Satchel Painting

Satchel has begun to get what painting and coloring with crayons are all about and she has begun to enjoy them. Notice the blue paint on her mouth and in her hair. At this point, painting generally occurs on bath day or if not, painting day will evolve into bath day.

Satchel's dress up obsession

Satchel is obsessed with trying on our clothes and our shoes. She is particularly fond of my slippers and sometimes will throw a minor fit if I'm wearing them and she thinks that she should get to wear them. I thought about buying her a pair of slippers of her very own, but I think that the novelty is that she gets to wear something that isn't hers.

Given her preoccupation with wearing our clothes, we have to be particularly careful that dirty clothes go directly into the hamper and not onto the floor, otherwise their libel to end up around Satchel's neck. Fortunately in the photos below, the clothes she is wearing are fresh from the dryer and clean. She is thoroughly enjoying herself.

Breakfast with the Cats

Satchel sits with the cats and drinks her bottle of milk while they eat their food most mornings. Birdie doesn't mind much, but Sammy usually clears out pretty fast and only returns to finish his after Satchel is gone.

Christmas

For Christmas this year, both Matt's family and my family gathered at a house that we rented in Northeastern Indiana. We had a wonderful time being all together, playing games, playing Rock Band, sledding, and we even did a toboggan run!

There was a mountain of presents on Christmas morning and about half of them were for Satchel. I think she was a little overwhelmed by it all.

Uncle Mark, Grandpa Doug, Grammie, and Auntie Meredith.

Grandma Ann, Grandpa Mike, and Grandpa Ted

Auntie Michelle and Uncle Jeff

Opening gifts.

Sometimes the bows are the best part!

New Curious George pajamas and book.

Opening the advent calendar with Auntie Michelle.

Uncle Mark got her a magnetic drawing pad which she loves.

She loves that drawing pad!

We got her a scooter which took her a little while to get used to. She spent a lot of time walking beside it and pushing before she decided to get on. Notice her level of concentration.

Uncle Mark also gave the scooter a try.

Uncle Jeff got a football for Christmas, but Satchel thought that it should be for her, too.

Grandma and Grandpa got Satchel a train set (Lucas would be proud!) but Grandpa and Uncle Mark got the most enjoyment out of it on Christmas morning. Notice Uncle Mark, the engineer, discussing very seriously the track layout.

Satchel did finally get interested, too.

But even with all these wonderful gifts, nothing could be better than good old monkey.

Sledding!

Playing outside in the snow.

And what would the holiday be without a little Rock Band?

All in all, a great time had by everyone. We're already making our plans for next year's gathering. Hope that all of you had a wonderful holiday, too!

Annual House Tree-gettin' Trip

Early in December, we took our annual house trip to get our Christmas tree.

Satchel was not thrilled about getting bundled up in her new snow suit.

We had a lovely snowy day for the trip.

At first Satchel was not sure that she liked the snow, but she eventually decided that it was fun to walk in.

Looking at the rabbits.

Tractor ride.

Impromptu snow man. He kind of looked like Conan Obrien.