Curls, MadLibs, Birthdays and a New Year

We celebrated the New Year big this year. Julia and I were snoozing away and John says he made it until midnight while he was downstairs playing his guitar. Julia and I baked John a strawberry cake for his birthday. He was very kind in saying it was "too sweet" when what he really meant to say was it was practically inedible. Oh well, he knows that it is the thought that counts. Today, we hung around the house and took down the Christmas decorations. Julia was very sad to see some of her new friends, like the singing Santa and Rudolph, being packed away.

Julia is becoming quite the communicator these days. Her vocabulary amazes us everyday. It seems like she is packing in the new words by the hour. I think it would be safe to say that she knows 40 words! The funniest thing that she is doing these days is "reading" a book. She gets somewhere by herself and turns the pages. She talks in Chinese and her voice tone even changes as she talks. She clicks her mouth when she turns each page. It is too funny and John and I can't figure who she learned the clicking trick from, but we both read to her constantly and are so proud that she seems to have picked up "reading" so early in her life!

Some curls seem to have appeared lately! The are more obvious on humid days, but definitely there. Julia's hair is getting longer and thicker everyday!

One of her favorite things to do is to help us unload the dishwasher. She hands us each utensil separately and we have to say "thank you" after she hands us each one. It does take some time and patience, but it's worth our while!

Julia telling the Christmas tree good bye.

"If we can't leave the whole tree up, can we just leave the fallen needles? They are lots of fun to play in!"

"I can even scoot around in them!"

Our day ended in the hot tub where Julia fell fast asleep in my arms. She was so relaxed! We are looking forward to a great 2009....so Happy New Year and Happy Birthday John!

Oh yeah....about the Mad Libs. Are we the only family that has ever heard of them? It is a dorky word game that you can buy where you have to come up with words and then transpose them into a story. John and I laughed until we cried playing Mad Libs over the past few days. We must be really hurting for adult entertainment! And, I finished the "Guernsey" book...wow, it was on my top twenty all time favorites list! Picked up "Three Cups of Tea" to start on soon.