Sitting, sitting.

Eliana loves, LOVES, loves to sit up all the time. She still needs support, but she's doing pretty good. She is all about watching everything that is going on around her. She also likes to play with toys, so we sit her up in her swing to let her play. Last night we had the seat reclining so she could nap in her swing. She was so determined to sit up, that she actually fell asleep sitting up... she didn't want to lean back at all!

Tagged

We've been tagged! The Guntzel Girls tagged us for this photo tag! The rules are simple:
1. Post the sixth picture from your sixth photo album
2.Hope you remember the details, then explain the picture
3. Tag five other people by leaving a "You've been tagged" comment on their blog. Ask them to look at the directions on your blog.

So, here's our 6th picture in our 6th album...


This is a picture of Franklin and I (obviously)... We took this in June of '07 when we were trying to get a picture of us for people to put on their fridges to remember us by for when we travel overseas. We never ended up sending out the pictures... maybe in January we'll send out one with Eliana included. We'll see....

My victims for this "tagged" deal are:
1. John and Charlotte (who have already been tagged, but with a different pic #... I just want to see more of their pictures.)
2. Lindsay
3. Elizabeth (who rarely posts, so this will give her an excuse to do so)
4. Renee
5. and Karen

St. Nicholas Day (Dec 6)

Ever since I was little, my family has celebrated St. Nicholas Day. Mom always has said that she learned about it when we lived in Belgium. According to her it was a way to separate the commercialism of the holiday season from the true celebration of Christmas. So, on Dec 5 evening we all put out wooden shoes and St. Nicholas comes and fills them with little gifts. Almost every year one of these gifts was a hand-made ornament from my mom about something that happened in our lives that year. (Interesting that Mom and St. Nick worked so closely together...) Anyway, this year we celebrated St. Nicholas Day with Eliana. Here's what we found Dec. 6 morning.

Eliana got two shoes full of gifts... a first as far as I know. In them were a rubber duck for bathtime, two rattles for her wrists, and a pacifier (which she still refuses to use). She also got a book of nursery rhymes. Her mommy, daddy, grandma Dorine, and grandpa Russ also got gifts, but they aren't as interesting as hers.

Happy Thanksgiving!

On the actual Thanksgiving Day we went to Aunt Doris' house to be with my Dad's side of the family. In the above picture are Susie, Matthew, Dad, Grandma, Eliana, me, and Franklin. Not in the picture, but at our celebration were Aunt Doris, Uncle Allen, Scott, and Morgan.

On the Friday after Thanksgiving we celebrated with Mom's family. In the picture below are Matthew, Susie, Mark, Kristen (with Aili growing inside, due Jan 11), Debbie, Mom, Me, Russ, Eliana, and Franklin.