Christmas Time is Here

Happiness and cheer, fun for all that children call their favorite time of year. I have certainly caught the Christmas cheer this year! I also rhyme, in case you didn't know. Anyway, it became obvious to me this evening that my case of Christmas cheer is particularly strong, when I hauled a stereo into the kitchen so I could listen to Christmas music while doing the dishes. You can hardly blame me... It has been very cold outside, snowing on and off. There are countless holiday movies on tv (most of them corny and lame, but somehow endearing). My decorating is done and my house feels cozy. I shuffle around in my nasty old slippers, drinking steaming coffee while watching snow fall softly outside. Meanwhile Audrey is rolling around on the floor, pulling ornaments off the Christmas tree and getting covered in dog hair from head to toe..... I have pictures!

Watching me decorate:

The wreath I made for the front door:

Before:

After:

Ornaments from my childhood:

My piano is standing in for a
fireplace to hang the stockings:

Here are some shots that I took from our small group Christmas party last night. We had a wonderful time eating, talking, watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, opening gifts and playing with Audrey. Everyone adores her! She's the life of the party. Naturally!

"Uncle" Zac and Audrey:

We did a white elephant gift exchange:


Shelby watched intently as Laura opened her gift...

Audrey was highly entertained by Zac's gift,
and refused to play with anything else for awhile.


Daisy = adorable!

Eric serenaded us:

Audrey in her "pre-crawling" stance. First time I'd seen it!
(She'll be crawling soon)

Audrey and Daisy were friends from the start.
They even rolled around on the floor together:

"Aunt" Jill and Audrey:

One of my faves:

More to come soon. I have some cute non-Christmasy pictures of the little munchkin to post. Good night fellow bloggers!

FUN!

So, my wonderful photographer friends indulged me. They let me borrow one of their amazing cameras, so I'll be having fun taking pictures of Audrey, the pooches, and other random things around my house for the next few days. I'm hoping to experiment and learn more about how all of the settings work as well. Here are a few I took today (not experimental, just fun.)

Happy 8 months, Audrey!

Audrey is 8 months old today. She has grown so much and continues to surprise us with new things everyday. Let's look back and see just how much she has changed!

Our precious 9 lb. 1 oz. treasure born at 10:03 on April 4, 2008.

A few days old:

About a month old:

Two months old:

3 Months old:

"The lip" emerged around this time:

4 Months old:

5 Months old:

Sitting up quite well with assistance:

6 Months old:

Time for solids!

7 Months old:

The solids progress:

8 Months Today:

Praise the Lord for Eric and my sweet Audrey. I never imagined what a rewarding and blessed experience it would be to have a child. We could not possibly be more blessed with our laid back little girl who is now practically exploding with personality. I think we're all surprised that a child of MINE could be so sweet and mellow!! (It's okay, I know you were thinking it. :) Just wait till the next one... ha! Have a beautiful day, fellow bloggers!