Fun w/ Grandma & Grandpa

Amara spends a TON of time at Grandma & Grandpa Jahn's house and has a TON of fun there too! Especially after dad is done for the busy season, she gets them both all to herself, at least part of most days.

She loves the dogs, and Smoky particularly loves her back. Max is fine with her--but she and Smoke have a bond it seems. That dog, I swear--he lets her do ANYTHING to him! When she was little, Smoke would even let her pull herself up on his FACE! no kidding!

She also gets to do a lot of 'day-to-day' house stuff at mom and dads. She loves exploring and finding things, and when she does--she finds uses that suit HER needs best. Case in point, I believe this gray doggie bed used to be Ilys. She found it, and of course, it's a favorite spot now.

In addition to stuff "around" the house--she of course is outside 90% of the time, as weather allows. On this particular day (apparently) to rake leaves, grandma decided to dress her either as barney, a teletubby, or an oompah-loompah, i can't decide which...but it's apparently great for raking leaves!

Mommy's coat

My mom has lovingly saved a TON of things from my childhood. One of the most notable items has to be my "pink fur coat." Although I clearly don't "remember" wearing the coat firsthand, since I was about 18 months old, I have seen pictures of me in the coat, as well as I've seen it hanging in mom's attic since I was old enough to remember.

Being a June baby myself, most of my old clothes seem to fit Amara perfectly with the correct seasons--so, as mom was digging out holiday decorations, she came across the coat.

It was SO soft and so broke in, she immediately took to it!

I'm not sure how much she wears it at Grandma's, but it was really sweet to see her in it, regardless. I'm so glad that mom saved these things for me and that we have this opportunity to share the past and the future too!

Suncatcher craft

One of the sweetest gifts ever, was that Eric decided to give me a pie plate--designed and decorated by he and Amara; however, I guess pie plates aren't the "most commonly requested" item, so it had to be ordered.

In the meantime, Eric thought of an ingenious way to "relay the present" to me--by doing a suncatcher craft (which he and Amara sneakily did at Grandma's house) and then giving me a beautiful heartstonewear (sp?) star motif pie pan.

Mom took these great shots of the first "daddy-daughter craft event" which I'm sure won't be the last, because I heard after-the-fact, how much fun they had...

...so now...we wait on the pie pan to come into the ceramics store, then we all go paint together. I have no idea how the finished project will turn out, but I promise to show--and in the meantime (and for always) I have my first craft project, a tiny plastic bee suncatcher, lovingly hand-painted by Amara and daddy to hang in my car.

Awwwwww.

Decorating cookies

To get ready for our Christmas with the Youngs, at Aunt Kristin's house, we decided to make some sugar cookies. Dad loves Grandma Harmon's sugar cookie recipe, so we whipped up a batch and let them cool.

Amara got started on the decorating. She didn't really care much for the icing part, but REALLY enjoyed shaking the colored sugar on them. By the end of the decorating escapade, Amara was decorating like a champ, and I think was genuinely dissapointed that all the cookies were iced and decorated. Guess this will be our new seasonal favorite--Valentines day is only 6 weeks away after all :)

Christmas afternoon with the cousins

Amara has 3 cousins, our nephews--Kalvin, Jackson & Garhett, or as she calls them "K, Jax, and G." After they'd had Christmas at their house, (and we at ours) we all went to the Jahns' for their Christmas together.

Amara really loves those boys and we knew she'd have fun watching them open and play with their gadgets, which she of course did. They were such a whirlwind of trucks, games, paper, etc. that I think she didn't know who to watch first!

She ended up with G's new helmut on, which was pretty funny in itself...then they all went into the basement to play with some new toys and old. ALSO--I didn't get a picture of it, but Jackson was playing with one of the helicopters we got him in the family room. Amara thought it was clearly the funniest thing she'd ever seen--so, the next day, dad had his charged up and ready for her--and has been entertaining Amara with it every day since then.

Christmas morning at home

Well, after a very eventful Christmas Eve out--little miss slept in till after 11 Christmas morning! Eric had already made the fresh squeezed pineapple/ orange juice. Grandma Jahn brought breakfast casserole, and I made mini-tater tots and biscuits...not to mention, the living room was filled with presents, all 4 grandparents, Kristin and Jim, Ily (Shadow was in the garage), and E and I bustling around. We'd all eaten and were enjoying our spiked coffee, when the littlest Young awoke...

When she finally made a peep, Eric and I raced up to get her (for fear she'd fall back asleep again) and quickly told her that all her Grandparents and Aunt Kris/ Uncle Jim were here (we've long-since learned that she doesn't do well with "surprise" guests waiting for her downstairs.) So both Grandmas came up to wish her good morning, and we headed downstairs for breakfast.

It took her a good 15 minutes or so to wake up, eat some breakfast, and really even acknowledge any presents. Mostly, she was interested in bows (of course) and occosianally as Eric or I would open something near her, she'd rip a scrap of paper off--then sign to one of us to open it. We kept the Grandpas hopping with tags, fastners, taped boxes, and installing batteries!

I think she had toy overload, because between all the people, toys, presents, etc., she didn't really know where to turn. She did enjoy some of the fun "pretty," smaller things in her stocking--that was fun. Clips, candy, pretty packaged, things...but mostly, I think she was quickly ready for her nap.

She had a VERY busy morning, with lots of family, love, memories, and laughs--it was a great Christmas morning, and I know we all had a great time!

Christmas Eve

The Christmas "window" for us this year was a long one! We started off at Christmas Eve service with my mom's church, First Baptist in G.C. Dad snapped one quick shot of Amara by the tree in her pretty Christmas dress, before we bundled up (it was COLD) and headed out! Poor thing had barely woken up from her nap, before we had to whirlwind out the door.

The service itself was nice--beforehand, she enjoyed seeing the drums and different instruments, but as soon as "quiet time" started, she was restless and not enjoying being contained in an aisleway between Mammaw, mom and dad.

She entertained herself with books, toys, and the nice couple behind us, but wow. What a LONG service--even though it was maybe an hour 15?

Back home and to bed, to get ready for a big day ahead!