Day 119: Looking back

Today is the last day of 2007. So I decided to look back. At Zaria in the rear-view mirror, now that her seat is facing forward! She's busy making police siren noises with her steering wheel. Luckily I realize this, and have only pulled over to take a photo, not because of the sirens coming from the back seat.

Day 118: Dictionary

Yes, we do feel free to use the dictionary while playing Scrabble, or in this case Upwords. I feel it's more educational if you get to learn new words, although it's taken some practice for Jamin to recognize the value of using normal words in Upwords so that it's easier to build up from them.

Day 117: Family time

New Christmas tradition started today: The weekend after Christmas, we spend family time together and go shopping for one last present, taking advantage of the after-Christmas sales. We started out by brushing teeth as a family, on the couch of course. Jamin and I have brushed and flossed together from the very first time we ever hung out. He had eaten at my place, and we'd had corn on the cob, so it was necessary to floss. Jamin's also known for brushing his teeth all over the house, and mentioned that his old roommate Rob would get a kick out of this photo.

Day 116: brushing teeth

Look who's trying to figure out her toothbrush! She only has 4 teeth so far, and the top two aren't even out all the way, but I thought it was good to start getting in the habit of trying out the toothbrush.

Day 115: Climbing up and down

Zaria performed a major task today for the first time: she climbed all the way down the stairs. I am such a proud mama.

Day 114: Something musical in the mail

Zaria tried on her new sweater from Marla, and we found one more package from Jamin's grandparents in California. Zaria loves musical toys, and was mesmerized by this one that has little dancing animals that move to the music. Gives me flashbacks to working at Circus Pizza.

Day 113: Happy Christmas!

The above photo makes me laugh-- they were just laughing about something and you can see my dad in the middle of making one more wise crack. Grandma Alpha also has a nice smile here.

Below Zaria does a little people-watching in between present-opening. She's holding some fuzzy socks she got from my mother-in-law, her Grandma Marla. It was pretty neat to be able to bring Jamin's folks with us to have Christmas dinner with my dad's side of the family. Marla often has to work on holidays, but had today off. She enjoyed sharing a bit of her family history that went back to Red Wing, where we celebrated. Her family is currently in California, so it was interesting to hear a little of her Minnesota roots. We missed Jamin's siblings today, all of whom are now in Colorado. They also got together to celebrate and we talked to them briefly over the phone.