A visit with our KY friends, the Kalanys, was fun for all. We took a few pics. Since we only see them about once a year, the kids will have changed a bunch by our next visit. Maybe in the summer...we hope!

Christmas Day continued...Ellery got a shirt from Tia Kate that is from Uncle Brad's hockey team so we captured a few pics of that gift. She was sitting on the stairs with Lito in a cute picture, but the moment passed before I got the best shot. Her favorite thing to do these days is cling to mommy so we had to capture that.

Christmas Eve and Christmas morning--Ellery also opened one gift on Christmas Eve. It was a fun barn from Noni and Lito. We didn't get many pictures of her on Christmas day because she napped when everyone else opened presents, and she really wasn't too interested in her presents. Plus I had misplaced my camera and couldn't find it when she saw her cart from Santa. She got three presents from Santa, just like baby Jesus. She definitely liked pushing her shopping cart around.

Christmas fun--while in KY, we visited my best friend from high school. Her new baby was a fascination to Ellery as are all babies now. I guess even though she still acts like a baby at times, she realizes she is more of a grown up toddler. She also had fun tearing in Noni's kitchen cabinets. Ellery can now say a couple "words" like "dah" for dog and "bah" for ball. She says something for yes that must be an imitation for the Spanish word for yes (si) because she sounds like she is saying "sah". She really likes to copy behaviors like blowing on her food or giving kisses or whatever her brother does (spitting, car sounds, etc).

Kentucky snow made our Christmas visit extra fun. Ellery was not sure about the snow at first. She just stood there and looked at it. The bottom two pictures are from the first day of snow play. The second day that we went out, she was ready to sled and wanted to climb the snow covered deck stairs. She didn't exactly have the right clothes so we had to use some old boots of Elan's and his old hat and gloves. Not many chances for playing in snow in GA, so there was no point in buying winter clothes for her.

Chrsitmas celebrations have begun. Last Sunday Ellery wore her dress that looks most like Christmas, and we snapped a few pics before church. Wenesday night, the 16th, we had our first Christmas celebration with Anthony's family. Ellery didn't wear the snowman "ears" for more than a minute, but we tried to get a quick picture. She was really excited about the new baby stroller and baby doll she received. Christmas Day should be fun!

SANTA! Ellery is not a fan of Santa this year. She wouldn't sit on his lap for the free pictures at Walmart, and at Elan's preschool Santa breakfast I had to sit with her again. This Santa tried it all: showing her a book, jingle bells, etc. She laughed at Elan with the jingle bells, but wouldn't let go of mommy. Bet she will like what he brings her for Christmas, though!