Looking back

January 2009 - Kaitlyn 1 month old

<

Matthew 2 years old and 4 months

January 2008 in Bryan, Texas
1 year 4 months

January 2007 in Bryan
4 months old

Happy New Year

Matthew has a cute way of saying so many things. "Here are they!" when locating a lost treasure. "I think so, not. It's Nasty!" with emphasis. "That's Not good!" And with a real big laugh, "that's not funny!" And after coming back from Grandpa and Grandma's after New Year's, "that's dangerous," with very good enunciation.

Matthew's favorite question has become, "How?" We hear it often throughout the day. And after visiting Papa in Malta, he really likes the word, "fantastic!" He has always talked out loud while looking at books. Talking over what he sees and thinks about them. We have a Disney set of learning books that he really enjoys. And he'll talk about each Disney character that he sees throughout them. He also continues to talk out loud when he is out back by himself. Whatever he's thinking, I believe he almost always says it. I often tell the story of when he was first born, I didn't know too much about babies. I thought they either cried or were mostly silent. Not Matthew. From the moment he was born he started right in on his baby talk. Not even high pitched coos like adults can baby-talk back and forth with babies I had seen. But very low grunts and different sounds. What a sweetie. He also just started to sing this past month. He has quite a low voice. So great to see these sweethearts come along.

Two new teeth!

December 28 and January 8th, Kaitlyn's two newest teeth are in! That makes four now. No more little upper gums all by themselves.

Kaitlyn has changed so much these last two months over the holidays. The last week of October she accomplished crawling up and down our big flight of stairs. And she "worked" so hard at practicing standing while safe in bed. Up and down, up and down, over and over she would go before going to sleep.

Two weeks before Thanksgiving she could "walk" along the long table shelf that is just her height and along the couch. She wasn't interested in the stairs anymore. That wasn't much of a challenge anymore. Just wanted to practice walking all the time. She loved it when we could hold her hands and walk all around the house with her. When Uncle Roger and Shari visited November 7th, Kaitlyn took her first couple of steps to the couch! Shari knew just what to do to help her do that! And predicted she would be walking by Christmas.

After her birthday, she could walk from one end of the house to the other. She would hold on to something all along the way and take a couple of steps in between furniture. December 15th Kaitlyn walked all by herself! Just a little over one year old. She practiced in between Daddy and Mommy a few times and built up her confidence even more. The next morning she forgot that she could at first. But then was teetering around again. By Christmas, Kaitlyn is our full-fledged little toddler.

Almost exactly one week after Kaitlyn was walking, Matthew started playing with her. He of course has before, but only a little at a time before running off to something new. She is so much more interesting this way! There are so many possibilities! It was another little bit of a learning curve to realize how to play with her carefully. But it came along so quick and they both love the advancement in capabilities!

To Amsterdam for a visit

We made it to Grandpa and Grandma's! We had originally planned to be there for Christmas day but it didn't work out. Unfortunately, Uncle Lance & Aunt Jen, and their dogs, Cletis & Chloe were there Christmas day, too.
But we arrived the evening of New Year's Day. Happy New Year 2010! So much to be thankful for.

Matthew and Kaitlyn opened up one gift each before going to bed.

Now to celebrate our second half of Christmas. January 2, 2010!

So good seeing Grandpa Frank and Grandma Doris!

Great-Grandma Sinnema came over to celebrate with us also. Matthew possibly helped with the unwrapping of each gift from under the tree!

Kaitlyn really liked Great-Grandpa's little rocking chair. She spotted it immediately when we arrived and climbed on it and rocked in it throughout her stay.

The boys all received some pop guns for Christmas. The volume went up whenever they were in use! So sorry we missed you Uncle Lance for Christmas day! We unceremoniously opened yours and put it to use. It's still at Grandpa's waiting for you!

Matthew is following in Grandpa's and Daddy's shoes. He Really Enjoys pool!

Matthew went out and supported Grandpa in some of the shoveling. "It's too hard, Grandpa."

After taking these pictures, Adam pitched in a little too. That is one large driveway!

Nothing like a good spotlight! Daddy and Grandpa used this while checking on the pork shoulder that they smoked for thirteen hours out on the grill. They were very dedicated. It was cold! And it turned out delicious.

They played quite a bit of pool while we were there.

Baking cookies with Grandma.

Adam did a lot of cooking on his vacation. Sushi, pulled pork, craw fish etouffe, b-b-que ribs, smoked chicken, quiche, pancakes, french toast... Wow! We never had leftovers.

Kaitlyn really liked Grandma's hat.


While visiting we heard the good news that Roger and Shari are engaged! They have set their wedding date for March, 27, 2010 in Clearfield, Penn. Congratulations! We are so happy for you both!

Picture taken by Matthew!

So hard to say good bye!

We miss you very much! Heading back to Gillette on Saturday, January 9, 2010.

We even got a chance to stop by and visit at the Clerk and Recorder's Office. So nice catching up on how things are going. So good seeing you all. But sorry we missed you Eric.

And so nice seeing you Jaimie and meeting little Annika for the first time. What a darling! And she had no problem holding her own with Matthew.