December and January updates

I know it's been a while since our last update. We've been very busy with the holidays. There are a bunch of new things going on. Bryan and I have been doing a lot of work on the house. Mostly painting and decorating. Anna has gotten so big! Her vocabulary is exploding. She seems to come out with several new words each day. She still loves her books and reading is probaby her favorite passtime. It's literally the only thing she will sit down for and stop running around (that, and eating:-)

Anna and Smudge have forged an interesting new relationship. Smudge has become super tolerant, at least of Anna; allowing her to pet, cuddle, and even lay on her. Anna even tries to "ride" the poor cat when she's trying to eat and Smudge does nothing but meow a bit.


We got a tree from a cute little farm up the road from our house. It had chickens and roosters running around, much to Anna's delight. They had goats and sheep in the barn that we got to visit. They handed us a saw and we went off to cut down our tree. Here's a few picture of us trimming:




We had quite a surprise the Friday before Christmas. What was supposed to be a few inches of snow dropped on East Lyme turned out to be about 10 inches for us. Here's the view out our front door that evening.
We drove up to Buffalo to spend Christmas at Grams and Grandpa's house. The weather held out for us and didn't get bad until the very end of the trip. We had a great time and Uncle Richard's and Aunt Norma's on Christmas Eve where we saw all the Aunts and Uncles, cousins and their kids. Christmas morning, Anna woke up with a fever. It didn't slow her down during the morning frenzy of opening presents, but by afternoon she was pooped. Good thing she had plenty of arms willing the hold her and cuddle her to make her feel better.


We drove back and Bry and I spent several days painting the den and all the trim and built-in book cases in it. New Year's eve Uncle Scott, Aunt Maryanne, and Ryan came for a visit. The snow had started again, so Aunt Kristen, Uncle Darren, and Maggie didn't make it until New Year's Day. Ryan and Anna had so much fun playing together. They were running around having a great time getting into everything! Unfortunately, we didn't bring out the cameras to catch any of it on film...too busy chasing after them. We will next time, promise. The Richters left Friday morning because Scott had to work, but the Burrell's stayed until Saturday. Here's a few pics of Maggie and Anna. It won't be long before Maggie is running around with Anna as well!



Linds, I didn't forget about the pics from your visit. I finally got a micro SD card, but my reader doesn't fit the adaptor. Will get one soon!