Andie sang her way straight into the new year. But before we get to that, we have a little catching up to do. First with some fun Andie, Jason, and Hawkeye had at the Farmhouse with Aunt Ellie and Penny.
Hawkeye especially liked playing in the creek with Penny.
Andie found a nice inflatable to cruise around in.
Andie also enjoyed playing on the play structure.
Andie really loved seeing Nacho kitty...
... but the diverted attention made Penny a bit jealous.
Andie has become quite the singing star recently. She has even experimented with microphones beyond the bicycle pump. She used the toilet paper roll holder for a recent performance that went viral on Facebook. Here she is in rehearsal.
And the main performance. It's long, but there is a golden nugget at the end.
We think her performance was heavily inspired by seeing friends Brad and Lilli play at Coffee Catz over the holiday. The only photo we managed to snap while we were there was of Andie trying to convince Nana to get some money out of the ATM for her.
Andie has been giving lots of love to Hawkeye dog lately. She especially likes to snuggle with him and make sure he's comfortable by covering him in blankets and other things she finds around the house. Sometimes she'll even pretend he's a horse. He is an incredibly tolerant dog.
She has even started taking some artistic photos of him sleeping.
Often, Andie's bedtime routine involves going through all of the animals she knows: Hawkeye dog, Penny dog, Zoey dog, Millie, Minnie, and Sookie dogs, Nacho kitty, Hunter kitty, Weird Abby kitty, Taffy horsey, and Maggie horsey. The newest pet in her life is Ben's new puppy, Euphegenia "Effy" Doubtfire (see below for Andie and Effy's first meeting). Here's a clip featuring some of her evening dog name practice.
We had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas a few days early with Nana and Papa. Papa took selfie with Andie next to the tree to compare with last year's. She had a little more chocolate on her face in this year's selfie than last year's.
 |
| Papa & Andie 2016 |
 |
| Papa & Andie 2015 |
Andie discovered her love of eggnog this holiday season.
She was super excited about the babydoll Nana and Papa got her, just like the one at daycare!
She was even more excited to get a stroller to push her babydoll in like the one at daycare, too!
Kristin and Jason learned that assembling Graco babydoll strollers and Pack 'n' Plays is just about as taxing as the ones for real babies.
Andie loved the cradle Nana passed down to her for her baby doll. Andie is the fourth generation to use it. It was built by Nana's grandfather for Nana's mother, and Nana and Kristin both used it when they were little, too. Like any good mother, Andie thought she'd try it out herself to make sure it was comfortable enough for baby.
Andie loved her super soft penguin from Carol...
... and these adorable puppy slippers from Jason.
Much to Kristin and Jason's joy, Andie also got a microphone for Christmas from Nana and Papa to amplify her singing. She quickly started to get experimental with it (look out, Yoko!), but also made sure to give others a turn.
Nana made amazing books for Kristin and Jason about their genealogy. Turns out Jason has roots in Iowa, too!
Kristin was super excited about her new wire cheese cutter!
It wouldn't be Christmas at the Herilino's without some silly projectile toys.
We stuffed ourselves with some delicious fondue for dinner. Jason must not have realized Kristin was taking his photo yet in the first shot.
We headed up to Grass Valley to spend time with Jason's family for Christmas.
We stopped by Aunt Sue and Uncle Joe's on the way. The bicycle pump came out right away, and Andie performed right on cue.
Andie loved seeing everyone's Christmas trees. She liked the cows on Grandma and Grandpa's tree.
She also liked trying to ride this metal bicycle on display.
Unfortunately, there was no place on the bike to put her sippy cup.
Andie loved helping Grandma Jane make tasty Christmas treats.
Andie is lucky enough to have two grandmothers that let her sit on counters.
Andie was spoiled with lots of presents during the trip.
She loved hanging out with her extended family on Christmas Eve, and she especially loved Kiera.
She was so excited about her new pajama pants that she insisted on putting them on immediately, and she made quick work of turning a new flashlight into a cell phone.
She also loved her new baby doll from Grandma and Grandpa!
Grandma Jane made Andie an adorable dress for Christmas.
Andie snuck in some snuggles with Hawkeye before dinner guests arrived.
She's super great at making sure he feels adored and well-attended.
Andie loved indulging on the chocolate mousse she and Grandma made together.
After dessert, Andie took the stage with another bicycle pump as an opening act for Jason.
"And to all a good night," should probably apply to Christmas Day as well as Christmas Eve.
Andie was clearly not ready to leave Grandma and Grandpa's house as she watched Jason pack the car.
Christmas just kept on giving to Andie, as Amazon shipments and gifts from friends continued to pour in. One gift from Kristin that arrived late was some sheets of press-on earrings. Andie has been a bit obsessed with Kristin's earrings lately, so she thought this would be a good alternative.
They're fun for the whole family!
Andie liked showing them off at dinner.
Andie is loving all of her new toys, and is doing a very good job of taking care of her baby dolls. Last week, she got up early to change a diaper all by herself in the dining room.
Jason really missed having Great-Grandma Elsie cookies at Christmas this year, so he set a date with Nana to make them just before New Year's. Beforehand, he and Papa introduced Andie to her first In-N-Out experience
Andie did a great job helping Nana bake.
And Jason did a super great job eating all the cookies.
Despite cold and windy weather, we had a wonderful New Year's Day at the Farmhouse with a bunch of our favorite people. Andie took a power nap pretty soon after we got there to make sure she had the stamina for when the real fun started.
She was ecstatic to meet Ben's new puppy, Effy. She had been talking about her for days before hand (see above), and she hasn't stopped talking about Effy (or Ben) since.
When Andie noticed the microphone in the game room, she made sure to oblige her fans.
One of Andie's other highlights was hanging out with Nate. She invited him to dance with her.
And she attacked him with kisses.
Andie came home from the New Year's party with even more Christmas gifts. She loved her new yellow school bus from Uncle James and Aunt Ellie so much that she couldn't wait for it to come out of the box before trying to take it for a spin.
She called all of her puppy friends and Ben to tell them about her new toy.
She snapped some requisite selfies with it, too.
She also loved her new furry boots from Uncle James and Aunt Ellie, and she took some photos of them to send to her friends, too.
The yellow school bus was such a hit, it was the first thing she grabbed when she got up the next morning.
Andie also loves her new tea set from Alex and Teri. She won't let Jason have any tea though -- just Kristin and her bears.
Andie has had a strong aversion to baths for the past few months. So Kristin went the extra mile and attempted a sink bath with her. It seemed to do the trick, and Andie's feet are now much more approachable.
Jason took the opportunity to recreate a bath photo with Andie from when she was 5 months old.
 |
| Jason and Andie, January 2017 |
 |
| Jason and Andie, August 2015 |
Given the recent weather, Andie has been perfecting words like, "cold," "rain," and "wet" recently. We're hoping the next blog post might feature some "snow!"
These are so precious! She is growing so much and so talented! She obviously inherited that. Can't wait to see you all in person.
ReplyDelete