A New Tradition!

This year I wanted Arya to get her picture with Santa. Bradley and I have already agreed that Arya will never believe in Santa. Bradley never believed in Santa and my mom told me when I was in preschool that she and Dad were Santa, the Easter Bunny, etc (I was not upset by this). We will still do stockings every year and Arya will know the true story of St. Nick. She will also know that she is not to ruin it for other children!
Despite this I think the pictures with Santa are cute and could be a fun tradition each year.
This year we got it done up in Iowa. I really wanted a Santa with a real beard since the fake ones look ridiculous. Also, Aunt Shannon had fun going with us.
Silly Arya decided to not give us one of her big happy smiles. Just little grins-one while looking up and one while looking to the side. (After the photo she met my former voice teacher. Of course then Arya was laughing, giggling, and smiling huge smiles. Goofy girl!)

I think some day it will be fun to look at all her Santa pictures next to each other and see how she has changed and grown each year.

Legos!

As mentioned in my last post, we were up at Grandma and Grampa's house for Christmas. One day Arya and I were downstairs in the family room along with Arya's cousin JD. When JD left his legos out Arya had great fun with them. (They were the big legos not the little ones that could fit in her mouth.)

Stairway to Heaven

We went up to Grandma and Grampa's for Christmas. When we got there on Thursday, Grampa Brian thought it was important to learn how to crawl down the steps rather than topple head first. Arya mainly ignored him.
The next day Aunt Shannon and Grandma Suzanne were upstairs while Arya was downstairs with Daddy and me. All of a sudden we look over. Arya had crawled over to the stairs and was climbing up them all on her own!

(I do want to point out: Arya never figured this out before because we don't have stairs here at home.)

Oops....

So I realized in my Christmas decoration post I forgot to include a few decorations. We also have Christmas picture frames and then a few decorations on some shelves. Sorry, no pictures of those. I know it's not a big deal but thought I might let you know anyway.

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas!

I thought I would share with you all some Christmas cheer. Bradley didn't think it was important to decorate since we won't even be home for Christmas, but I disagreed. I want Arya to always have a festive Christmas! I told him last year, while I was pregnant, that we would have a tree every year once we had a child. Here are some pictures of our decorations:

Arya's first stocking! (A gift from my aunt, Dee.) It's perfect because TIGGER is on it!

We call this our "Charlie Brown" tree. It tilts to the side, the bottom lights and star won't light up, and it has fallen over a couple times. Oh well, we are happy to have a tree and it was FREE (thanks Grandma and Grampa.)

 

My festive Christmas towels!

Yes, she is in her Halloween onesie (Hey, gotta get use out of it since it still fits and we were just hanging around the house.)

And here she is opening a present for the first time ever! (Another gift from Dee.):

  

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Biker Baby!

On Saturday I went to a cookie exchange at church and Arya went with Daddy to do her Christmas shopping. While at the church I received this picture from Daddy:

He had Arya trying on this black leather jacket and wanted to know if he should buy it for her. I said he had to get it for her (and hey it was on clearance!).
When we got home we had her model it for us after properly outfitting her head for motorcycle riding. She did not hold still real well for the picture. She was moving around too much, this was the best of the shots we got.

Some day (when it is nice out again) we are going to get pics on Daddy's motorcycle. Also, a friend of ours if going to give us a Buell patch to put on the back of her jacket. Rock and Roll, Baby!

Christmas Music

A few weeks ago, Arya started dancing. She bops around while either sitting down or while standing at the couch (she can now lean on it to keep herself up) or somewhere else she pulls up on. It is so cute! It started with praise and worship music and has continued to do it with Christmas music. She is clearly a girl after Mommy's own heart! I LOVE Christmas music!

I have yet to get a video of her dancing. Daddy and I try but she stops whenever we turn on the camera. Silly girl!

But I thought I would a least share with you the one song she ALWAYS dance too! She starts boppin' with a HUGE smile on her face every time I turn it on. It must be her favorite Christmas song! It is performed by the Christian group Jump5.

(This was the only YouTube video I could find for it. Not the best but oh well.)

Walk This Way

As I posted a while back, Arya has learned to pull up and walk along the couch and other such things. Well, lately she has been trying really hard to stand and walk on her own. Also, a few months ago Great-Gma Joan gave Arya a little toy that is supposed to help a child walk. Arya was too little to use it, so I stored it under her crib. When my best friend came over with her two kids a few weeks ago her daughter got under the crib and pulled it out. I never put it back and Bradley started working with Arya to use it. Here she is tonight:

Yay, Arya! She is really getting the hang of it!

Dada

Arya loves her Daddy. But she hadn't added him to her vocabulary. She says "Hi," "Mama," and "Baba." (Baba seems to be ANY of her toys and our dogs.) Well, on Sunday while my family was here, she said "Dada!"
Daddy missed hearing it the first two times. He was getting ready for church and Aunt Shannon was playing with her. But, when he came in the room she said it again.

Visit with Family

As, I said in the Thanksgiving post, my parents and sister visited us. They went down to spend Thanksgiving with my other sister and her family. They stayed with us on Wednesday on their way down, and on Saturday while heading home. Here is Arya playing with Grampa Brian and Aunt Shannon on Wednesday.

Grampa found just how ticklish Arya really is!
Saturday we all had lots of fun together. Grandma and Shannon had to make sure and get their cuddles in with Arya.

Also, on Saturday we decorated our Christmas tree. Bradley and I have not had a Christmas tree every year-but last year (While pregnant) I told Bradley we had to have a tree every year for our child. For some reason we weren't taking pictures while decorating the tree. My parents had brought me all my ornaments from when I was a child. Here is Bradley's one contribution to the tree- a Mt Dew can!

On Sunday morning Grampa fed Arya her breakfast. I think it was his first time feeding her- and I think these were great pictures:

It looks like Arya's talking to Grandma who is taking the picture.

Arya's First Thanksgiving

Arya got to have TWO first Thanksgiving meals! On Thursday we went out to a restaurant with Grandpa Mike and Grandma Debbie. Then we went to their house to play games and hang out. When we ate, Arya got to try some new foods. She had cheerios for the first time, had some (non-baby food) sweet potatoes, and some pumpkin pie (no crust). Here she is having cheerios:

Here is a full shot of her Thanksgiving outfit. The personalized shirt is from Cafe Press.

 Her second Thanksgiving meal was with Grampa Brian, Grandma Suzanne, and Aunt Shannon. The three of them spent Thanksgiving down in Oklahoma with my sister Andrea and her family. They stopped with us while traveling through.