Christmas 2010 on the road-Houston

We had some family over while we were in Houston. It was great to get a picture with the whole crew! From top to bottom, left to right: Nana, Great Aunt Robin, Uncle Joel, Aunt Ashley, Cousin Audrey, Mommy's cousin Kyle with his daughter Skyler, Cousin Matthew, Blake and Lori (Kyle's son and wife), Daddy, Papa, Mommy, and Miri.

My Dad is a bit of a shutterbug, so you know there will always be lots of pictures when we go to visit him and my Mom. He got a lighting system for photography for his birthday back in October and he couldn't wait to try it out on the whole family. Here are some of our best shots.

Papa with Miri, and her two cousins on Mama's side, Matthew and Audrey.

Can we say love at first sight!


"Hi Papa, I really like your glasses."
"How much trouble am I going to get in for this?"
"Who cares, they are awesome glasses!"



The rules were a little beyond them, but they had fun filling up the board.

Goodbye Ike!

Well, Issac (Ike), one of the kids I watched for almost all of the last year is moving away. One day I managed to have Ike and Reagan (and of course Miri) and I couldn't resist taking a picture. Poor Miri has inherited my inability to have her eyes open in pictures.

Christmas 2010 on the road-Amarillo

Unfortunately, Miri caught RSV and pneumonia while we were in Amarillo, so we had kind of a rough visit. We had to visit the urgent care clinic three times (the second two were followups) and the poor baby had to take lots of medicine. Despite this, we still had a good time. Miri loved playing with her cousins, especially cousin Drake. She also thought that the ride on fire truck at her Grumps' house was the most awesome thing. Somehow I missed getting pictures of her riding that, but I think other people did, hopefully I can track one down because her smile was always huge and awfully cute.


We tried to take a family picture, but unfortunately Miri was really feeling bad that day and was not very cooperative.

Miri really loved hanging out with Yaya, but was less than thrilled about having to share her lap.

Playing with cousin Drake. He was being so patient with Miri and he was sharing very well.
On our last day in Amarillo, we went to the Discovery center, which is a science museum for kids. There was an awesome area for toddlers with costumes, facepaint, and lots of other cool things. She carried these ears around for 10 minutes so I decided to try them on her, pretty cute! I also painted her face to look like a butterfly, but somehow missed a picture of that too. I was not having a good day for pictures apparently.

Christmas 2010 at home

We had a quiet Christmas at home this year and we kept it pretty small. Miri enjoyed opening her present on Christmas morning and had a great time chasing around the toddlers at church on Christmas eve.


She couldn't figure out how to get in the bag so we had to tip it over for her.
Miri loves her megablocks and had already learned how to put them together to make towers (mostly so that she can then knock the towers down). Just a clarification, the Wii remote was not a present, she just likes to carry it around sometimes and wouldn't let go of it for the pictures.


Our family picture at church on Christmas Eve.

Birthday Party!

We had a giant party for Miri's first birthday, and for the most part, she enjoyed it. She got two teeth the weekend of her party so she was a little cranky. Our friend Renee was so kind in letting us have the party at her house since we couldn't fit all the guests in our place.
It took a few minutes, but Miri liked the cupcakes once she figured out what they were for. She was a little disturbed by everyone singing the birthday song to her.
I think the tons of people starring at her finally got to her by this point. She was ready for a little time alone. Fortunately, she cheered up quickly.
Lincoln is on of our little buddies, he wanted to hold her hand; isn't that cute! Miri let him hold her hand for about a minute before her "don't touch my hands" rule hit, then she had enough.


Miri absolutely loved this giraffe pinata when we got it. She smiled and reached for it every time she saw it, and often tried to hug it. She had fun pulling on it, though sadly it ended up taking two adults to pull the thing apart!
Since she didn't get to eat any of the candy, we let her ride the pinata, she thought it was great!
She wanted the candy, but couldn't figure out how to open it. Still you have to admire her style, one candy bar in each hand!



One of Miri's presents came in a box with packing peanuts; Miri couldn't resist the urge to swim in them.