Swimming!

Brianna went swimming for the very first time this past week! She was SO excited to play in the water and had a huge grin on her face the whole time. She litterally squealed with joy several times, especially when she would splash in the water with her hands.



The recreation center has an awesome pool with all sorts of fountains and water features. Brianna loved kicking her fit under the waterfall...

and trying to grab the water as it fell.

Grandma Tomey had a lot of fun walking around the pool with her granddaughter, too.

Walk'n on Sunshine

Uncle Stefan!

"Uncle" Stefan was also back in town for the holidays and we got to spend some time with him along with the rest of our friends.



Stefan is a true friend and is like a brother to me and Rachael. He has been away at seminary where he is faithfully pursuing his calling to become a Catholic priest. We have been jokingly calling him "Father" since he announced his decision to go into the priesthood, but we look forward to the day when he has fully earned the title.

Before he left to go back to seminary, Stefan invited our group of friends over to hang out, watch a movie, and have desert. It was good getting together with the whole gang again for a little while to relax and joke around.

Sippy Cups and First Steps

Brianna always seemed to have trouble when it came to sippy cups, she could never quite get down that she needed to tilt the cup back to get the juice into her mouth. So we got her a new cup with a straw. She picked up the straw concept immediately and loves drinking juice from that cup now.



And a day before she turned 9 months old, she started taking her first wobbly steps on her own!

We began practicing short distances with her walking between mommy and daddy on the floor.

Christmas Morning

Come Christmas morning and Brianna got to open all the rest of her gifts.



And of course, we had to get the ever-so-popular picture of her with a bow on her head

I think she was happy to get a new Backyardigan and a stuffed bumble bee as big as her!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, Rich, Sharon, and Hannah came over to open presents. Brianna got to open a few of her presents that evening as well, one being a new Curious George book with a Curious George stuffed animal.



I think she was a little dazed about what exactly was happening...



But she enjoyed opening her first round of gifts, which also included a new sock monkey as well.

Professional Photos

We also got some professional photos taken for the Holidays to share with our family and friends.



We absolutely adore this picture of Brianna sitting in a chair.

Such a CUTIE!