Fish!

We finally got around to getting fish in the tank we got Jenavieve for Christmas. She always loved watching them in the store so we thought she'd enjoy them at home too. We were right! We have the tank right on the floor so that once she's mobile she can get to it herself (it has a child lock on the lid) and she loves laying in front of it, watching the swim around. The woman at the store recommended 6 fish to start, and then more in a week or so if we want more. We got some mollies and some platies because they are colorful and a bigger size than a guppy so they're easier to follow.

 
 

Christmas!

Jenavieve had a great first Christmas! She got tons of great toys and got to hang out with lots of aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. I put the pictures we have in a web album, we made the typical new parent mistake of taking 9 zillion pictures of Jenavieve and very few of anyone else, especially with Eric's family (oops!) but there were at least 2 other cameras at both Charnesky events so hopefully they will share (hint hint!)

There are captions explaining what is going on in some of the pictures, hopefully I'll find the time to post more about all the events though!

Christmas 2009

Cute jammies

These might possibly be the cutest pajamas on the cutest kid ever!

Church this week

There is a family at church that I know you've all heard us talk about. They have 4 great kids that we just love. This past Sunday was my day in the nursery, so Vivi got to hang out with the youngest 2 boys. Joey will be 6 in January, and is an excellent reader. He checked a book out of the church library called The Stable that Bob Built (It's a veggie tales book that is very cute!) and decided that he was going to read it to all the babies. He is the oldest in the nursery, the other kids are 2, 18 months, and Vivi. The 2 little boys were sitting at the table eating their snack, so Joey had a captive audience. He started reading each page, and then showing the boys the pictures before turning the page. After a few pages, Vivi wanted to get down so I put her in a chair at the table. When Joe noticed her, he paused the book and went back to the beginning to show her each page. After their snack was done, the 2 little boys got up to go play, but Joey kept on reading, and at the end of each page, he would get up, go find both boys, and try to make them look at the picture. Then he would go back to the table, turn the page, and do it all again. It was so sweet!















That same day, Eric, Joe, and Joe's dad were all wearing blue shirts and sweater vests, so we had to get a picture!

Lego Castle at the Henry Ford

We had so much fun at The Henry Ford the other day that we made Eric want to go too. The lego exhibit ends in a couple weeks so he wanted to see it.

The princess and the dragon

This week

This week has been the calm before the storm, gearing up for all of the holiday craziness. On Tuesday we went to my grandparents' temple for a Hanukkah lunch and Klezmer band. It was really fun! Vivi had her first challah and matzoh ball soup, she liked both, and she really enjoyed the music! There was a group of high school girls that came to see the band and they were clapping along to all the songs. Vivi kept looking back and forth between the shiny instruments and the kids clapping. She loved it! She was the only baby there so she got a lot of attention. My grandpa also showed us the braille bindery where he volunteers; that was really cool! They have people that type in books and they have a program that translates it into the braille dots, and a special machine that makes the bumps on the paper. Then they have to bind the paper together and send it out to people. They don't charge for the books, it's all a charity thing run by volunteers.

I am now done working until January, so we have lots of time for family and have a couple of play groups scheduled. Starting in January our library is doing some fun things for Vivi's age too, so we'll have lots of outings. We're also signing her up for a parent/child swim class that starts at the end of January, we found a bathing suit on clearance at Babies R Us last night for $3.70! Score!

Last night Jenavieve and I went to the library to hang out and get some new books. Our library is awesome, it has a lot of stuff for all ages. Vivi loves the instrument section; they have a soundproof room with all kinds of instruments to bang on.

 
 

Henry Ford

Today, Kaylee, Vivi and I went to the Henry Ford Museum. Macy's does a thing for kids every 2nd Monday where kids under 5 get in free and they have special activity stations. It was pretty busy because one of the attractions was seeing Santa and getting a free picture with him. I didn't think Kaylee would want to see him because she is going to another event to see him, and she's seen him at the mall, but even after seeing how long the line was, she still wanted to go. They had a station where you could write a letter to Santa, then we got in line. We were in line for an hour, but Kaylee never complained. They had musicians walking around playing Christmas music and volunteers talking to the kids, so they kept busy for most of it. When we finally got to see Santa they took 2 pictures, one for each girl to take home. I got to take pictures with my camera too. Then we had hot dogs at The Weinermobile Cafe and wandered around the museum for awhile. There is so much to see, we just saw a very small part of it. We bought a membership so we can come back and see the rest later.

Kaylee's favorite part of the day was the giant hot dog bun that you can lay in and get covered up with stuffed toppings. Jenavieve thought it was pretty funny too.

Gingerbread party at Brandon and Allison's

I guess we forgot to get a picture of the finished product, but I know Aunt Ann Marie took some (hint hint!)

Gingerbread

Reading the hymnal at church

 

First present

I should have posted this one before the Hanukkah one. Vivi got her very first Christmas present, from her Great Grandpa Frank and Great Grandma Jackie. She wasn't quite sure what to do with it, and was much more interested in the wrapping paper than the cute clothes inside!