"OH NO WAY!"

One of Van's new phrases is really an exclamation that means, basically, Eureka! She says, "Oh, no way!" like a perfect little high school student.

Here are some photos from the past few weeks. See Nanners playing hide-and-seek in the Christmas tree "forest." That rascal (pronounced Ras-a-cal). She plays hide-and-seek with Daddy every evening at home.

Here she is, eating "Ice-a-cream." Her favorite flavor? Pumpkin.

See her here with a new sweater and hat and a new friend, Mr. Snail. You'd think she'd found a unicorn in the yard, the way she marveled at this fine little creature. It took some serious reasoning on my part to get her to leave Mr. Snail (Mister Suh Nay-oh) in the great out-of-doors.

She's been wowing the other parents at the playground. I don't even feign modesty when Vanessa scales the playground equipment. "She's a climbing freak," I admit.

This little boyfriend is a year older. His mama and I said, "Go ahead, you can do it," and he looked up at us and said, "No, I can't." His mama commented that he had noticed Vanessa from across the playground, then he had to get up the nerve to approach her. After they climbed awhile, we saw him stand right up against Vanny, hold both of her hands, then move in slowly and carefully for a kiss. I fell on my back laughing.

Today is Vanessa's second birthday! We feel this is Vanessa Season, not just her birth day. We spent the weekend with the California side of the family, celebrating, and today we're having a quiet celebration at home, which may include sitting on Santa's lap and riding the merry-go-round downtown... photos to follow.

DADDY'S LITTLE GIRL

We want to wish you a happy belated Thanksgiving and an early merry Christmas! We were all set to leave for New York to finalize the adoption, but this week it fell through. The birthmother decided to raise her little son herself. We are not upset. We got to know her this past month and understand how strong a bond she has with him and she's doing a great job raising him. Please join us in our prayers for her. She just turned 21 and has absolutely no family support.

Here are some pics from the holidays, in no particular order. We had a quiet and absolutely lovely Thanksgiving at home. Vanessa loves to cook. See her in the kitty cat apron Grandma sent?

We've had a few visitors come by this month. Bjorn came for an overnight and Bridgette stopped by, too. Old friends Rob and Manuela visited with their baby daughter Sophia. Let me tell you, Sophia was a big ole hit around here. Vanessa loves older kids and Sophia can surf.



Daddio has been tackling Vanessa's mane of curls. See her here, with unruly bedhead. Will the real Baby Einstein please stand up?

There's a new daily ritual in town. It involves Daddy's bathrobe and a certain little kangaroo. She hides in his bathrobe and we say, "Where's Vanessa? Is she in the closet?" and a tiny little voice answers from the bathrobe, "No..."


V-Dog is pretending very well these days. She's also singing the Alphabet song, which is truly a shock, since we've not been practicing. Kids pick up the darnedest things. She's also adoring her independence. "No, Mama, No!" she says and holds out her hand like a traffic cop. I'm not invited on her little adventures. "No thank you," she says. She's all grown up, apparently. It's very, very cute.

This weekend we were visited by "Auntie" Nell and her groom, Braidy. I threatened to Photoshop our faces onto this picture for our Christmas card. Our pose is a bit more, um, candid.



Here are a couple of videos for your viewing pleasure. The first is of Nanners thinking it might be nifty to ride the white cat.

This is an older snippet of what it's like to go grocery shopping these days. Let me assure y'all, there are few activities that rate as highly as a trip to the grocery store, now that Van has discovered the mini "Shopper in Training" carts. Here she is leading me to he diaper aisle for the baby. I guess I mentioned we needed some!

Daddio is in Las Vegas this week for a coaching summit. He's a big time coach now. Nanners fell asleep in her clothes at 6:30 p.m. last night and woke up at 6:00 a.m. when I got up to feed Max. I came back to the room where she was sitting up in bed in the dark. "Mama!" she exclaimed. "Where are my jammies? I'm wearing my clothes!" She sounded slightly horrified and completely bewildered. I laughed my tail off.

And I leave you with my favorite video. Note the teenage surfers in the background.