Silly Baby

photos by: Max "Gramps" Miller

Anna-Kate is getting more expressive all the time in her play. When we put the lion on her head, she would lean all the way back trying to get it off. We laughed, which made her laugh. I thought my dad did a great job of capturing her different facial expressions.

a Simmons Family Christmas

We spent Christmas Eve and Day here in Raleigh with Will's family. (We missed you Bonnie!!) Oma and Opa enjoyed spoiling us all, especially the grandkids. Look at those awesome gifts; I think I was the most giddy of the group.
Watching the cousins interact is always one of the best parts about getting together with the family. I loved catching this moment with Anna-Kate and Camden; they were waiting for us to finish getting lunch ready.

We have definitely enjoyed having a kid around who really anticipates Christmas and Santa. One of my favorite moments this Christmas season was when we asked Camden what he wanted Santa to bring him. The two most memorable items on the list: a lemonade stand and a horse. When asked if there was enough room for a horse, he said, "Daddy can build a fence. Mr. Mike (their neighbor) won't mind."

Watching this scene made me look forward to that age when AK will be begging her daddy to play with her after opening presents. I wonder if that will look more like Will sitting down to tea with a teddy bear.

The gift that stole the show! The men had a project and the kids had a new toy!

Anna-Kate didn't wait long before saying, "my turn!" I know after she gets a little bigger there will be many posts of her on her new horse.

Anyone a fan of the move A Christmas Story?

Any suggestions about where to put this amazing gift?

a Miller Family Christmas

We headed to Shelby the morning after Christmas to be with my family.

My parents were excited to have us all at home for a little while. Our only agenda was to spend time together.

By now, Anna-Kate thought she was starting to get the hang of opening presents. She is the only grandchild on my side of the family. Can you imagine who received the most presents that day?
My sister decided that AK didn't open gifts fast enough, so she started passing out AK's gifts to the rest of us to open for her. Anna-Kate didn't seem to mind.

Meanwhile, my dad continued to take pictures. We didn't grow up with a camera, so we think my dad takes pictures now to make up for the years without one.

We also enjoyed having a kid in the house so that there was a toy to play with after the gifts were opened. We all look forward to next year when Anna-Kate can be a more active particpant in all the festivities.

Baby's First Christmas

Welcome to Christmas morning at the Simmons' House!
Will and I told Santa to not spoil Anna-Kate too much this year. So, we each had a present under our stockings Christmas morning. Times like this, we wish our new house came with a mantle. ;)

Though Anna-Kate was too young to understand what the fuss was about, it was still fun watching her reaction to her new things.

She took hold of the paper, so Will grabbed the bottom of the present. It at least gave the allusion of AK opening her present.

She got the mouse and a couple books from the "If you give a Mouse a cookie" collection. All weekend when we brought the mouse back out, she held her arms out excitedly to hold him lovingly, a.k.a. bite his nose.

Santa actually gave all three of us a new book. Maybe Anna-Kate is showing us she will be a reader like her momma and daddy.

The Reason

The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."

May the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Luke 2:10-11, Romans 15:13


(This is the stained glass window at Zoar where I grew up, one of my favorite images of Jesus.)
Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas! We are enjoying the holiday with our little one in the house, even if she has no idea that anything out of the ordinary is going on!

Where did 6 months go?

I can't believe Anna-Kate is going to be seven months on Sunday! Will and I said again last night we already can't imagine our life without her. Here are some of the images from the last month that didn't make the cut. For some reason most of them are AK with different people.

Anna-Kate in her first pea coat. I am a little jealous that she has a pink one!

My sister Amanda came to visit last week. What a treat to have her here for a couple days!

How cute is this picture of my dad, now Gramps, with his first grandchild! This was at my parents' house over Thanksgiving.

I love mornings with my two favorite people, my sweet daughter wearing her I-just-got-up face and my handsome husband with our needed morning coffee.

All day while Anna-Kate was in her super cute blue jeans, I kept hearing the very old country song, "my baby with her blue jeans on."

Cheeeese!

