Oh Anna...

Our little bundle of joy is not so little any more.  She's six months old... and getting bigger by the minute.  Here are a couple of cute moments in her life that we had to share...

Anna started sitting at Christmas.  She loves her new ability, and really enjoyes sitting on the floor, playing and reaching for toys.  She does not enjoy laying back or "tummy time", but sitting is great!

Her first food: we love to say that Anna is our rolly polly baby.  She is not all that chubby, just very solid.  Well, when it came time to introducing food, she was all for that (very different than the struggle I had with Natalie).  She devoured the rice cereal, and wanted more, and more...  So cute!!!  Just like her older sister, though, she's very particular about what she eats, and now does not care for the bland food that we try to feed her.  And although the green veggies were OK when I first gave them to her, now she does not want to eat the green stuff.... she much prefers orange veggies.  Don't say I blame her.

Christmas, at last!!!

To say this has been a very busy start to 2011 would be an understatement.  So many happenings at our place, which have to still make it onto the blog... but I'm still in catch-up mode.  As soon as I complete 2010, I can work on getting our year book done and published.

So, without further ado...

Christmas Eve:

Depak got a "gingerman" (as Nat calls it) kit at his work gift exchange.  He spent Christmas eve morning making the gingerman house with Natalie.  Chelsea and I were busy making cookies.  It was a nice morning at home with my family. 

In the evening, as is tradition for our family, we dressed up in our Christmas best and went to the candlelight service at church.  The service was a great reflection of Christ at Christmas, with a lot of amazing talent displayed by the ladies, teens and kids.  Afterward, we spent some time with our Cornwall/Lusty family, opening gifts, eating yummy food, enjoying wonderful people. 

Christmas:

We have created a routine for Christmas morning that I look forward to every year.  First thing... STOCKINGS!!!  We only buy gifts for the kids at Christmas, but we do try to put a lot of effort into our stockings.  The highlights this year... well, I got a pack of Justin Bieber cards... not sure what to do with them.  The usuals show up annually: socks, toothpaste, chocolate.  The girls got a couple of movies.  Depak and Walt got some very stylish scarves.  And I got some oranges (along with some other nice things).  I will have to remember to put oranges in everyone else's stockings next year.

Depak's parents and Parveen, BJ and Arjun joined us for breakfast and gift opening.  We do a simple breakfast... fruit, crescants, muffins, coffee.  Simple, but enjoyable.

The gift opening was chaos.  Although we didn't go crazy with gifts, they still add up when the kids get a gift from everyone.  It was a bit overwhelming for Natalie, who wants to play with one thing and not just open up boxes.  Anna loved the colors and the noise, and was having a blast sitting in all the mess.  Chelsea, like always, gets some pretty awesome stuff.

I tried to finish Anna's Christmas present by that morning, but wasn't successful.  Here's a photo of Anna with her blanket as it was that morning.  I did finish, and she does like it, which makes me happy.

We took a group photo of everyone that morning.  Its amazing how its easy to miss someone in the photos, so I love doing the group shots.  Everyone is great about letting me have that.  It did take six tries to get a good one.

We definitely missed Phua Ji this Christmas morning... just wasn't quite the same.  We got to spend the evening with Gurpreet, her new husband Mukesh, and their family.  I forgot my camera (go figure), so I didn't get any pictures, but we had a great time chatting and eating with family.  Natalie and Pierre had a special time together, especially at the end of the night with both in their PJ's.

Christmas with the Zseders:

We didn't get to spend Christmas with the Zseders until the 27th this year, a Monday.  We got there for noon, ate leftovers for lunch (they had turkey/ham dinner the night before), and spent the afternoon hanging out, playing games.  We had a great steak dinner that evening, and then packed up for home.  We look forward to the relaxing day each year.

December synopsis...

So, here's a synopsis of our December activities... (sorry if this is too long... it'll help me for when I put together our annual Parmar Life photo book, and its not even complete to boot!)

