Helpful Anneke

We thought we'd show everyone just how helpful Anneke can be! 

Favourite Photographs from Christmas 2011

I love this one for the way Anneke`s face is lit (below)...

 Anneke is so intense in this one (below)...

You have to love any photo that works with snow falling (below). 

This is the first snow fall that has any potential of staying for the winter. 

Grandma and Grandpa wanted to walk Anneke around in it...

 I would salute, too, if I was in such an awesome sleigh as this one.  Nice find, Opa!

I think this is a nice family shot...

 Every once in a while, Anneke just needs to rest for about half a minute and then she`s up and going again...

 

Merry Christmas, everyone! 

and

Happy New Year!

Snowy (?!?) Walk

Well, the snow finally started here in Southern Ontario today.  Anneke and Grandma and Grandpa went out for a little walk.

Tomorrow we head up to Eastern Ontario....do they have more snow for us to play in?

Christmas #1

We survived the first four months of the school year and are now thoroughly enjoying our two weeks off!  This year, Anneke is really having fun with Christmas--she loves opening the presents, although she is sometimes more intrigued with the paper than with the gift inside the paper!  But she is definitely loving her new toys!  Here are a few pictures from Christmas #1:

 She got a rocking horse from Grandma and Grandpa.  She's not too sure about it....it neighs and the tail "swishes."  So she pets it, but doesn't stay sitting on it for long.

 Anneke is totally into forts lately.  She loves crawling in and out and playing peek-a-boo with whoever will play with her.  Here Grandpa is in her fort with her.

 Playing Wii.  I will be the first to admit that I suck at Mario Cart!

Cute little Christmas girl in her cute little Christmas dress.

Snow Fun

We got a fairly good dumping of snow yesterday.  So today Anneke and I walked to the mailbox.  It was really the first time she's walked any distance in her boots and the first time the snow pants have been put on, and she did really well!

 At first she fell down in it and didn't really like that.  But once I put her mittens on and showed her that she could put her hands in it she got the hang of it!

A short video of her playing in the snow:

Baby boot prints, tiny steps.  I love it!

Fun

We have been having lots of fun playing with Anneke lately.  She catches onto things quickly and makes us laugh!  It's a great time!  Here are a few pics:

 Playing with Daddy and the puzzle.

 Snuggling after she woke up from her nap today.  She's become a good "couser" (sp?  I have no idea how to spell that....but it means cuddler in Dutch)

 She's a climber.

 The Christmas Tree was a surprise this morning.  She did well today, only pulled off one ball and this soft snowman.  She likes looking at everything and occasionally swats at things!

 I told her to look at Daddy and she saw the camera and posed like this!  Crazy kid!

Our big girl!

Little Miss Chatterbox

We have almost survived our first "both of us being teachers and writing report cards" season.  By almost I mean--I'm done, Dave's not.  So a few more days and hopefully life will be back to "normal".  We've already declared next weekend as a "no-schoolwork-allowed" weekend.  Hopefully we can get some of our Christmas stuff up! 

Anneke, on the other hand is doing great!  She is growing so much and learning so much, it's really unbelievable!  She's totally catching onto things we do and wanting to do them too.  And I have to raise the bar with my cooking efforts now because she wants to eat everything we eat.  So that means trying to get supper ready and Anneke-appropriate quickly so she can eat with us.  A couple of the latest things:
~She's learning to say "please" in sign language
~She loves her stuffed animals and is almost always carrying one around
~She's been playing with her cars and making car noises as she drives them around
~She says "woof, woof" when she hears a dog
~She's got hilarious new sounds effects (I'll have to try and post a video later this week when I have time to let it load....)
~She still loves reading her books and watching Baby Einstein/Praise Baby movies (we've also tried a Veggie Tales or two....)
~She can climb the stairs on her own and get back down
~She's practically running everywhere--yesterday she walked all the way around the block!
~She's learned to "talk" on the phone and everything is a phone, including the calculator!  And after she babbles for a minute on the phone she does this hilarious little click of her tongue.  It's priceless!
~And she's growing like a weed!  I had to wash the 24-month clothes this week!

Enjoy a few pictures (we haven't been very diligent with the picture taking lately...)