This is Andrew from Hypnobirthing. We all still get together weekly. Andrew and Anna were born on the same day, just hours apart, so we (his mom Angela and I) love to watch them grow together. It's cute now because they're all starting to figure out there are other babies in the room. (FYI: Andrew and Anna not only share birthdays, but their parents share anniversaries!!)

First Christmas Memories

Posing for Christmas cards, hanging the stockings....the house is definitely different this year with a precious baby in the house! We started off with a cute little baby UK stocking and then got the pink "Anna" stocking. We think it completes our mantle. (For now at least, until the Zumbiel family grows!)

Christmas at Southern Lights
There's nothing like Christmas in Kentucky without a good ole' family trip to the Kentucky Horse Park for a drive through Southern Lights. After a walk through the KY crafts and miniature train display, it was off to the petting zoo where Uncle Andrew knocked over kids to feed the donkeys. This year was cute to watch Anna look at the animals, but we're sure next year will be even better. Maybe her new baby cousin will join us!

The Sweetest Sound...

Anna and I went to my friend Shannon's house this week. Her 2 year old son, Christopher, made Anna crack up. It was adorable!! This was only the third time Anna has spontaneously laughed. (See below...the first two times were from Indi.) As Shannon said, it's so fun to watch them develop a little sense of humor!

Anna laughing at Indi

We know the quality isn't the best,but it's the sound that makes it so precious. Anna will laugh when we prompt her, but there have only been two times when she does it on her own - both were while watching Indi. Yeah, we think that's sweet too =)

What Santa's Reindeer look like in Independence

Where's Indi?

If you look closely in the photo below, you'll see Indi's eyes glowing in the office window. She loves to sit in there and watch for us to come home.

Christmas Lights (Griswold Style)

Matt's favorite time of the year.....hanging Christmas lights. This year they are perfect! Great job Matt! In years passed though....

Year one: we had one "rope light" and lined our mulch with it. It looked like a snake. Snow fell that year and covered it for about one month. It shone through in a few spots and looked hilarious.

Year two: Matt decided to attempt to climb the roof, risk his life, and line the whole house. It looked great after MUCH hard work, re-hanging, and near death moments. We lit them for two nights, an ice storm came, blew them down on the side of the house and the weather conditions were too dangerous for the next four weeks to climb up and fix them. The lights were never lit again that year.

Year three: Last year. The lights looked very similar to our display this year. We had to reapply duct tape to the windows and garage about a dozen times but you would've thought they were perfect. ....Until late January when we decided to take them down and realized duct tape is not intended for use on your house. It was stuck to the metal, the wood... Many hours of Goo-Be-Gone, scrubbing and tears later, we managed to remove most of it. If you look closely, you can still find some remnants.

Year four: This year we searched for the perfect hanging "tool" for the lights around the windows and garage. We settled on exterior tape. The verdict's still out on the repercussions of this adhesive. So far so good. No reapplications yet.

Baking Christmas Cookies with My Friend Cali

Anna participated in baking her first Christmas cookies at Aunt Becky's house with her doggy Cali. Since the Zumbiel family is a little slow at getting their Christmas tree up, we don't get to see her in awe of it everyday. She absolutely loved looking at Becky's though! The lights could probably entertain her for hours.

Sweet Moments Caught on Film....

Tummy Time!

Tummy time takes on a new meaning now that Anna creates her own. She rolls to her stomach and gets so mad because she can't figure out how she got there and then she can't get back. These pictures are from a BRIEF playtime in her crib. (For now, she gets too mad. When she learns to roll from her belly to her back, she'll be happier!)