Auld Lang Syne*

December has flown by! Shiloh has been REALLY enjoying coaching as the Davis High JV assistant basketball coach. The head coach, Bob Silva, is wonderfully organized, invested in the players' lives, enamored with the game, and humble as can be. What a great model! He even lets Shi do all the substitutions during games. I've been able to watch a few games and look forward to more once season begins.

My tutoring and photography continue to keep me busy, on top of life with the Busy Bee herself, Miss Siena. She is growing up SO fast. We've had some challenges - trying to night-wean; preventing her from pinching faces, poking eyeballs, and drawing on the walls; and a variety of other things. All in all, however, we are terribly, terribly proud of her. We love her fuzzy, blonde afro; her developing vocabulary and "trick" repertoire; and her bubbly, people-loving personality.

We've had a good month because it has been full of time with friends and family. We spent Christmas Eve with the Nicholsons and then zipped back to Davis for Christmas morning with the Sorbellos. Look how much fun we had:

Copper and Ruby duking it out in the back yard:


Copper, happy that Ruby is not pestering her right now:


Ruby, concerned that Copper is coming after her bone:


In the wee morning hours (7am):


We started off the Christmas (Eve) festivities with stockings:


Crosswords are a Nicholson staple:


Andy is clearly ecstatic about his new polarizer:


TJ grubbin' on some Christmas Eve stew:


Grandma helped Siena open some of her presents(Playschool people!):


Siena soon figured out how to do it on her own:


This is where Ruby opened her presents:


In the evening, I tried to get Siena dressed for MPPC's Christmas Eve Service (great message):


Workin' the beret:


Balcony shot of the sanctuary, courtesy of TJ:








Siena is still wholly entertained by pushing Katie around in her chair:


(Insert late-night return to Davis and 6 hours of sleep before...)

Zeke finds "Fork Man" in his stocking:


Siena checks out Luke's new rat. Ewww:


Bethany loves her wee-little-bird:


Per Luke's request, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and blew out a candle:


Siena is learning some "baby signs" quickly these days. Here's "thank you":


Sara Claus:


Pandemonium!


After a short intermission at home, we headed back to the Sorbellos' for dinner. Siena tried out one of her new hair ties from Aunt Bethany:


Dinner. Yum!


Gracie's Christmas gift to all was a tap dance performance:


The Namesake Auntie never stays in town long. So Siena bids her... :



Some older stuff:

Siena wearing her new Christmas headband from Target's dollar bin:


Siena and Ruby playing safely in the living room:


Siena continues to love both baths and toothbrushes:


More headband action:


A shot from a trip to Dixon's Silveyville Christmas Tree Farm:


*Auld Lang Syne