This is Will's attempt to capture Anna-Kate's cheesy grin. Admittedly, this is almost perfect. She will flash a grin at him so quickly. Doesn't she look so cute in her blue jeans?!

Grinning

Anna-Kate has a new grin that she is charming us with. It is a big cheesy grin that makes her nose crinkle when she does it. I was trying to capture it on camera. I never quite got the really big grin, but I did get a few pictures of her smiling.

If you look closely in these first two pictures you can barely see the first tooth that came in. Isn't it fun being a proud mama showing off your baby?!

I switched to black and white and she stopped smiling. These sweet black and white pictures remind me that when Anna-Kate is wearing one of her cuter outfits I need to do another photo shoot at home with her. She has grown so much since I have set out to just take some pictures of her.

Teeth

Yes, that is correct. Anna-Kate's second tooth has broken through. She has been handling teething like quite a trooper. She gnaws on everything. Her poor fingers have little tiny teeth marks on them. I look forward to the first toothy grin she gives us. Right now though, she only has two "toothlettes," as my sister calls them.

New Favorites

I love that as the girls get more sturdy and more mobile, there are more things to do with them. I think these pictures speak for themselves...

Good Morning

8 am looks like this for us every morning.

I put AK down. Before I can get her out, MK crawls over to her and entertains herself and AK. I can leave Anna-Kate in her seat for 3-5 minutes with no protest, because MK has come over to greet her.

This is proof that I don't stage this every-morning event:

Some days they are more talkative than this. Whether calm or loud, in the face or sharing the buckles, AK and MK always greet each other when we arrive in the morning.

Discovery! Part 2

I have said often that Anna-Kate loves to watch what others do, but she doesn't care at all about "do-ing" things herself. She rolled over (tummy to back) a few times at 4 months, and then put it in the can-do-that file and stopped. Since, she has not cared at all about becoming more mobile. She will sit up for 30 min playing and watching everything and will last about 3 minutes on her tummy.

The last two nights while crying before falling asleep, she has rolled back to tummy. Now I await the moment when she decides at play to roll over so I can watch. :)

Discovery!

Will discovered Anna-Kate's first tooth this morning! One of her front bottom teeth has pushed through. We have a baby with a tooth; you can just see the top of that shiny white tooth.

Story Time

Once upon a time there were two beautiful princesses. Their maiden was ready to brave the thin doorways and aisle-displays in order to treat them to a story time in the exciting far away town of Barnes and Noble in the land of Crabtree Mall.

The young princesses waited excitedly for what was to come...
The princeses were put in their chariot and strolled through the doorway and past the displays of New Moon and Seuss to this exciting corner. "Fair maiden, please let us out."

"Ah, what do we have here? Paper, how cool! No one has ever let me have paper on purpose before."

The sweet Mary-Knowles shows off how big she is getting to the others that she meets while adorable Anna-Kate takes in the show.

"Mary-Knowles, what do you think? Should the maiden bring us here again?"

In their chariots, Prince Asher joins the princesses as they study this new land.

So cute, the girls get many smiles and waves along the way. Some of the town's people are confused. "How cute...twins." Why correct a passerby? "Sweet babies, are they boys are girls?" Supressing a sarcastic comment about the pink, the maiden smiles and says "girls."

One of the town's people is quite taken with the princesses. The maiden can't help but enjoy this interchange.

The woman looks at her friend and says, "look at the twins." Then to the maiden, "how old are the twins?"

"She is six months and she is eight months."

With mouth wide open, eyes big, the woman responds, "you mean" insert stammer "you had one and continued to carry the other?"

Trying not to grin too big, the maiden responds, "they are not actually twins, just friends."

After greeting the town's people, it was time to return home. The princesses exchange their blue chariot for the silver one.

Once home again, the very brave Princess Mary-Knowles returns to her smallest chariot and looks at the maiden as if to say, "can we go again?"

The younger Anna-Kate agrees that we should but today we rest.

The princesses enjoy one of their favorite activities to finsih their day. They compare notes on the adventure until the maiden whisks them off for their afternoon nap.

The princesses sleep and the maiden sits down.