Happy Birthday Kevin!

Jenna and I enjoyed having you home all day Tuesday and half-day Wednesday for ice days! That was the best present to us. We love you - you are a great husband, daddy, dada (what Grant calls Kevin because Jenna was calling him that), uncle, etc. We hope you have a great birthday!

P. S. Happy Kansas Day, too!

Jenna's new tricks

This is one of my favorite pictures. Taken before Christmas break but I don't think I ever posted it. She has on my shoes and her old diaper bag. She told me "Bye!" I asked her where she was going and she said, "chooch" (church). She still does this quite often. She's always going to church.
Last week, Jenna came to show me what she had gotten into. She said, "I did it, pretty." I managed to get this picture (exactly what she looked like) before I helped her rearrange so she could see. She had gone to the dryer, reached up and grabbed this hat down and put it on all by herself! What a big girl!

Other things she is saying/doing lately that bring me joy: "hold you" when she wants to be held (I've been hoping she would say this someday); "coming?" when she wants us to follow her around the house; "bye budy!" (bye everybody!) when she leaves a restaurant, grocery store, etc.; "high you?" (how are you?) when she "talks" on the phone; "there go" (there you go) when I give her something; "k?" (ok?) when she wants you to agree to somthing; "zeba" Uncle Geremy's new name but also zebra (go figure); she loves to press her cheek against mine when we rock; and "Papa!" when we drive by KFC. Apparently, Papa looks like Colonel Sanders. Personally, I don't see it, but it makes me laugh every time!

On Jan 21, Jenna counted to 5 for the first time. She quickly moved on and now says 6, 8, and 10, sometimes she gets the 7 and 9. I love the face she makes when she says "4!" (See "Jenna counts 1-10" video.)

Here is a video of Jenna singing her ABCs (another recent development). She does a pretty good job. (See "ABCs take 2" video in Jenna singing and dancing folder.)

Animals

We went to Ft. Worth over the MLK weekend. The zoo was a big highlight for Jenna. As soon as we walked in she started moving her arms up and down and cheering excitedly!

Not so sure about the birds.

We had fun feeding the birds, though! One landed on Kevin's head.

These birds were really pretty and just out in the open. Not sure how they kept them there.

We went to the Rain Forest Cafe with Uncle Matt. She loved all the animals even though you can't really tell in this picure.

Calling Papa

Jenna had a great conversation with Papa a few weeks ago. Too bad we can't understand everything she's saying. Also too bad that Papa wasn't actually on the other end of her toy phone. Somehow she started talking with Papa and ended up talking with "Rogees" (Grover). (See "Jenna calling Papa" video.)

Important Things Jenna Learned on Vacation

I am so amazed at how much Jenna changed over the 3 weeks that we were gone. When we left, we were Dada and Mama; now we are Daddy and Mommy (sigh). When we left, she could only make the tones of "thank you;" now she says "ta tu" (thanks to her cousin's toy Elmo). I can't even keep up with her new words. But, "hold it," "have it," and "self" (as in "do it myself") are a few that stand out right now. She also said her first sentences over the break "my mic peas Bulaba" (my music please Lullaby) and "lil mose peas Papa" (little more please Papa). Here are a few special tricks she learned.Eating cereal with milk with Gama. I'm not sure I'm ready for her to try this at home.

Dunking cookies in milk (just like Daddy)! Personally, I am not a cookie dunker.

In this video, listen for her as she slurps the milk from the cookie!



Phew, I think I'm all caught up for a while!

Back to Colorado Before Heading Home

We went back to Colorado before heading home and managed to squeeze in some really neat activities. And Jenna was able to try out her stylin' snow suit from Grandma.

Saturday evening, Jan. 3rd, we went to the Zoo Lights. It was the perfect time to go, cold, but snowing - a fantasy world with all the lights! All the animals were really active. We saw bears, river otters, lynx, cougar, moose, hippos (opening their mouths real wide and splashing in the water). Jenna was thrilled with the giraffes! We visited them twice! In the video, if you look real close, you can see her doing her giraffe impression with her tongue.

First carousel ride - she loved it! In fact, she is still talking about it. She says, "Horsie, weee!" (with hand motions, of course).
The snow started Saturday evening and then continued through Sunday - my wish had finally come true! It was so great to see the snow falling! Monday we went into the Rocky Mountain National Forest to do some sledding. Don't let the pictures fool you, Jenna DID NOT like sledding this year. She was all excited until we got out of the car. Then once we got her bundled up she started crying and screaming and crying. She did go down the hill a few times and stopped crying during the ride but started up again once we quit. We never did really figure out what was wrong maybe a combination of "can't move in this snow suit," tired, and hungry. She did manage to calm down a bit for this picture with Papa and "Dak" and then was happy once she was unbundled and back in her carseat with a snack. We'll try again next year.

Jenna and "Dak" had the best time chasing each other around the house! "Dak" was the leader and Jenna copied everything he did. Notice the arms held back like they're flying. At one point (which we didn't capture) he bends down and touches his head to the ground and sure enough, Jenna did the same thing! Also, not captured was Jenna learning that it's not nice to push "Dak."

Jenna was a great traveler! We loved our time with all our family! Nice to be home, too. Jenna has had some recovering to do after all that fun with her cousins. We got home on Tues. Jan. 6th and Wed. (yesterday), she napped from 1pm to 4:30pm and then slept for 12 hours at night!

Keathley Merry Christmas

We were blessed to be able to see both sides of our family this year. We traveled to visit the Keathleys and Wards from Dec. 27 to Jan. 2. Jenna loved the rocking horse that had belonged to Uncle Matt and decided the horse needed some "nacks" (snacks). Or, maybe she just needed some snacks. Other highlights of Grandpa and Grandma's house were the big "bear" in the yard, the caroling "ducks," and her discovery of pickles.

Fun with new toys!

Somehow we forgot to take a group family picture, but the one above captures Uncle Matt (with his head cut off) and "Gama." The picture below includes Aunt Janet, "Gama", and cousin Rachel.

We enjoyed a warmer day by visiting the zoo. Jenna had a great time! Here she is showing Rachel where to go next.

Jenna liked the "wallas" (gorillas). They put on a pretty good show of "fighting" and pounding their chests.

We were excited to see the lions with their 2 cubs. After the lions we were trying to hurry to the giraffes before the zoo closed. Meanwhile, Jenna is discovering the new joy of pushing her umbrella stroller by herself and will not accept any help. Right as we got to the giraffes, they were locking the door to their inside cage. Jenna was throwing a big fit by then and one of the giraffes came outside to see what was going on! As soon as she saw the giraffe, she calmed down and all was right with the world again.