Cheers to 2011!

John's birthday was New Year's Day, but we had to celebrate a day late because New Year's Eve weekend is such a busy time for rock stars. Julia had a big plan for when John walked in the house. We were both to hide under the table and jump out and scream, "Surprise! Happy Birthday!" Julia waited under the table very patiently (for about 20 minutes) while he unloaded his equipment, talked to a guy that was outside hunting and FINALLY, made his entrance! Julia and I baked him a strawberry cake and she could hardly wait to share it with him.

I think the days of us being able to blow out our own birthday candles are over around here!

Julia likes to steal our thunder.

Emmy got Julia a rock painting kit for Christmas and she has spent many hours sitting at the table painting rocks. Good thing there is no shortage of rocks around here!

Julia has some "friends" that she likes to drag around with her everywhere she goes. She has very in-depth conversations with them and likes to tell them what to do. Here's Slinky Dog and Rudolph hanging out at the table with her.

Here's old Slinky Dog again....hanging out at bath time. He has a band-aid on his head due to an injury that happened earlier this week. I think it involved him falling out of the bed.

Dr. Julia's in the house. She says, "Mommy, I need to check you up." I think she means give you a check-up. And how about that black tutu to finish off the doctor's outfit??!

Counting Daddy's teeth

The snow started Sunday night and Julia had to go outside and check it out.

The first thing that she did was try a bite.

Monday was a snow day for me because you know these country hills can be treacherous! We stayed outside for a LONG time and had a blast. I was thinking that before Julia, we would sit inside and think about how pretty the snow was. And know, we actually EXPERIENCE the snow which is much more fun. Here she is making her first snow angel.

She ate a lot of snow. I have no idea why???

Snow ice cream!

And here is a shot of our living room floor after a snow day!

Julia wrote these numbers all by herself!

And the best news of the weekend.........

Christmas 2010

Julia and I spent a lot of time in the car driving around town looking at the Christmas lights this Christmas season. She had her favorites and insisted that we visit those over and over again.

Here we are getting ready to head out on a Christmas light adventure. She carried this little bag around with her for a couple of weeks. It was a gift from Jee Jee and Paw Paw that she got for her birthday. It had a little brass clock in it. I have no idea why she insisted on taking it everywhere....even to bed with her???!!. She is a funny little goose.

Hanging out with friends....

Christmas eve, Jessica, Jonny and Chloe came over and the girls made sugar cookies for Santa.

The finished product

Leaving reindeer food even though she was not entirely sure about Santa coming inside our house. I didn't talk too much about it because Julia can get really spooked about certain things!

The highlight of our Christmas Eve and Christmas was Julia's discovery of the Nutcracker. John and I dvr'd it not really thinking that she would be all that interested in it. She sat mesmerized and then got in front of the tv and started doing her own ballet moves. We have probably watched it 10 times and have hours of video footage of her dancing. We laughed until our bellies hurt!

Julia would make us fast forward the Nutcracker through the beginning which is the fun kids and gift part. She wanted to go straight to the hard core ballet. Can't wait to get Nutcracker tickets next year! Just goes to show you that you can't predict what she is going to like. I have never pushed ballet or dance but she definitely decided that she was a little ballerina....all on her own.

Fingers and blankie....how will we ever break this habit?????

Julia's first drink of hot chocolate. I gave her about a third of a cup full with some ice in it and she didn't come up for air. When I saw her face again, the cup was empty!

Santa's note

Santa did a great job picking out some toys for Julia. She has loved every single thing that he left. Except the book with 100 classic stories....too scary she says. I never thought about it, but The Three Little Pigs, The Ugly Duckling, and all of those stories are a little scary!

Julia slept in until 9 and went straight to the cookies to see if Santa had eaten some! Then she saw the toys and was so excited and cute.

My parents and Sarah came over for a late breakfast and more Christmas celebration. It was by far the best Christmas yet! Cozy, quiet and pretty lazy. I guess we didn't know what we were missing before we had Julia, but that little girl makes everything so much fun for all of us!

I am just wondering if this is normal....for a girl to need this many things in her nest? Her current favorites are Jelly (the tan Hello Kitty doll in the back), Slinky Dog, Bitty Baby, fabric teddy bear (the one she is laying on and she named it that because someone made if for her), brown teddy bear (with the blue nose) and always lots and lots of BOOKS!

The start of a gingerbread train project

The finished product!

Fun with icing!

Julia's Pre-Picasso art class at EACC has come to an end. We loved every minute of it and I think it was a one time opportunity. Miss Laura said that she was retiring to move to Nashville and find a "big girl job." She was so good to our kids and Julia loves getting creative. She asked me for several days after our last class if art class was today.

A group shot of the art class group minus Devin who wasn't into getting his picture made. You might notice a bunch of pink mouths in this picture because their last art project was decorating sugar cookies and they used LOTS of pink icing!

One of many art class project. This was a paper mache' pig that started with a balloon!

Julia and I went to the Arts Council Festival of Trees this year where lots of organizations and businesses around town decorate a tree. Julia made friends with this guy who sat under CherryFest's tree. We spent lots of time sitting next to this guy. I had to drag her away every time. I can never predict who or what Julia is going to like. I am not sure what this stuffed animal had going for it????

Here we are in front of CrossRidge's tree. These hugs (and me picking her up) are getting fewer and fewer!

John took this picture when I was at work one day. They were heading out to hike in the woods. John had her dressed in a snowsuit and Ugg boots. He said that before they finished the trail that she complained of being hot and he had to take her boots off of her and CARRY her the rest of the way!!! It was probably 50 degrees! He's a little over prepared sometimes!

Stolen goods....

I had to post some cute pictures that I have stolen from friend's blogs...

This is my very favorite picture of Julia blowing out her candles at her birthday party. I love seeing her so happy surrounded by friends! Thank you Tara, for capturing this moment!

We celebrated Yazuki's 2nd birthday at Pump it Up. Apparently, there was an electrical fire in the bathroom and they whole place had to be shut down for an hour before we could go in. Just made it more fun and gave us some time to hang out in the car! Here's Maggie and Julia anxiously waiting to go in!

Julia being a ham at the party.

Love this picture of Sam! Looking good in the shades!

Here's the birthday girl! They had so much fun playing and running inside Pump it up! Julia played it safe and hung out in the bouncie and playhouse. She wasn't much into the big slides.