Sharing the love

So it turns out this Christmas deal and all the presents does have to do with birthdays...just not mine. I'm not really sure how it works yet- everyone gets presents for someone else's birthday- a guy named Jesus (he must be Hispanic??;-) - but I'm not complaining, he's awfully nice to share his birthday with us. I will have to get to know him better before next Christmas to celebrate properly.

I very much enjoyed the special time with my family and all the giving and receiving that was going on around me! As much as I enjoyed all the attention at my house, it was fun to share the love a little and let everyone else open some gifts too!

This really is a pretty good day...even the boys got presents!

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas and we had yet another day of presents! Since we planned to head to Mia and Bucca's house pretty early Christmas morning, Zara thought it would be a good idea to open my gifts the night before. One of the things that my Zara got me was a touch and feel version of a story called the Night Before Christmas. Now, I am not sure yet what this Christmas thing is, but mommy and daddy read me the book while I drank my bottle. Afterward we all went upstairs together to put me to bed...and I mean all of us...it wasn't just mommy and daddy, my brothers came too. This Christmas thing sure must be special...I guess I'll find out in the morning.

Visiting!!!

Back to the 7 month celebration- despite the fact that we spent my actual birthday driving, for my 7 month celebration I got to visit with all the people I love so much and rarely see! I got to see my Aunts...

My Great-Grammy and my Grand-Mimi (click on the picture of Daddy, Grammy and me- I thought it would be funny to bite Daddy's finger at the exact same time Mommy took the picture- apparently my teeth are sharp? I had no idea ;-)...

My Zara and my Mia...

any lots of other people that I love but didn't get pictures with like my Bucca, my Aunt Quinny and Uncle Dave, my other Great-Grandma (Grandpa's picture is coming...) all my Great Aunts and Uncles my many cousins: Berlyn, Olivia, Digby, Kylah, Julia, Claire, Will, Alex, James, Gabe, Isiah, Sylvia, Elijah and many many more! If you have pictures of me with you and you want us to share them, please just e-mail them to my mommy and she will be glad to post them (ashlyomiller@gmail.com)!

The trip north

I am starting to get suspicious of this big 7 month celebration...it seems that those gifts may very well have been a bribe because the very next night mommy and daddy put me to bed in my car seat and when I woke up we were in Tennessee! This of course meant that we had some 15 remaining hours in the car before we finally unloaded in Gettysburg, PA. They promised the trip would be worth it and it was! Every second!

This is an ornament that my Grand-Mimi gave my mom and Zara when they drove all the way from California to Pennsylvania with my mom when she was a baby. She too went cross country- backward- in the back of a pick-up truck!

So I guess my mom earned the inscription of her name and the year (1980) on the bottom of this Christmas ornament, and I have now earned mine. Texas might not be quite as far as California but 1500 miles in 25 hours straight for a 7 months old is a pretty big feat. Needless to say, my name and the year 2007 are now also inscribed on the bottom of this ornament...who wants to be next?

7 months old!

So...apparently the 7 month birthday is the BIG ONE!! Here I was waiting around for a year (although, granted, I wasn't exactly sure how many months that was) and all of a sudden I had just days and days of opening presents!

We started the festivities at our house in Houston a few days early...I believe it was the 19th of December. Mom and Dad said something about practicing opening gifts to make sure I was ready for "the big day". Really! To think I would have any qualms about pulling paper and bows off boxes...it truly makes me question their intelligence...

What could it be? I tell you...I even got through the paper and I wasn't sure what this was. No matter, though, ask any 7 month old and she'll tell ya- the real gift is in the wrapping!

So it turns out that the big package was full of way cool bright soft shapes that I can climb on and stack and knock over and make forts out of and all sorts of stuff. They are just as big as I am which makes them super fun!

I also got a singing duck which you can see in that last photo...although you can also see that there was some confusion about exactly whose duck it was...

Tooths

I finally figured out why them call them tooths...apparently it's because they come in too at a time!! Both my bottom middle teeth have broken through the gums over the last few weeks and I can now officially bite...hard...

Bigger is always better? Still?

Before we even get into this one, Blayne and I would like to draw your attention to a previous post, albeit from another blog...http://211oak.blogspot.com/2007/03/bigger-is-always-better.html

The pictures don't lie, folks, we are officially the wife and daughter of a man never satisfied. Our current adventure: fish.

It all started with Ian's friend Craig and his infamous list (interestingly enough, the same place he found that palm tree). You see, these koi are quite expensive and Ian found them at a great deal...but as are all great deals are, it came with a catch (again, like the palm tree)- all or nothing. Well, that didn't seem too bad, after all we have a nice size pond with very few fish, so why not?

Well, this soon became an all day adventure when he saw the size of these babies- some are in excess of 18 inches. All of a sudden he needed a bigger net to move them, more coolers to transport them, a better system to keep air and bubbles in the coolers for the trip back home...and amazingly, in all this upgrading, needing a bigger pond never crossed his mind.

So, long story short, he got them all home safely (although not uneventfully- apparently one jumper survived almost 30 minutes as a fish out of water) and as usual, it made for an exciting afternoon.

Alas, here they are home at last, although not for long because they are simply too many and too big to survive in our pond. But for the time being they seem happy enough in there new home swimming...ur...turning around.

Oh, Christmas Tree

We know what you're thinking...this doesn't look like Christmas tree hunting!

What happened to the good ole northern tradition of tramping through the snow for hours to pick the perfect tree, only to forfeit a glove to mark it, wait another long while (now with no glove, mind you) until someone retrieves the saw to cut it down, and after you have expended all your energy cutting down the tree, drag it back to the car at which point you realize is much farther than you remember?

Yeah, well, as fun as that sounds, it turns out there is a southern tradition as well. Down here you are expected to fight your way through palm trees and perennials in your t-shirts, then point to the tree you want while a kind young man carries it to the car for you.

Truth be told, we do miss the old fashioned way of this particular holiday tradition, but for the time being we are going to sit back, relax and enjoy the service.