4 times because it wasn't crowded at all when we were there.

Piper waddled like a little penguin in her parka that you have to wear going through ICE. It sure was freezing in there!

We had a great time playing with Sally the week before Christmas, decorating a gingerbread house and cookies. We are so glad our good friends have made the permanent decision to stay close. These girls are so cute playing together and have both picked up some sayings from the other.

Watching themselves on video

Enjoying all the hard work

Piper enjoyed licking the icing and Sally enjoyed eating the candies, I think we're lucky anything stuck on the house, and Rikki was so sweet to let us make such a fun mess at her house.

For thanksgiving we spent half the week here and half the week in Midland visiting my grandparents and two uncles and their families. Piper had fun playing with Molly and watching her favorite DVD - Yo Gabba Gabba

Sebashtian and Garrett stayed up late and slept in everyday, but they had a great time hanging out. We also ventured out to the sand dunes at Monahan State Park. It was really cool, it felt like a beach with no water. It was pretty sandy and windy so I don't have any good pictures to include.

Piper playing in a storage cube, great smiles from this girl.

This is the picture we used for our christmas card this year, it took so many shots to get both kids looking and smiling at the camera.

Playing in the fountains again.

We have been trying some potty training education, but not full blown potty training yet. I am hoping we can master this before she turns 2. Sometimes she asks to go on the potty and is successful, but many other times she doesn't want to try so we are not making this a battle, just praising the successful times.

Being silly and stuffing a big bite of banana in our mouth :)

I love this zebra sweater and Piper is showing her "cheesy" smile with squinty eyes, the face we so often get when taking pictures, but I love seeing her teeth.

For New Years Eve we stayed in with the Downings and made it to midnight, such fun catching up with old friends. On New Years Day we celebrated with our traditional fondue dinner with the Tiggemans and the Schweers (minus Abby who was under the weather). It was a great feast and Bash wanted to do it again today. We love making memories and having traditions with good friends!

Happy Holidays folks!

PS - We found out that our second baby is..................... another GIRL! We are thrilled and can't wait for this baby to be here. I am excited about the sister bond that will be formed between Piper and her. We are also so thankful she is healthy and measuring just right for her arrival on May 19. I have also been feeling the baby move quite a bit during the day, but she is letting me sleep at night. We're halfway through this pregnancy and everything has been so smooth, we are praying everything continues to be smooth since time will fly from here on out.