Swish! Swish!

Grandma Christian always gets the girls beautiful dresses and she hit the spot for Danielle this year. As soon as Dani put on the dress, her eyes sparkled and she smiled ear to ear. The swish-swish of the dress made her day. We were covered in glitter, but Danielle was super happy which was wonderful!

Christmas Gifts

Danielle is the best gift we have ever been given! And now, she even comes wrapped at Christmas! This is Danielle "helping" me wrap gifts this year.

Some gifts had some interesting crinkles to the paper this year!

So....

It has been a long time. I have a lot of catching up to do!

Danielle has changed a lot since October :), so hopefully I can document the changes well for those of you who follow the blog.

I am Lutheran

Danielle's current favorite books include The Lutheran Worship (the hymnal) and her devotion book. She will spend a lot of time sitting in her rocker paging through these two books.

I am 15 months old TODAY!

Today is Danielle's 15 month birthday! She has many new tricks for which she is very proud. She climbs on anything that is off the ground more than an inch. Our challenge is to help her know what is not supposed to be climbed upon (certain toys, buckets, ziplock containers, etc.) and what is dangerous to climb (stairs, things that roll, etc.). She has no fear, so those things we deem dangerous she is starting to master! She is talking more and more, saying things like "Yo Yo Yo" for yogart, "zzzz" for zoo, "oh yea" when things are delicious, and more fun things. We have been teaching her baby sign language and has mastered the words please, thank you, more, eat, and milk. She continues to light up our world and others as she blows kisses, waves to everyone, and truly showers us and others with love. What a blessing-filled 15months this has been!

Our little reader

Danielle is really into books right now. It is exciting to watch her throughout the day pick up different books, find a chair that she wants to climb (yes...she climbs everything these days), and sits in her chair with books surrounding here. She will spend a significant amount of time "reading" on her own and then she will come and sit on my lap to have some different books read to her. It is very fun. Danielle is finding many and unique places in our home that are comfy for curling up with a good book.

Estes Park Vacation

Last week, Nate, Danielle and I went to Estes Park for a few days of R & R. Grandma and Grandpa Christian were there for the first part of our vacation, so we were able to enjoy a lot of fun times with Gma & Gpa! Danielle and Nate hiked the mountains for the first time while I was feeling "back at home" after not being on the trails of Colorado for almost 11 years. It brought back great memories for me from my Adventure Staff days at LVR. We are already making plans for our next visit...hopefully to hike a 14eener. :) We are going to start training for that adventure!