Merry Happy Season's Greetings!

This month flew by! We decided to join the Madison Children's Museum as members, and have made a couple trips there. Both kids enjoy it, and we'll be doing that a lot this coming year. We spent a weekend morning with a few of Nick's new coworkers and their families, making Christmas cookies. It was nice to put names to faces. Unfortunately, we've had our share of colds and other sicknesses. 'Tis the season, I suppose. Things just keep getting passed from one person the next, and once again back to me, it seems. I hope our bodies will adjust to the constant barrage of viruses soon.

It was definitely a white Christmas here. We've gotten ~ 10 inches of snow so far. I bought new sleds, and we tested them out one weekend. They might be a bit too fast for our backyard - both kids were done (and snowy-faced) after only two runs each.

Iris has been suddenly full of words, many of which we can actually understand. Sh can identify and say more unusual shapes (moon, star, heart), knows most of her major body parts (though her nose sometimes is on her ear), and now is full of "Mama!" and "Papa!" She can't say Felix, so she's taken to calling him "Bada" (which I think might mean "brother"). As usual, it's a learning experience and she says several things that I have difficulty translating. I'm sure I'll figure them out soon. Right around Christmas, she learned how to say "no", much to our chagrin. Now, it's "no" to everything, even the things she wants. She is also getting pretty aggressive; she hits and throws things when she doesn't want to do something. Argh. Do we have a tomboy? Maybe. She also just started feeding herself with a spoon and fork. We still aren't sure if she's a leftie or a rightie.

And now on to Christmas. Felix has been so excited about it this year, though his behavior hasn't been the greatest. He's been awfully demanding and prone to wailing if told he can't have something NOW. Patience comes with age, I suppose. He assumes everything he sees in ads that he wants is something Santa will bring him. We've tried to temper that, saying that it'll go on his wish list instead.

We went up to Rapids on the 24th to spend Christmas with my side. It's been a family tradition since Felix was born that we do a theme Christmas picture. This year, Fancy! We got all dolled up with antique rhinestones (even Felix - he wanted to get in on the fun). We opened family presents that night. The kids got lots of nice stuff, and we got a beer brewing kit among other great gifts. We then had a nice time at Maxine & Dennis's on the 25th. And... that night, KENDRA CAME OVER AND WE WATCHED DOCTOR WHO TOGETHER! Sorry, I'm still excited that it happened. Since we both share a love of Doctor Who, we bade adieu to the 11th Doctor. Happy/sad.

We had Nick's parents down the following Friday. We had a nice time, then they spent the night before we drove to Germantown to have the that family Christmas. We had a lot of fun with lots of family. Nick got green and gold flamingos, which promptly went in the front yard in time for the Packers game. (Yay!)

Nick and I had the whole week off, but had the kids go to day care on Monday and Friday. On Monday, Nick and I went to my first movie in a theater since 2006 (we saw Anchorman 2), then went out to lunch at Novanta (mmm, wood-fired pizza). And then we got a water softener installed. Yay! Friday, we made our first batch of homebrew. Can't wait to try it.

Hope you had a great 2013 and a wonderful 2014!

Felix: 4 yrs & Iris: 16 mos