Christmas 2010 - Part II

After our quick stop at home we headed to see our family in Florida.  Each year Liza looks forward to the trip because she gets to go pet the sting rays.  Just last night, while playing with Iggy (her stuffed sting ray), she asked if we could go pet the stingrays every time we go to Florida.  Liza gets so excited every time a sting ray came into close to her and in this picture, Liza and Daddy were having so much fun with the sting rays.

This year Liza was old enough to pet the animals in the big starfish and loved doing it.  We just had to work on keeping them in the tank.

 

 We celebrated Christmas on New Year's Eve and that date is special for all of us. Because it was New Year's Eve we had extra entertainment with noise makers and Liza and Mary Katherine couldn't stop blowing them.  

Back at Grandma's, Liza and Mary Katherine had fun floating their boats, made of leaves, in the pool.

 

 Liza and Mary Katherine enjoyed each other so much! Any time it was possible they were together and in this picture they were reading to one another.

 

As I've reported before, Bair does a great job of scoping out places to take Liza.  One day while Daddy went fishing Liza and I went to a great children's center in Stuart.  In this picture she is taking care of the dog in the vet area. 

  In the grocery section we filled cart after cart. I think Liza had the most fun filling a cart with nothing but eggs!

Darden was a big hit with both girls - he was their jungle gym and entertainer.  Darden played a game with them lifting them up and letting them touch the ceiling at Gaggy's.  I am sure he was worn out at the end of the night because they wouldn't stop asking to touch the ceiling. 

 On this special night we had lobster and funny Aunt SuSu brought them around for us to see. Liza wasn't particularly fond of it and jumped in her Daddy's lap to avoid touching it. I think this might be payback for the days when Bair chased his cousins around with live lobsters! 

 I love this picture because Liza is so expressive and I was glad we captured it on film!  MK and LB are the best of friends and share everything they can!

 

One of my favorite parts of going to Florida is seeing the trees covered with Spanish moss! On some trip I'm going to take a picture that is worthy of framing but for now this will have to do.

 Liza asked specifically for Potty Time Elmo and once she opened it; she rarely set it down.

 

We had a great time in Florida, loved being with family so much and are ready to get back to that warm weather soon. 

Christmas 2010 - Part I

Christmas 2010 was many months ago and I am finally getting some pictures posted!  I have the day off today to recuperate from a 4 day Texas trip and want to get some pictures up for you.

We spent Christmas day with my parents and sister in Madison, WI and Liza had a wonderful time.  Auntie Em and Liza put together a plate of cookies for Santa Claus.  With the best of intentions, Auntie Em and I both bought stuff to bake cookies however we were too busy to actually get them in the oven.  Thank goodness a kind colleague of Auntie Em's made her some cookies and we swiped some for Santa. 

Liza was so excited the night before Christmas and asked to sleep with her Night Before Christmas book, matching teddy and her Dora comforter.  It was so fun to see her excitement!

It was important to Liza that she and I get Daddy some Christmas "jammas."  It was supposed to be a secret but the sweet girl couldn't keep it.  Daddy wasn't so sure about the "jammas", but after he put them on he asked us if they had others we could get for him.  Not to be out done, Liza and Mommy had Christmas "jammas" too.  This picture is a few minutes after Liza awoke on Christmas morning and she is so excited about heading downstairs to see what he left her. 

The baby center was her big Santa Claus present and it was love at first sight.  You never know how these presents are going to go over and fortunately Santa chose well - she is still playing with it months later!

Liza was astonished at all the goodies that Santa put in her stocking...so much stuff it took up an entire chair. 

Liza loves to read and she was so excited to get these new books - she was reading all about Wubzy and his crazy tail!

This wonderful gift from Santa was hotly debated by many and we are thankful it was such a big hit!  Liza loves her big bear and wants to play with it all the time.

The fairy princess put on a dress-up show for all of us.  She was wielding some of her magic power onto us!

Nana is teaching Liza about her new Mobi -Go!

Wherever we go we can count on Daddy to check-out the museums, libraries and other opportunities for Liza.  Madison has a great new Children's Museum and it was so much fun to take her to it this year.  The train table has cut-outs so children can be closer to the tracks - she had fun.

Here Liza is pausing on a run through the dinosaur bones!

We left the day after Christmas, headed home to Grinnell to unpack and repack for our trip to Florida.  We had so much fun with Nana, Poppa, Auntie Em, Logan, Hallie and Molly and thank them for all the kindness and generosity they showed us. 

