Another Christmas, come and gone

We had a wonderful Christmas this year - our first here in Wallingford, CT - and really got into reliving old and creating new traditions. Here are two shots of (1) Ella and me sprinkling "Reindeer food" in the yard right before bed on Christmas eve and (2) Ella and Liam playing in their new blocks on Christmas morning - note the darkness in the windows in the background, it was just after 6:00 am.

Ella's first Christmas Pageant

Ella's preschool had its Christmas performance/celebration the other day and, after attending the Thanksgiving feast and watching Ella never open her mouth as the class sang songs, we were curious as to what her level of participation would be in this event... She started off great (clip #1), jingling her bells as loudly and eagerly as the others as they all marched in, and continued to do so as they all sang Jingle Bells (a song she knows well), but then (clip #2) made a resolute decision not to follow any more directions and you can actually see her almost grab for her bells or start making hand motions and then stop, shake her head and pout. We had a great laugh. (And stay tuned for a recap and video of the Christmas Eve performance...) (AGAIN, WILL UPLOAD SOON)

Chaos

This is often how our living room looks. Thank goodness for inexpensive yet reasonably durable furniture!

Loving Bianca

Liam has taken a real liking to Bianca lately. He barely leaves her alone and if you turn around, you're bound to find him on her bed. We had to snap this picture of him, because it reminded us so much of how Ella used to sit with her at that age. Never wanting to be upstaged, Ella then squeezed her way onto the bed and asked to have her picture taken. What a sweet little ham!

I just gotta be me

Here's a video of Liam talking from a couple weeks ago. In the background you'll hear an episode of The Office, which I was playing on my laptop while Ella, Liam and I ate dinner, because it was the last night before Will started vacation and I was just barely making it... For some reason, Ella loves The Office. She calls Michael (Steve Carell) "the silly guy" and constantly asks where he is when he is not on screen. Funny. (WILL UPLOAD VIDEO LATER WHEN SITE IS WORKING)

You'll have to excuse me, I'm eating...

Liam does a nice job of coating his face and often hair in food when he eats, as you can see in these pictures. Luckily, he is a fantastic eater, loving everything from peas to tofu to ham to bananas and all sorts of other textures and flavors. In fact, he has gotten his sister to start eating tofu, because she is so eager to "share" with him... Again, only from his plate.

Wow

So it actually took some bribing, but I finally got Ella to let me put her hair in braids one day and I could not believe how old she looked and how much she looked just like me at her age... When we're out and about, people often tell me that we are dead ringers for each other, but there are certainly looks that bring it out more than others. I will try to scan a photo from my past at some point for a little comparison, because at least in my memory, there is a great deal of similarity.