Life's a Zoo!: January 2009

Her Cuteness

Hi guys! For those of you that are just checking in, please keep reading, as I have multiple posts below. Actually these are just the photos that didn't fit with any of the others. I still have the desire to share them with all of you. Hope you like them!

Jeremy, Aunt Bonnie, and Harlie a few days after Christmas. It's so great to be around family. Definitely my favorite part of the holidays. Kelly, we missed you. Maybe next time!

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This is one of her new "things". She has found (oops, my fault) that she can really get a reaction if she sticks the spoon in her mouth and wiggles it around with her tongue/teeth. Also, notice the food smeared through her hair. Just another thing she does to drive me crazy.

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I really want to make sure we remember this part of her life. Harlie loves all of her toys, and she loves all of her books, but I never realized how much she would love this box of books my mom and dad got her for Christmas in 2007. There is one book for each letter of the alphabet, and they are just tiny little blocks. Each book has 4 or 5 pictures of something starting with that letter, and the word is written on the opposite page. She walks around for hours each day just shoving book after book in my face, pointing and screaming for me to tell her what each thing is. She has learned so many words this way. Of course she won't say any of them, but she can find anything we ask her to. I LOVE that this is what she is interested in at this point, and I want to make sure to remember it forever.

Vacation

Mike, Harlie, and I went on a little trip at the beginning of the month. We stayed in a sweet little cottage in Colonial Beach, Virginia. We had a relaxing week, and I can't wait to go back again. If anyone is interested in visiting a small town and just getting away, any time of year, check out this site: http://www.twinmaplesva.com./ The price is right and the cottage is so clean and has everything you need. Anything else you need can be found 5 minutes away. It's great.

Just the three of us on our last day before we made the trip back to PA.

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A gorgeous sunset on the beach

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A gorgeous girl during a gorgeous sunset on the beach.

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My little ham in her car seat

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Mother and Daughter

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Mikey and Harlie walking the beach. He actually had to grab her arm to keep her from running straight into the water (the Potomac River to be exact)

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So sweet!

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Harlie on the chair in the master bedroom of the cottage. She liked to play there every day.

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We took a trip to DC one day to visit the zoo. We all loved it, especially Nugget. Here she is looking in one of the aquariums. She would run from exhibit to exhibit pointing at the animals she saw. She's definitely my kid!

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This is when we knew we were back home. It's pretty, though, isn't it?

New Year's Eve

We had a nice quiet evening this New Year's. We had our regular group over for a murdery mystery (Pasta, Passion, and Pistols). We do them quite often and we always have a blast. If anyone ever wants to borrow one, let me know. I have a stack here that we've already done and once you go through them once you can't play them again. Anyway, here are the photos:

The boys: Rick, Mike, and Charlie (Rick was the killer, as he has been SOOOO many times)

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The girls: Shawna, me, and Stacy

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No, we didn't all dress in nice clothes for the evening. We were in our costumes for the mystery. We try to go all out for these things. This one was put together a little faster than usual, so no fancy decorations.

On a wonderful note, I just have to let all of you know that Shawna, my best friend since who-even-remembers-when, is pregnant!!! She and her husband Rick (the killer from the murder mystery) are expecting a little one around the end of August. We are SO SO excited. All in a matter of weeks he got a new job, they found out she was pregnant, and they found a house! The greatest part (aside from the baby in her belly) is that their new house is only five minutes from ours!!! I'll have her close enough to walk to (if we're feeling ambitious). Yay!

Christmas

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas this past year. Harlie was at such a great age. She understood that she was getting new things, but she wasn't holding her hands out for more more more. She just appreciated what she got.