Baby Elizabeth enjoying the sun and attention. What a happy face!

Baby Mikayla not loving the camera so much, but enjoyed her beach time.

Our last stop was a “rest” stop on the way home. We stopped and visited with Aunt Janet and Uncle Art for one night. The day we arrived they had just had their annual Easter egg hunt with extended family and friends. Our bonus was that all of Rachelle’s Atlanta cousins were there and stayed for an evening of visiting. It has been years since we have all been together and it was a joy. The girls took a while to warm up, but they were in an unfamiliar place with loads of people. Emily warmed up first and loved playing with the new to her toys. Lily was great to play with Emily too. Eventually even Julia was running around and playing in the cubby under the stairs. The next morning we visited until after lunch and then headed on home to see Daddy. Thanks for the hospitality and the invite for future visits!

Julia was having fun running around playing and acting like her pixie self. At this moment she was supposed to come for a group photo, but had other things in mind.

Emily getting a special front porch hug!

Uncle Art and Aunt Janet with the girls. I wish the girls would pose better for photos, but it was cold and they were just ready to go home and see Daddy!

We celebrated Christmas with extended family who visited for the holiday. We attempted a family photo and ended up with this awesome photo. I think the fact we got all the adults to look at the camera at the same time and not blink was a success and then adding Caleb’s expressive face to the mix made it over the top. Maybe one day the younger ones will want to look at the camera.

In the photo: Don Lieder, Ann Lieder, Jennifer Reichle, Philip Reichle, Joyce Reichle, Robby Edwards, Rachelle Edwards, Phil Reichle, Caleb, Nataniel, Emily, and Julia.

Scene 1 – The Visit:

The girls visited with Santa in Miami this year. Santa was visiting in an ice and snow palace and after talking with him there was a snow room that had snow for kids to play in. Emily was very excited to see and speak with Santa. She showed no shyness with him. There was no line behind us so she had plenty of time to talk. Santa asked Emily what she wanted for Christmas and she told him she wanted toys and a star for the top of the tree. Santa was very kind and sweet with the girls. Julia had a different response to Santa. She cried at the idea of sitting with him. In the end, Mommy had to sit next to Santa and Julia on her lap. The girls were not sure of what to make of the faux snow, but liked to watch Mommy play in the snow and throw it into the air.

Scene 2 – The Message:
Some sweet friends of ours arranged for the girls to receive their own individual messages from Santa. We recorded the girls watching their videos. The messages were quite a hit! Emily continued to talk about what Santa told her through Christmas.

Emily’s Video Message-

Julia’s Video Message-

Scene 3 – Christmas Morning:

Christmas morning we found that Santa had visited the house and left lovely things in our stockings. Among what he left there was a Christmas star, princess coloring book, Backyardigans characters, Ernie doll (a Julia favorite), ponies, musical instruments, and toy kitchen utensils. The girls loved finding their stockings and were excited to empty them out. There were lots of excited proclaimations of discovery and joyful facial expressions.

Emily received a kid’s digital camera for Christmas from Uncle Doug and Aunt Saba, and it has been a hit. Somehow she knew immediately what to do with it. She only needed one half lesson on what the buttons were for, and she ran around taking photo after photo. When Robby downloaded them, the total was over 300 that she took the day of Christmas and the day following. It has been interesting to see the photos and reflect upon the fact that this is the world from her eyes. She took photos of people, people taking photos of her, toys, things that were important to her, random things, ceilings, carpets, and many more. Here is a sample of her photos – They aren’t going to win awards, but they are expressions of her perspective and interests.

Here are more photos from our family photos. They include photos with Grandparents, Uncle Philip, Aunt Jen, Caleb and Nathaniel. I have the photo release and will have them printed. Because there are so many, if anyone wants a copy, please let me know what photo you would like and what size you want.