All done speech!

I tested out of speech last week! I am now in the normal range for my age. My speech teacher was really impressed with how quickly I progressed. I'm saying a ton and try to copy everything Mommy and Daddy say. I even say the dinner prayer every night! But even though I'm talking a lot more, sometimes people still have a hard time understanding me. It's not my fault that when I say "animals" and "ambulance" and "oatmeal" they all sound like "apple juice". And that when I ask for "apple juice" it sounds like anything but that. Oh well, hopefully it will get better with practice.

FIRE!!!

Daddy built a fire inside the house!!!!

And then he stuck marshmallows in it until they got brown and start to melt.

I preferred eating the marshmallows plain.

But it was still fun to sit with Daddy while he cooked his marshmallows,

and then watch him play with his food.

Big Smile

Just thought I'd post a couple of recent pictures of me and my cheesy big smile.

And one normal one:

Lucky Charms

Mommy and Daddy were busy and I wanted some Lucky Charms. It's my favorite cereal--well, the marshmallows are. I don't know why all that other crunchy stuff is in the box. It just makes it harder to find and eat the marshmallows. Anyway, I ran out of marshmallows in the bowl of Lucky Charms that I was snacking on, so I decided to pour myself some more. Since Mommy and Daddy weren't nearby, I pushed my chair over to the counter, climbed up and pulled down the box of cereal. Luckily, I can open the box by myself. And this time I was able to pour out as many marshmallows as I wanted.

Now where are those marshmallows???

Okay, I'm done. I think I'll go watch some more TV.

*sigh*

Watching TV is so relaxing.

Three Christmases!

Wow! This is my 100th post! How perfect that it's also my first posting of 2009. I had a super fantastic fun Christmas--three Christmases, actually! Because of all the crazy weather, my family couldn't come over when they originally planned, so Mommy, Daddy, and I had our own Christmas on Christmas morning, the Johnsons came over Christmas evening, and the de Jongs flew in late Christmas night so we celebrated on the 26th.

A few things I learned this Christmas: what Santa looks like and that he says, "Ho! Ho! Ho!"; there are colorful lights all over people's houses, including mine; the presents under the tree are actually supposed to be opened and not just looked at; and most important, that Christmas is Jesus' birthday.

Before I get into all of the crazy Christmas stuff and the cool presents I got, I wanted to show all of you a special ornament Mommy and Daddy got for Cooper since he couldn't be with us this Christmas.

The angel's wings say "tis a gift to believe."

And I finally learned how to say Cooper's name, although when I say it, it sounds more like Pooper. But I'm sure he'd be doing a lot of that anyway if he were with us right now.

1st Christmas

Christmas morning with Mommy and Daddy.

First things first--stocking loot:

The first present I opened was a set of Thomas choo-choos. So cool! I couldn't stop playing with them.

A sweater for Mommy:

Gloves for Daddy:

Playdoh! (And notice the Mr. Potato Head in the background.)

Mommy got some new slippers:

And boy did she need them! Here are the bottoms of her old slippers and notice the hole in the toe of her slipper sock above.

Beware! Daddy got Settlers of Catan and wants to play it every night! YOU could be invited over soon to be his next victim. (Right now Mommy is playing it with him over and over--she could use a little reprieve, or just extra company.) Gma and Gpa de Jong had to play it while they were visiting--although Gma said she actually liked (definitely better than Acquire)--the fact that she won once might have improved her opinion.

Wall-E!!! (Or "bo-bots" as I call it.) We rented this video in November and I watched it at least half a dozen times in the few days we had it. Now it's all mine and I can watch it every single day! (I also got "Toy Story" in my stocking and Mommy is so excited to watch these movies over and over with me.)

The Aftermath:

Mommy doesn't let anyone clean up the wrapping paper and boxes until everyone is done opening presents so she can get and "after" picture.

And here I am still playing with my trains.

Daddy and I were exhausted from all of the excitement of presents and stockings.

2nd Christmas

Christmas evening with the Johnsons. Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Andrea, Uncle Ted, my cousins James, Casey, Madison, and Melanie, Uncle Marc, Uncle Steven, Aunt Dani, Uncle Eric, and my other cousin Remy all came over for dinner and presents.

We kids got right down to business:

My cousins gave me a bunch of cars from the movie Cars! I was so excited. Right now my favorite is Ramone.

A bus from Gma and Gpa! Uncle Steven helped me open it.

I also got a bus book that has wheels. A book that moves--how cool is that! Inside are lots of pictures of trucks and cars.

The aftermath:

3rd Christmas

Christmas with the de Jongs (that's Mommy family). Because of all the snow, Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Mark weren't able to get here until 11pm Christmas night. I was already in bed, so we opened presents then next morning.

Check out the Cars slippers I got from Gma and Gpa de Jong:

A learning laptop from Aunt Kari:

A magnetic tow truck puzzle from Gma and Gpa:

A Cars book that makes noise from Aunt Denise:

What did Daddy get Mommy for Christmas???? She couldn't possibly guess from Daddy's amazing wrapping skills:

What a surpise! A Dyson vacuum cleaner! Mommy has vacuumed the house nearly every day since opening her present.

Uncle Mark is starting BYU-Idaho in January. That means he's leaving sunny 70 degree weather in Southern California and heading to 15 degree weather in Rexburg. We thought we'd help him out a bit by getting him some warmer winter gear:

(The shorts are leftover from his warm weather wardrobe. He won't be needing those for a while.)

The aftermath:

Mommy was hoping to post more pictures of Gma and Gpa and me riding the trike they got me, but realized that she didn't get any! Everything with Gma and Gpa and the bike is on video. Sorry!