A Wonderful Holiday

Well, we had a wonderful Christmas! Aydin is finally old enough to really get into it now. She helped us decorate (and re-re-re decorate) the tree. She got to pick out her own ornament this year too. She picked an ornament with three dogs sitting next to a fire hydrant barking "Jingle Bells." I am surprised the battery in that thing has any juice left. She even unwrapped her own presents.She climbed up into her own chair and unwrapped them in her lap one-at-a-time, handing us each piece of paper as she tore it off. She is pooped from all of the holiday action, we all are, but it has been wonderful. Levi and Danielle came down for an extra long time this time. We loved having them over. Ethan and Aydin play so well together, and we had a new baby to cuddle and enjoy too!Jesse has been off of work for one week, and has one more week off. I wish he could be home like this more often, but we'll take what we can get. I also started a project for this holiday season that has turned out to be quite a lot of fun. This is one of two pairs of hand warmers that I have made, and I have requests for many more. I don't know how many I'll make, but they are pretty fun!

P.S. Mexico pictures are on Facebook. I would do a blog for them but, call me lazy, posting that many pictures on here is just too much work.

Mexico

We're back! Wow...that was a great vacation, but I'm glad to be home. We had so much fun! Aydin loved the beach, and even the sand, the fish, the freedom of being able to run around outside all day long...everything. She LOVED swiming, mostly in the ocean. We would take hunks of bread out into the water and dozens of fish would cluster around us to eat it. She thought it was great, as long as someone was holding her, and she would throw the bread to them. Any time she wanted to swim she would get her little raft and push it to the door. We spent most of our time swimming. There were a couple bouts of rain while we were there, but for the most part the weather was great. While on vacation Aydin learned to say "fish," "turtle," "moon," and "David (deah)." She can tell you what a fish says, and what a pig says. And she now knows where her "pink toes" are. She had her first pedicure by mom before we left, and she has completely enjoyed showing off her "pink toes." My favorite part of the trip was getting to watch Aydin bond with my family. She hasn't gotten to spend this much time with any of them before, and it was just what she needed to feel completely comfortable and close to them. She pretty much clung to my dad the whole time. No matter what she was doing with him she thought it was the greatest. And she had so much fun teasing uncle David the whole time. She would tap his shoulder and grin when he looked, and she thought it was histerical to wke him up on the airplane. She just found something with each of them that made her smile. I loved it! And I don't know if I can speak for Jesse, but I'll try. This was only his second vacation ever so I am betting the experience alone was fantastic in and of itself. But the thing I think he enjoyed the most was getting to spend so much time just playing with Aydin. Ayway, great vacation, glad to be home! Now if only Aydin's body would not wake her up at 6 AM thinking it's 7 AM. We didn't take our good camera, so we only got a couple of pictures, but David and Michelle were the photogrraphers for the vacation, so when I get pictures from them I will do a picture post.