Family sing-along, with lots of pictures!

Each year my family gets together for a Christmas sing-along where we all sing carols, the kids perform, and everybody brings a dessert.  This year was Jane's first time, and she had so much fun even though she was pretty tired.  I still managed to take a bunch of photos, even though I was taking care of Jane a lot.  I didn't get any pictures of the Smith kids performing, I'm sorry!  I'd be holding Jane and as soon as I got her taken care of their songs were over.  Maybe I can train Jane to be the family photographer someday.

The same night my co-workers had a party that we went to, and there are a few photos from that at the bottom.  Videos are also at the bottom.

Cousin Cameron held Jane several times, and Jane loved it!

And I forgot to tell Cameron that her hair rocked!

Matti did some amazing playing and gave Erika a break on the piano.

Merri on violin (beautiful!)

Will on violin (amazing!)

Jack on the piano (when did he learn how to do that?!)

Everyone wanted to help Jane feel better, but sometimes
the sight of Mommy not holding you is pretty upsetting.

But at least she looked cute as a button!

Jane thinks Matti is pretty fun!

Jacque, did I mention that your tree looked beautiful?!

Uncle Adam even made an appearance, and he brought Emily!

The next several photos show Uncle Doug playing with Jane.
He would laugh and she would giggle like crazy!
It was pretty hilarious!

Jane liked bumping heads with Merri.

That girl gets around!

We actually had a second party the same night.  Yes, we are fun gluttons!  My co-workers were having a Christmas party just a few blocks away, so we stopped in for "a few minutes" (which became an hour) to say hi and to chow down on the yummy food!  Jane was the only kid at the party (Grace doesn't count), and she was generally passed around and adored, which is her favorite activity!

Jane is being held by Danette, next to her daughter Grace in the blue shirt.

Kelly is kneeling behind the table in the blue shirt,
and Ann-Marie is next to her in the brown shirt.

This was just after Jane bumped foreheads with Adrienne.
You can see she is eyeing the forehead again thinking,
"Maybe just one more time..."

Butt ruffles!

And what's an incredibly long holiday post without videos?!

This first one is Doug cracking Jane up.  This went on for several minutes and was completely hilarious. I only caught the end of it. =(

The next one is Cameron dancing around with Jane.  Cam really knows her waltz!

The whole night, Jane would bump foreheads with people.  Practically every time I looked at her she was bumping foreheads with somebody.  It's like her way of giving a kiss.  She did it to everybody!  At my co-workers' party she found a cute boy, Todd, and did it like 10 times to him.  What a flirt!

I managed to catch a video of her doing it to Merri.

Michael can't catch a break

Poor Michael.  The holidays are a difficult time for him, mainly because the anticipation of unopened gifts is pretty much agonizing for him.  Not knowing what I've gotten him drives him crazy, this grown man that I'm married to.  This is the same man that made us open all of our gifts on Christmas Eve last year, because he couldn't wait for Christmas morning.  And it's not just wanting to know what I've gotten him, he's also dying to see me open my gifts, too.  Personally, I think it's adorable, and incredibly fun to mess with him and taunt him.

Unfortunately, it's not as easy for him to tease me.  Last week when Michael was ordering a few things on Amazon, he started taunting me, "A couple of these things might be for youuuuu."  I think this elicited a shrug and a smile from me.

Compare that with later that day when I brought home a couple of gifts from the store and wrapped them before he woke up.  When he saw them later, he was instantly asking me a million questions.  "What did you get me!  Can I open it?  This one looks like a movie.  Is it a movie?  I can tell it's a movie.  What movie is it?  Is it one of the ones on my Amazon list?  Let's look at my list together and you can tell me if it's one of those."  Then he took me through EACH movie on his list, all of which I said "no" to.  (Heh heh heh)

Then we have the following conversation:

Michael: "It isn't The Big Bang Theory, Season 2, is it?"

Me: "No."  [Long pause]  "Is that what you got me?"

Michael:  "... CRAP!"

Me, after I stopped laughing: "Did you get it for the same deal we saw on Black Friday?"

Michael: "No, it was about $15 more.  But Alice in Wonderland was $10 off, so it balances out a little."

Me: "Michael? Is that the other thing you got me?"

Michael: "CRAPPPP!!!!!"

Poor Michael can't catch a break.

Somehow every year I accidentally figure out what he's getting me.  Ok, 2009 he did slip a couple of surprises past me, but pretty much every other year I've always figured it out.  Probably because he tries to taunt me and then accidentally lets a clue slip by and I figure it out.  But this year he really didn't give me much to work with!  I mean, I can't do much when he's literally telling me what he got me.

There's always next year.

They're baaaaack

The herd is back in their favorite winter haunt.

This one has a favorite spot as you can see, where he can keep an eye on our house and watch our comings and goings.

I watch the herd from my kitchen window as I'm doing dishes, and the other day two of the deer were literally butting heads for almost an hour.  I finally got out the camera and of course they did it for about 30 seconds more, but I caught a little bit of it.  You can hear Jane chatting with me in the background and banging on her food tray.  The video isn't the greatest, but the brownish blurs are supposed to be the deer.

Jane's first Thanksgiving!

Jane definitely had fun at her first Thanksgiving!  We went to Michael's aunt Marlene's house in Riverton, only a half hour drive from our home.  It was the first time that Jane met a lot of her relatives on Daddy's side.  But it looks like she's been accepted as one of the gang!

Jane is ready for grub!

Jane and Grandma Carrie

There were a lot of pies!

Jane knows how to get around

Michael, Jane and her Great-Grandma Bonnie!

Jane and her great-aunt Sherren.  You can't see but Jane is giggling!

Marlene giving Jane some love

What a fun day!

Sleep talking

Today I changed Jane's diaper in her room and stayed in there for a few minutes to fold some clothes and put them away.  Jane was sitting in her crib playing with all of the clothes I intended to fold and making monster sounds, and I was chatting with her as I worked.  Michael was asleep in the other room but the door was slightly ajar, and suddenly I heard this:

Michael: Breannnnne.

Me: Yes?

Michael: I need you to come get this baby.

Me:  ... The baby is in here with me.

*rustling of the bed covers*

Michael: Are you sure?

Me: Yep, she's in my arms.

Michael (doubtfully):  Okay...


As you can probably tell, Michael's graveyard shift at work has been taking a bit of a toll on him lately.  He's told me before he wakes up in a panic thinking that the baby is in the covers and looking desperately for her in them.  Poor Michael!

No place like home

...which is exactly where Jane spent Halloween!  She didn't go Trick-or-Treating, seeing as how neither Michael nor I wanted to go knock on someone's door, hold up the baby and say, "Now give me candy."
Instead Jane helped me hand out candy (aka grabbed at it while I tried to juggle her, the bowl, and give children fistfuls of candy).

But what's Halloween without a costume?

So... cute!  Must... try... to resist... pinching cheeks.
By the way - I honestly didn't like to play dress-up with dolls when I was little. I thought it was a pain to try to stuff little cloth or plastic arms into tiny outfits (I was a pragmatic child at times). But, I absolutely LOVE dressing Janie up, as you can probably tell.

Would you like to see several more photos?  Okay!

Toto!

I took more, of course. Because I can't take one picture of anything (I must take a million!). You can see the album here.

If you're wondering, I purchased the dress and the shoes (separately) on Etsy.  I was really impressed with the dress... the white peasant shirt was actually sewn in and it all had one zipper going down the back - so easy to put on her.  Plus, the seller also sent me matching blue gingham pantaloons (okay, it was a diaper cover, but that just sounds less cute), blue socks, the headband, and Toto.