Here is the third installment of our year-in-review video. It's all about Marianne. Kim found the song online, and we thought it was quite appropriate. We hope you enjoy it!

11 Months

Marianne is 11 months old! We have many pictures and videos of our Christmas trip home to post at some point, but for now this is about Marianne. She is an adventurous, climbing, clapping, happy girl. She had her first 2 ear infections during our trip to Oklahoma, and thankfully is on the mend. She loves to walk pushing her new stroller and holding hands - but has not taken a step on her own yet. She is saying "Dada" with definite purpose now - when we were apart from Brian in Oklahoma she would say it to the phone when she heard his voice. And she started signing "more" in Oklahoma! Yeah! She has 4 teeth, maybe some more on the way, and prefers finger foods to anything that resembles baby food...She loves for us to chase her, and thinks she is quite clever when she sneaks around to climb up the stairs. We have quite a few baby gates up these days. We love you Marianne!


We loved seeing family, but were glad to be out in the sunshine when we came home! This was in alumni park on campus, just after Evelyn was bitten by a duck. We tried to feed the ducks at the pond with some bread, and one duck was a little too bold! I think Evelyn was more frightened than hurt. She gave us a good smile for the picture when we told her to say "mean duck!" (Note: she has on a sleeveless 4th of July dress - anything sleeveless is her favorite. We compromised by wearing leggings, a turtleneck and a jacket too).

Genetics

Catch up

We have had so much fun getting ready for Christmas at our house! Today, we had some of our adopted college students over to decorate cookies that Evelyn helped to roll out, cut out and then ice! She did a great job!
Enjoying her pink gingerbread man (sugar cookie)

We put up our Christmas tree the evening of Thanksgiving, after we had a wonderful meal at another family's home from church. As you can see in the background, Evelyn helped hang these ball ornaments, and managed to put most of them on the same 2 branches. We decided to leave them there for the effect.

Granny Burns sent the girls these matching dresses. Evelyn was so excited, saying, "Its so fancy!" This dress definitely meets the "twirling" qualification.




We went to the LA zoo the day before Thanksgiving. It was a beautiful day, and not very crowded at the zoon.