Happy New Year!

And belated Merry Christmas!We had lots of visiting with family over the holidays. Aaron's Dad spent Christmas with us and then we all drove to Jacksonville a couple days later for New Year's.Madelyn had a good Christmas with "Didi Papa", who hadn't seen her since she was only a couple weeks old. This is their arts & crafts time on Christmas morning, playing on her new easel from Uncle Cory.Another gift she got was a kid-sized Dyson vacuum (with working suction in the hose attachment!) from Tito Art and Tita Keri. She's no longer startled when I turn on my Dyson, now she runs to get hers so she can vacuum along with me! I wish it had suction in the upright mode, that would make my life easier...
Maddy continues to say new words every day. I just wish she'd say them when the camera was rolling. She has a way of clamming up as soon as I hit record. However, at least now she's realizing that people usually smile when a camera is on them. She says "cheese" when she sees one pointed at her:

Unfortunately, her newest word is one that I dread hearing from toddlers: "Mine". It's not that bad yet, since her enunciation isn't there, so it sound like she's saying an exaggerated "Mom". Looks like we'll have to work on sharing. She's starting to count out loud, but for some reason, she says "Five, Six..." instead of "One, Two..." don't know where that comes from.
Thanks for checking in!I hope you all had a great holiday season and the new year brings lots of joy to you and your loved ones!