Ohio For The Holiday Too

We spent a week visiting Grandma and Grandpa Refermat in Ohio. Besides opening presents, Sophia loved playing the piano, especially with Grandpa. We also got to meet Alice, who came to visit for the holiday from England, with Mark.

Good As Gold

While I was packing for our trip to Ohio I saw Odin and Sophia laying on the floor by each other. I thought it was too cute to pass up and they actually stayed still for the photo. Odin is getting a bit better about house training. There are days we actually go without having an accident. Sophia likes it when he chases things around the room, but is usually jealous of any attention mom shows the dog. The same goes for Odin too. He thinks he should get to do (and eat) everything Sophia does. The cat just accepts it all with hissing and contempt.

Kid Crazy Christmas

We had four little ones running around our house when the Gehrke's and the Reik's came over, not to mention a curious 2 month old puppy. With six adults, we were able to keep everything under control, but I'm fairly confident we'll be out numbered soon.

Natalie got a hold of the Christmas train and kept yelling "choo-choo." (She lives right by the train tracks). Carson loved being a chef with the toy mixer and MacKenna was just being her happy self.

Christmas 2009

Okay, so I'm going back in time....but Christmas in our new house was great. We had three Christmases here, a friends', friends' with kids, and a family Christmas. We got a few of the major painting jobs done before hand, not to mention the tree and decorations up so everything looked festive.

This first was my good friend from way back in grade school. You see Lisa, Lauren and Mike, who will soon be a family... can you see the rock on Lisa's finger? Unfortunately, Lauren wasn't feeling well that day, so she's tucked under the blanket instead of ripping wildly through wrapping paper. Poor kid.

Brenda brought her new dog, Scruffy, who Odin pestered the entire evening. Tina is festive as always in her signature color.

Odin

Sophia has a new playmate ... a newfoundland / huskie puppy. He's 10 weeks old now and full of energy. While not completely housebroken, we are making large strides, which really helps.

Sophia likes it when he chases things she throws, but otherwise, doesn't really like him. If I'm playing with Odin, she'll climb into my lap, yell 'MAMA' or otherwise try to get my attention. It's probably a good step for her to get used to sharing attention in case she has a brother or sister someday, but it is an adjustment.

Odin is also jealous. If I'm playing on the floor with Sophia, he climbs into the middle of whatever we're doing or into my lap. It would be funny, if I didn't have to constantly fight one or the other of them off. We're all adjusting though and his cute puppy ways are even winning Joe over...although slowly.

Sophia's New Hat

So we're hanging out in the office and Sophia takes the doll's shirt and pulls it over her head like a hat. Luckily, I had the camera ready. Too cute.