Bahaha!!

Papa is so funny. Mommy spends alllll day with Von trying to coax smiles and laughs out of him and is successful maybe 7% of the time. But the moment Papa walks in the door...

England 2013

In January, Von and I went to Bristol, England, to visit my sister Caitlin so we could help out after she gave birth to her newest delight, Caleb Peter. We were there for 2.5 weeks and had a marvelous time! Of course, with all the kids, it was a bit crazy--Lael is 5, Gabby is 3.5, Mattea was 20 months, Von turned 10 months while we were there, and of course, the newborn. There was not a dull moment! In the middle of our visit, my sister Erin came for a week with her baby, Aidan, who is 7 and was a great help and a big trooper with all the little girls clamoring for his attention. Although it was very difficult to be away from Aaron for so long, it was the trip of a lifetime, and Von and I miss the Lieders so very much! We did undertake going to Bath one day, and in the midst of the busyness of six kids under 7, I didn't get a single picture to prove that Von was there. It will be fun someday to tell him of all our adventures with his cousins.

Bible-reading and prayer time with Aunt Caitlin

Aunt Erin and baby Caleb

Just the boys!

Caleb, Gabby, Aidan, Mattea, Lael, and Von

Playing with a saxophone on the bed

Lunch after swimming lessons. It was a crazy adventure!

On our way home, with food all over his face. He was a super traveler and did great!

With Mattea, who is twice his age. Next time they see each other, she'll think twice before snatching his toy. Or giving him all kinds of kisses. :)

Christmas in Montrose

We spent the last half of Christmas break in Montrose with Aaron's parents. Von loved all the attention from Grammie and Grampie as well as all the fun toys they had for him. Oh, and I can't forget Miss Kitty! I wasn't able to get a picture, but Von was quite enamored with her. Here is a taste of our fun visit.

Out to breakfast at The Daily Bread.

Nepalese dinner with Grammie and Grampie. Well, Von ate baby food, not Nepalese.

Opening gifts!

 

Santa

I forgot to mention before that about ten days ago, we went to see Santa Claus in Old Colorado City. It was really fun, and Von LOVED Santa--he was all smiles! Sadly, the picture came out blurry, but you can still see Von's big smile.

Christmas Day

This might be the best day I've ever lived. My heart was so full of love and gratitude for my lovely, perfect little family. We had such fun with Von and each other, and I think Von had fun, too. Enjoy the pictures!

 He really started getting the hang of unwrapping. I'm not sure that he understood that he was unwrapping something, but he definitely appreciated having paper to tear off a big box!

 Sorry this video is sideways. I couldn't figure out how to fix that.

Christmas Eve

We spent a wonderful, peaceful Christmas Eve with Marmee and enjoyed Baby Einstein, gumbo, and good fellowship.

Playing with wax paper and an empty Starbucks cup in his playpen.

Opening gifts!

Dancing to Baby Einstein music with Papa.

 We took a bamillion pictures of Von with Marmee. I wanted to make sure I got a good one, and to my surprise, I got a lot of good ones!! I couldn't decide which to post, so I posted them all. :) Von LOVES Marmee. When he sees her, he gets a great, huge smile on his face! She understands all the his sad little plights and what makes him happy. She whispers things to him that light up his face. I'm convinced that while he doesn't understand a word I say, he understands everything that Marmee says to him. I love seeing them together.