Quick Successions: New Mexico Edition

This little girl is almost 27 months old. She was very cognizant of Christmas this year, which made it really fun. Her favorite Christmas songs were Deck the Halls and Jingle Bells. She was very sad when we took down the tree about a week ago. She recovered by listening to her device that looks like an iPhone but is really an old iPod. Her favorite songs are Baby Beluga and Down By the Bay, both by Raffi. But she is also a big fan of Outkast since the time she was a baby. She knows how to get on her device and find Hey Ya! What is funny is after that she usually listens to something from Les Miserables. So overall, her tastes are quite eclectic. She is also in the stage of lining things up. Hence, the lego gallery. She started playing with legos when she was with her father in church. Another father there had legos for his child and he shared a few with Hannah. She was hooked. We went and bought her a small set soon after and then more for Christmas from us and from her grandparen...

Our church starts at 1:30 p.m. and ends at 4:30 p.m. this coming year. Today was our first day. I have never had church this late before. Hannah was very well-behaved in church and made it home without going to sleep. This is a feat because it is a 20-minute drive to the church building. It is also -11 outside so Hannah wore her winter peacoat.   

One of my friends decided to blog about her top moments from 2013. Honestly, this was a really hard year, so I don't know if these are top moments, but they are definitely important transitions that I underwent this year that have made me see the world differently.  #4 Leaving Teaching I taught in public school for 10 years. Nine of those years were spent at Springville Junior High. I really loved working with those children and those families, but I always wanted to get a doctoral degree. Before I had my daughter I was worried that when I got a PhD I wouldn't have anything to look forward to and I couldn't see my future afterward. When I had my little girl, I realized I would have her whole life to look forward to and so I was finally free to go back to school. We debated and debated about whether to go now and wait, but I really advocated for going as soon as we could. I don't if this was the best way, but now that I am over halfway done with my coursework I fe...

We rotate our NYE food, fun, and fanfare. Some years we do pizza. Some years we go out to eat. Some years we make food. This year we made food with an Asian flair. The photo features teriyaki beef, chicken curry, and rice. There are also some lil' smokies sausages because I associate them with New Years'. We rented a movie and watched it since it is hard to do too much with small children.  Tomorrow, we are going to a new Year's Day party with some people Brian and I had a class with over the summer. One of the curiosities about this university is that there is a lot of social drinking at all levels, not just the crazy undergrads. For instance, at the end of this semester, my professor took our class to a bar and paid for drinks during the time we would have had class. We also went to a party for my new supervisor at her house and they had to look around for several minutes to find water for us. While we were drinking it, about seven people tried to take it and get...

We got up this morning just after 11 a.m. Both Brian and I woke up around 7 and I went downstairs to start getting food ready and when I was done Brian was asleep again so I went back to bed too. So 11 was when we started the Christmas fanfare. Hannah is toilet training and so she was not quite ready to open presents, as you will see in the video.     She eventually got into the spirit and tried to open every present. We let her help open even the ones that weren't hers. When she had a pile and started playing we let her stop. Here is our Christmas feast. I made citrus roast beef in the crock pot. It has lemon, orange, onion, cilantro and parsley. It had a very good subtle flavor. We also had Yukon gold potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade cranberry chutney, salad, homemade rolls, lemon pie, and pumpkin cake. Hannah and I made the cake and pie together the day before. These pretty plates were on sale at Kohl's. I kept going to visit them so Brian i...

There is a store called Bargain Depot near our house and I saw a sign that said Santa was there. So we stopped by. We weren't sure if she would like him, but they were fast friends.  

Here is the original. Through the miracle of cropping, you can't see how I am poised to catch her, but here is our shelf elf.