Lots of Pictures!

This update will be mostly pictures. A friend did a photo shoot for us and we got some beautiful pictures. We went to Maricopa to visit with my sister and Kristen's cousins. We also went to a Christmas party where Kristen participated in a Secret Santa exchange and hosted a Christmas party. It's been a busy week.

Here are a few pictures from the Christmas party with the secret Santa exchange. Kristen received a little Elmo doll and she is in love with it. On the ride home from the party she kept singing songs about Elmo and hugging him.

Our friend Nia (http://noyanphotography.blogspot.com/) took some beautful pictures of our family. There were so many wonderful pictures. I'll post some of my favorites here. I hope you enjoy them.

My Little Artist

Kristen is a big fan of coloring. She loves to color and then show off her work to her mommy. She is especially fond of drawing "round and arounds" (her words for her squiggles). It's amazing to watch the progression in her artwork. It used to be one solid color smeared across the paper and now she is incorporating lots of color and doing some very precise drawing. I thought you might enjoy seeing a sample of her work.

Santa!

We went to the mall to see Santa today. Kristen was very excited to see him. She practiced sitting on my lap and telling me what she wanted for Christmas. While we were in line waiting she kept trying to go up to him. When it was finally our turn she shrieked "Santa" and ran right to him. Then she freaked out. Apparantly, a big bearded man in red suit is scary up close. She threw the loudest fit of any kid there. Santa was great. He talked very calmly to her and took his time getting her on his lap. She still wasn't thrilled about it and kept trying to squirm away. Timothy was perfectly content to hang out in Santa's arm. He was smiling and looking around the entire time. As soon as we were a safe distance away she became enamored with him again.