Welcome 2013

A long awaited Bellie picture!  Hooray!

We had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed spending time with my family and Brian's family.  Some highlights (since I can't find time to keep up with blog posts):

• Annabella did great meeting Santa and even cracked a forced smile for the jolly 'ol fella.
• We bought a live tree and Annabella thought our Christmas tree was the coolest thing she had ever seen
• We had to put breakable ornaments at the top of our tree, but left the others at the bottom and she had a hay day.  We didn't put a gate around the tree, so by the end of December there were needles everywhere and the lights had been pulled off, but my goodness, our tree was loved.
• We visited the Christmas light display at our local zoo with Gran and Gramps, and rode a choo choo train.  AB thought it was amazing and talked about it for days afterwards.  
• Gramps and Gran bought Annabella an indoor play scape/fort for Christmas.  Going head first, on her belly, down the slide and pushing her dollies down the slide are two of her current favorite activities.
• Brian got the flu and had 102 degree fever for 6-7 days.
• We hung out at Nana's house for a few days and Bellie had the run of the whole place.  She ran from one end of the house to the other, and loved being able to play with just about anything.  She also loved seeing her Nana and saying "Nana".
• Annabella caught a cold the day before Christmas.
• Santa visited Annabella, and she received a "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" book, winter pajamas, a purple ball, and a wooden cupcake set.
• We went on cart rides with Gramma and Grampa, and "oohhhed" and "ahhhhed" at Christmas lights.  The moon was also a big hit.
• Gramma and Grampa bought Annabella a Little People Wheelie Track and a Princess Cozy Coupe.  Annabella "drives" all of her cars around every single day.  It seems like "zoom", "vroom", "drive", and "car" are always coming out of her sweet little mouth.
• After more than a week on the road, Annabella was happy to sleep in her own bed, but missed having constant attention from family members.

We're thrilled to welcome 2013.  It's hard for me to believe that Annabella will turn two this year, Brian will finish residency, we'll hopefully sell our first home (knock-on-wood), and we'll pack up and move across a few states.  It's going to be a busy year, but we wouldn't have it any other way.

My parents drove through for new years, so we made some hoppin' john, black-eyed peas, and collard greens.  We may have all been in bed and asleep by midnight, but we enjoyed welcoming 2013 with open arms at 7 a.m.  That's the way people in their late 20's celebrate new years, right?  That's what I thought.