Tuesday, January 04, 2011
Christmas and New Year's
The past couple of weeks with dear friends and family has certainly made this Christmas and New Year's a blessing. We spent an early Christmas with Brent's family and then several days with my mom over actual Christmas. This year as one of our gifts to our families, we went to a pottery place and made trivets and plates using Harper and Addy's hand prints. Addy was a pro with her hand print, holding her hand out wide and being very still. Harper, on the other hand, was not so sure about the process! :) But the end products were so cute, and we had fun making them.
It took three hands to pull off Harper's hand print. Nothing like a little creative torture, right? :)
Here is Addy having no problems getting her hand painted up!
And here is Kathy opening up one of the finished products!
Mimi and T-Pa knew Harper and Addy were both getting kitchens for Christmas so they got the girls all set up with some pretend food.
I just love Brent's dad's laugh so I had to include this picture in the mix!
Then for our time in Ft. Worth, we ate at some yummy restaurants and went to the Kimbell to see the Maya exhibit and the Modern Art Museum. My mom is always a member at various museums so we can all see the artwork for free. Harper really liked the Modern Art Museum and would look at the art and point out different colors or if she saw a "ball" shape.
My mom and I at Twisted Root
Harper and Daddy split a "buffison" burger, which is buffalo and venison meat. She gobbled it up!
I love the pool of water that surrounds the Modern Art Museum.
Brent took this artistic shot inside where you can see my shadow down low and Brent's shadow up high, with the water reflecting on the walls.
Brent and Harper doing some reading. Harper carries books up to us and says, "Read! Read!" It is still her favorite activity.
Another favorite past time in Ft. Worth was watching Juneau, my mom's German Shepherd, in the back yard!
And my mom has a tent she sets up for Harper in the living room, and Harper loves to hang out and read and play toys in there.
On Christmas morning, here is my mom with her Harper hand print trivet!
Harper got lots of fun toys, including a drum set with instruments, some puzzles and more books.
Her favorite part of the packaging was the bows!
Our good friends Theresa and Emily gave Harper this towel embroidered with her initials...Harper is very excited about it!
And the excitement continues with her kitchen from Mommy and Daddy.
One of Harper's favorite things to do is go behind the kitchen and peek through the little window.
"Hello!"
Another funny detail is Harper's new attachment to her play salad tongs. She walks around with them always hanging around her neck. We say it is her "signature chef move" to always have her salad tongs ready at a moment's notice!
Uncle Brian and Addy came over to play one morning over the break.
The girls read lots of books!
Something else keeping me busy over the break was this rocking chair I painted. I have painted lots of wooden letters and picture frames, but never a piece of furniture before. It was a lot of work, but I loved doing it!
We had an early New Year's hang out time with the Pruetts, Cox's and Clarks. We ate some mouth-watering pulled pork and ribs that Zack prepared using his meat smoker and played a drawing game that is hilarious. I have not laughed that hard in a long time!
The guys...
...and the girls
Then on New Year's Eve, we got together with Krister and Tobin and Adam and Angie. Harper and Marin had not seen each other for almost two weeks, so they were very excited to play, and we spent the night so Harper and Marin got to have their first "sleep over" even though they were in separate rooms. Tobin truly outdid herself. We had a French theme to the night, "Au voir, 2010." Tobin created a four course French meal, beginning with cheese fondue and ending with chocolate souffles...it was so yummy and so fun!
We put the girls to bed before beginning our fancy, candlelit meal.
Brent, Krister and Adam
Angie, me and Tobin...this was after midnight so we were starting to fade a bit.
It has been a cherished year going through Harper's first full year of life. I can't wait to see how she will change and grow next year, and we look forward to what 2011 has in store!
