Have a very merry Christmas!

I spent most of my free time this week watching cheesy Christmas movies. (I'm so glad school is on break!) Most of them are just reinventions of the greatest Christmas movie of all time, It's a Wonderful Life.

One of them was a movie made from a book I read a few years ago, The Christmas Box. The matriarch of the story asks the young, career-driven man what the first gift of Christmas was. He laughs and says, "A tie!" But after considering it for a time, he tells her it was love. She replies that he is getting closer to the true answer. And after more searching, he comes to understand that the first gift of Christmas was a child - God's child.

Our prayer for you this season is that the first gift of Christmas - the miracle of God's son - will be present in your lives not just for a day, but for every day.

"But when the time had fully come, God sent his son..."
-Galatians 4:4

Dad, daughter, and dog

We have to humiliate the dog at least once a year!

Our big girl

19 pounds, 9 ounces;

2 feet, 4 inches tall;

And a big head. No, really - it's 18.75 inches around. Apparently, this is off the charts. It must mean she's very smart!

Learning to eat

I know, I know... There have been no new postings in a while! It's certainly not for lack of a willing subject! We've just been busy... So here's a big post - a new photo, a video, and an old photo.

At my baby shower, Mom and Erin gave "baby" these cool self-feeding tools. They have big textured handles, which are easy for little grasping hands to use. The feeding part is ribbed. Kevin loaded it and helped her get it into her mouth about twice before she got the hang of it by herself.

So cute...




All of that amazing activity made me think about how much she's grown. I remember the first time we put her in her high chair. It swallowed her up! Look at how little she was:

Hard to believe that was just 5 months ago...

Reading with Dad

I thought this was a particularly sweet moment between Kevin and Caroline. She was wildly playing and just happened to stop long enough in the perfect relaxed position for reading a book.



Not even a book can keep this girl from smiling at the camera!

Look out, Clark Grizwald!

Dinosaur

We've been putting the balls into Caroline's dinosaur for months. And now, she's figured out how to do it herself! It's so fun to watch her learning!