The rest of the tree trimming pics

 As I was tweaking the settings on our camera for our family picture, it caught some seriously heart-melting moments.

 One of many takes

 That evening, Anna took her time winding down before coming to me for her night-night milk. 

I <3 these moments

 Knittel Christmas Tree 2011

Putting beads *back* on the tree is serious business.

We are very fortunate that cup of coffee A dipped her hand in and spilled wasn't actually HOT. My reaction was somewhere between horror at what could've been, and ...pride? I mean, the girl repeatedly stuck her hand in the mess and gave it licks. She likes coffee.

ETA: the coffee horror was completely utterly outdone just now. Seconds after she was stripped for her bath the girl peed (ho hum, that's a toddler for you). Then she stomped in it. Then she knelt down to *lick* it with my panicking "NO!" just barely interfering. Ohhhh Ann...

Christmas Tree Trimming 2011- Part 1

prancing around with her snackie in hand (her first taste of summer sausage)

We bought a new tree this year. It is a foot taller than our last tree. When it came time to attach the star, I asked how we're going to do it. We then proceeded to stare blankly at each other. Hmmm. We eventually decided it was appropriate to find a sturdy object on which to boost Stephen's height. Even after the added foot to his height, it was a difficult task to place the star.

See? Yeah. Hopefully the little one will pick up star-placing skills from somewhere else, because she isn't getting them here.

... meanwhile, she finds the beads

Oh, the beads! How awesome is life.

This girl's faces crack me up!

    

... more pics to come of our tree-trimming adventure tomorrow. I'm beat!

I'm posting on my iPhone, and I'm not certain how well this will work. I chose a couple pictures to post, yet they aren't showing up here in this box, but at the bottom as attachments. I'll be interested to see how blogger formats this entry.

If I can get it to work for me, updating here from my phone would be awesome. Though my last attempt failed (miserably), I'm trying desperately to get away from the drive-by tendencies of Facebook. I post there out of habit and major convenience. Yet, it's not convenient at all when you choose to look back on past entries. You spend an hour of your life clicking "see more posts" until your eyes are glazed over. Facebook's lack of archive capability is just one of its major drawbacks. I'm fed up with the ever-changing privacy issues. It's a bother more than not.

So here we are!

Anna is almost thirteen months old and time is whipping by like crazy. Tomorrow we trim the tree and commence Christmas movie watching, with snacks and togetherness time. Anna will be participating this year. Newly-walking and tactile-geared, I wonder what her participation will look like.

The pictures here are from tonight. I was preparing Fiesta Chicken and Rice when Anna took her usual stance at the hem of my nightgown. :)