Hold that Tiger!

I Love this winter coat! It is so stinkin cute it makes your stomach turn! It actually has a tail that looks like it is wagging as she walks. Alice will actually ask to hold the coat so she can "pet" it, and says "saaahhft" (soft).

Cousins come to visit!

Alice's cousins Savannah and Tori came to Charleston! The girls had so much fun! Tori and Savannah took turns carrying Alice around the house and then chasing each other around. Talk about a three ring circus! I hope that the girls will spend a lot of time in Charleston this summer and we look forward to the day when they may be able to move here!

This is how much the dogs love Alice...

Believe it or not when we adopted Zeke and Zeus they were both very protective over their dinner bowls. We could not even pet them while they were eating, let alone put a hand inside the dish. Zeke was the one who freaked out once Alice started becoming mobile and actually growled and snapped at her once. Man, they have come a long way...

This is Zeke allowing Alice to put a ski glove in his dish while he is eating.

Alice now will take food out of their dishes and run around the house with it in her hands and fall down in giggle fits when the dogs chase after her trying to sniff out the goodies.

Zeke is the first one to go in to get Alice out of bed in the mornings and after naps. We can't go to bed at night without saying night-night to the dogs. They love her and she loves them!

Chili Cook-off

Several weeks ago we went over to the Ailstock's home for the Annual Chili Cook-Off. Their daughter Helena is 9 months older than Alice, they had a great time playing around while the adults sampled over 10 chilis. Can you say heartburn? They have got a HUGE backyard and there is nothing that Alice loves more than running around outside. Congrats to Charles for the all around winning chili...ingredients including coffee, chocolate and tequila. What's not to love?

Our Trip to Arlington

God Bless my Mama, that's all I have to say! I have wanted to go and visit my cousin Jenn in Arlington since she delivered her beautiful baby boy Grant before Thanksgiving. Well after much back and forth and comparing weekend plans I finally decided to go last weekend. My mom never passes up an opportunity to love on a baby, and thank goodness for that! Mom, Alice and I left on Thursday afternoon to break up the drive into 2 days. We had a great time visiting with Jenn, Grant and Greg. They are such a gorgeous new family! It made me truly nostalgic for those new baby days! Which is crazy because during those new baby days I remember thinking that women were nuts to wish for sleep deprivation, sore breasts and a hormonal rollercoaster ride! Nonetheless...I was longing for those days when all Alice wanted was to be asleep in my arms. Alice could not be tempted to nap in the car or elsewhere, I guess she feared missing something important. She was largely unimpressed with Grant and only worried about him when he was taking up important space in her Mommy or Grandma's arms. Grant is a looker and a Talker. He could definately hold his own in a conversation. He did some great cooing and snuggling. We ventured out on Saturday to the National Building Museum, they had a pretty cool set up for kids 2-6, a free building space with all kinds of blocks and a kids room with building themed toys. Alice enjoyed having Mommy chase her all throughout the gallery and knocking down every tower in sight. Jenn managed to get pooped on by the lone winged resident of the museum...Ha! It caught her right on the tail, what are the chances! It was so great to spend a little time with Jenn, we were both equally distracted by our children...such is life! I hope that we will be able to visit again soon! Pictures to come as soon as I can get them from Grandma's camera!

Our Trip to visit the Wrights/Leeths

Been a year since we saw the Wrights...the kids grow sooo fast! I had blast hanging out with my "second" family. We laughed, chatted, played games, had PIZZA-thanks Jim!
Beleive it or not Simon is only 5 months older than Alice. They were so sweet together watching the big kids through the window and sitting on the bottom step together and playing with trains.

Julia and Lil fed the horses that the Leeths board on their property...Girlfriend and Suddenly.

Alice was not daunted by the size of Kara's great dane Tucker and decided to climb all over him. Tucker was, of course, unfazed.

Liliana enjoyed every last bit of the popcorn while waiting for her turn on the rope swing

The Last Christmas Post...I promise I will move on!

I just want to say that I have always loved Christmas, I love everything about it! The shopping, the decorating, the food, the family, especially family and of course celebrating the birth of our Savior. I often wish we could bottle the wonderful feelings that we have during the season and pull them out on our bad days! Those of you with children of your own know that kids make every holiday bigger...especially Christmas. I know I just want to soak in every minute and record every cute/sweet/hysterical/new thing that is happening.

Alice's gift to me this year was independent walking! Being a physical therapist and having some background in pediatrics my concern was growing about her gait development (coupled with her small size). In my heart I knew Alice was developing normally at her own rate, but the inner PT voice was distressing. I even choose her big Christmas gift around the goal of gait. So imagine my joy when she LET GO and walked across the room like it was NOTHING!

Alice's first encounter with a piano...she's a budding composer!

Alice was Nelson's new best friend after he discovered that she drops food.

Okay, more Christmas stuff....

On Christmas morning all of the Grandparents and Robert's brothers Michael and Thomas as well as cousins Alan and Nik all piled into our cozy living room for breakfast and gift opening. Alice tickled us all by digging into her gift wrap, boxes and presents with the appropriate ooohhhs and aahhhs!

Alice zonked out on the way to Great Granny's in Lumberton, NC...zzzzz

Alice didn't hesitate helping Great Granny open her gifts.

Alice struck a pose at the front door in her adorable Christmas outfit...Robert calls those pants her clown pants!