Caregroup Christmas Party: We are so blessed with a wonderful caregroup! We have an annual Christmas party, with lots of yummy food, a fun gift exchange, and just a good time hanging out (usually involving a few games too!). Kevin and Lianne were gracious enough to host the party (what an amazing place they have). Anna discovered the jolly jumper, and loved it!

Santa shuffle (see earlier post).

Disney on Ice: Nat just loves Mickey, so when we heard Disney on Ice was coming to our town, we decided to get tickets. We purchased cheap seats, so we were sitting quite a bit higher than these pictures would indicate, but we had a great view and really enjoyed the evening. Bhabba ji and Grandma spoiled the grandkids and bought them cool light up toys and a snow cone. Nat wanted to go skate with Mickey, and it was hard to try to convince her that Mickey went home. Anna loved the lights and music, and was mesmerized the entire time. Chelsea loved the snow cone... and troll doll! Arjun enjoyed the night too, but wasn't as into the show as the girls.

Ladies Tea: I got to help some lovely ladies with decorating and getting door prizes for our church ladies Christmas tea. Several ladies brought centerpieces, so there was a really neat eclectic mix of displays.  It was a beautiful evening with a really neat speaker, and a bunch of wonderful ladies!!!

Dinner at Kamala Phua's: We enjoyed an evening with family and friends at Bob and Kamala's. Amazing food. Kids had a blast playing on the exercise bike and watching TV. I love when we get together with the family. Because we live a little ways apart, the cousins don't get to play as often as we'd like. I put little ponies in Anna's hair for the first time... too cute!

Kids Christmas Program: One of my favorite parts of the Christmas season is watching the kids participate in a special program of their own. I love watching them sing and tell the Christmas story in a way that is child-like and beautiful. Nat was dressed up for the occasion, and even Phua ji, Phuffar ji, Chacha ji, Chachi ji and Arjun came to church to watch her. All the kids were special, but our Nat was super cute... walking back and forth on the stairs, and taking in the singing and parts just as much as the crowd.

Dessert Theatre:  Another annual tradition at our church is the dessert theatre.  Its a nice evening out enjoying the choir and a little drama.  The decorations are always amazing, I'm trying to take notes and maybe be as creative some year.  Caleb and Alayna did an amazing job with their duet... and those are angels in the paint suite.

Another HAC Baby Shower: HAC is a growing family... literally.  It is so precious to celebrate the many births in our church.  Here are a few of the little girls from this year, all born within 5 month of eachother... and our Anna the biggest of all: Anna, Alyssa, Faith and Jennika.

Work Kids Christmas Party: We were able to attend Depak's work kids Christmas party, where the kids got to put together crafts, decorate gingerbread cookies (even daddy made one), eat pizza, and best of all... a visit from Santa.  Chelsea is our good sport, and helps Nat with most of the crafts, and takes the token picture with Santa (for mom, of course).  Natalie really enjoyed the crafts this year, and wanted to do more, and more, and more...  She even did a great job and sat on Santa's lap to receive her gift.  She got what she asked for, a belt!  Anna was as cute as ever, got many snuggles, and even took a picture with Santa.  She fell asleep before she got to open her gift, so under the tree it went until Christmas morning.

HAC Family Skate:  This is a favorite tradition of ours.  I don't think we've missed a family skate in years, and we enjoy it every time.  This year Nat got to skate on the ice.  The arena had double blades that tie onto your boots, so we put these on Natalie.  She loved being out on the ice with the help of others.  I even got her to try to stand on her own and move forward.  Little steps at a time, but she did try.  Chelsea and Steph are always good about helping her, and staking with the stroller.  Anna didn't mind the cool air, and we stayed on the ice for a long time.  At the end of the skate we enjoy some goodies and carolling together.  Nat especially liked singing Gloria In Excelsis Deo (very cute).

Lights of Christmas:  We took some time to see the lights of the city, as there are some spectacular displays around town.  It was a short trip, as Anna cried and cried, but we got to see a few places.

The rest of Christmas is yet to come... finding time to get these all done is challenging with little ones.  At least this is a start.