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving 2010 was in the mountains of North Carolina and we had a great time with family and friends who are close enough to be family.  Liza and Nana made cookies with Liza's favorite part - putting on the icing.  If you look closely you can see they spelled Liza in cookies, Meg in cookies but somehow Nana forgot how to spell Chris so his name is now C-H-I-S. 

Hally and Molly couldn't miss out on the action and Liza had a great time taking them on walks with Nana. 

One day while Daddy was fishing, Nana, Liza and I went to the Grove Park Inn to see the gingerbread houses and we were amazed by the talented artists.  Liza's favorite gingerbread house looked like SpongeBob and I broke my camera before getting a picture of it. 

Auntie Em and Liza revived their Thanksgiving tradition and made a gingerbread house together. 

Spending time with family and friends was the highlight of the trip.  We are so glad to have the opportunity for so many wonderful people to be a part of Liza's life - thanks to all!  Judy and Dick came from DC and are always a HUGE help in the kitchen.  



Emmie, Mario and Phyllis were checking out the newly installed TV (thanks Uncle Jerry) and looking up things on the Internet. 

 There was no shortage of activities to partake in - some went hiking...

Others went bowling...

Others worked on their computer...

While others ate and drank...

Regardless of what activities you participated in, how many turns you took cleaning up dishes, walking dogs or cooking up a storm a fun time was had by all. 

We also celebrated our 11 year wedding anniversary and my Mother's birthday.  So many reasons that make being with family and friends extra special.

Thanks for having us and we look forward to next year!

Carving Pumpkins

As usual Liza's Daddy goes the extra mile for her.  Pumpkin carving was no exception.  Bair found Dora and Swipper templates and together they undertook the carving task.  After about 2 minutes Liza told her Daddy, this is boring , I am going to go play, come get me when you're done! 

Here are the finished products! 

After pictures we headed to the zoo for Night Eyes.  Children come in costume, trick or treat and see some of the animals. 

One of Liza's favorite parts of the zoo is the petting zoo.  With each trip Liza increases her comfort level with feeding the animals. 

I love seeing Liza with all the pumpkins...it's one of my favorite times of year for this reason.  She is just so cute!

Camping Trip

Where do we start?  We are so far behind on blogging.  I have no chance of catching number of posts for 2009 but I'm going to give it my best attempt. 

Our last post was in early October and since then Bair and Liza have been camping, Halloween has come and gone and Liza just gets cuter and cuter. 

Bair and his college roommate, Dan, have been talking about a camping trip.  I haven't been helping with the planning of the trip because camping and I don't necessarily get along well.  But, I knew Bair hoped to give Liza the experience.  Dan's wife felt about the same as I did so we were thrilled when they decided to make it a father and child camping trip.  Dan and his two boys and Bair and Liza met in western Iowa and had a great time.  I'm now convinced that some of my tendencies are rubbing off on Bair.  When they arrived at the cabin there were too many dead bugs for him so he went to the closest store and bought a hand-held vacuum.  

Not only was Bair excited about camping he was also pleased about testing out his dutch oven cooking skills.  He had been practicing in the back yard with the fire pit and from what I heard he did a great job.  Here is Liza showing off her Daddy's pineapple upside down cake. 

I think all 3 children had a great time at the playground within the campground.  From what I heard they made several trips there.  

Thanks Packard family for a great time!  I know Bair and Liza are looking forward to this annual adventure. 

Sparky's House

Thursday night during the Homecoming Parade Liza spotted Sparky, the fire dog, and she's been in love ever since.  She talks about Sparky a great deal and when I brought home a flyer about the annual fireman's breakfast with Sparky on it she was in heaven.  Liza is so enamoured that not getting to see Sparky was a motivator for good behavior.  Sunday morning finally arrived and we headed to the fire station (or Sparky's house to Liza) to see Sparky.  As parents, we were nervous that Sparky might not be circulating through the crowd.  We both breathed a sigh of relief when we saw him through the window.  Liza was about to burst with excitement! 

Shortly after we crossed the threshold of the building Liza was given a fire person's hat (thanks Uncle Pat) and she who normally squeals about head gear was thrilled to have it.  She couldn't stop grinning! 

After we took her coat off (yes Mother it is the one I wore when I was little) so everyone could see the precious outfit that the Roberts gave us when she was born (we kept up with it and now it fits) she was on the hunt for Sparky.  Waiting in line was hard for Liza but as long as Sparky was in her sight all seemed right in her world.   

And then...Sparky came over to see her and even let us take his picture with her. You can see on her face how excited she is.  I wish I had gotten better pictures but I think our readers get the point. 

Congratulations to the fire department and their record turn-out.  We were told 1,600+ and that bested previous by about 400 - way to go!  And thank you Sparky for making our little girl so very happy.