Post Christmas Festivities

Slowly but surely, I'm catching up!!

The week after Christmas is always filled with fun stuff, and this year it started off with the MU Tiger bowl game (the Alamo bowl). Since it's our favorite thing to do when there's an MU football game on TV (and, you know, since we don't have cable and couldn't watch it anyway) we headed over to Kostaki's for some awesome pizza (and even better cheese bread) and the chance to watch the game on their sweet flat screen tvs! They were really busy at first, but we managed to get a big table, and Josh, Ruth, Sam, Laney and I had a great time! We brought lots of toys for Laney and, once the pizza got there, she was a pretty happy camper. We actually stayed until half time, then headed to Ellen's house, because Great Grandma & Grandpa Price were there for the weekend. So we had a great time hanging out with them, too!

Daddy & Laney, waiting for the game to start. Check out Josh's cool new jersey! That's what I got him for Christmas: a Chase Coffman jersey. A Coffman jersey is extra cool for Josh because 45 was his number in high school, so now he has an MU jersey that's HIS number! Needless to say, I was pretty excited to find it online, and he was pretty excited to open it! :)

Laney spent a lot of time doing her new favorite thing: feeding her baby! She got this little baby from Great Grandma & Grandpa Price, and it's perfect for throwing in the diaper bag to take places!

Sometimes, Laney forgot who the bottle was for. Hey, mommies get hungry, too!

The other big party after Christmas is, of course, New Years! Our church always has a card party, then does the Lord's Supper Service from about 11:30-12:15, so that's how you start your new year. It's a pretty cool way to do things, and the service is always really neat. The card party, however, not so interesting for youth-aged people!! So, we always plan another party for them. The last couple of years we've gone to Empire Roller Rink because they always do a big New Year's party. Since we only stay until 11:00, they open early for us (8:00 instead of 9:00) and give us a big discount on the price. They are wonderful to do all that for us, and the kids definitely have a good time!

A little dark (skating rinks NOT good for photography), but here's Charlie, Corey & Josh heading around the rink!

Josh, on his last trip during the LIMBO... he made it through several rounds, not bad for an old guy! ;) Did I limbo... absolutely not. I'm lucky to make it around the rink without falling!

Josh and I... see, I skated, too. About 5 times around the circle! :) That totally counts...

Laney and her "Aunt Roof."

One of the really fun things about New Years and Christmas this year has been the clear memories of last year at this time, and what Elena was like, compared to what she's like now! So, just for some fun comparison, we took a video similar to one we took last year... check out the difference! :)

New Year's 2007...

And New Year's 2008...

Isn't it amazing how much she's changed? One thing hasn't: she still loves music and she still loves to dance! She even started slapping her legs in time to the music this year, which was pretty cute.

Anyway, I know it's natural at the end of a year to look back and think about how much has changed, but it's still just crazy how much a baby can change in just a year! I get the feeling 2009 is going to have even more excitement as she continues to grow, and develop her own personality... and her own WILL! :) Which she already had a pretty independent streak now, so I get the feeling it's going to be a wild ride!!