Maile has been really exploring her world. We're not officially walking yet, but she will cruise around the furniture and push objects to get closer to what she wants. For example, she knows exactly where her favorite foods are in the pantry.
And will sometimes try to help herself to them.
Much like her brother, Mailes loves the dishwasher. I think she really loves being able to play with all the different "toys" inside.
You also can leave the girl alone for any length of time- she'll quickly find something to play with.
Being our first Thanksgiving in our first house, Jodie wanted to a small, simple dinner for our family.
Although small, we had a lot of fun and some very delicious food. On a side note, Joseph's placemat is one of those fun things he brought home from school.
Although not related to Thanksgiving dinner, we're very thankful that Maile is starting to be able to eat the same food as everybody else. At every meal, she looks very longingly at us and our plates. She absolutely loves being able to join in with the family and eat a pancake, for example.
After Thanksgiving, we got started to get ready for Christmas. Joseph got to help mommy check the Christmas lights...
Maile couldn't not join in on the fun too.
She loved all the Christmas decorations... so many toys at her eye level.
This year, Joseph also really got into my favorite childhood Christmas book, Jolly Old Santa Claus. We ready it a couple times this year to get ready for Santa's visit.
Maile, on the other hand, wasn't too impressed yet.
Maile and Joseph at our ward's Christmas party.
Here is Maile opening up her first Christmas present- it was from one of my co-workers.
She got her some doll accessories. Luckily Maile isn't old enough to understand foreshadowing.
Joseph got a little honey badger, our department's mascot.
One theme that I noticed during this Christmas was that Joseph was very interested in Maile's gifts too. I don't think it will take him too long to lose interest. In the meantime, it will make for some great photo opportunities.
On Christmas Eve, we went my grandparents house for a Christmas program.
Maile had fun meeting one of her 2nd cousins.
The Brems grandkids and uncles sang Jingle Bells.
We also had a Nativity; here is the behind the scenes photo.
Joseph was a very energetic shepherd.
He didn't last too long on his own though.
After the Nativity, we decorated the truck to go check out the Christmas lights around the neighborhood.
The chauffeur for the evening.
The whole crew is ready.
Bundled up snug and warm.
When we got home, Joseph got to open his Christmas Eve gift- some new Buzz Lightyear pajamas.
On Christmas morning, Joseph very excited to see his gifts.
Maile was very excited too- she even pointed to show us where she wanted to go to.
Christmas took a little longer because we had to take a few breaks to play with grandma...
...and grandpa.
Ever since Maile was born, I've had people ask me if I've noticed a difference between raising boys and girls. While there are a lot of similarities, there are some key differences. For example, Maile has really gotten into certain things for which Joseph never showed any interest. One of the most recent examples is with dolls.
A few weeks ago, Jodie told me that Maile might be ready for her first doll for Christmas. I just wondered how she would know, but trusted her judgment in the matter. Shortly afterwards, we were at Toys R Us and we decided to go look at some dolls. I grabbed one and brought it to Maile and her face just lit up; much the same way Joseph lights up with trains. Both are happy to play with each other's toys, but they really get excited about fundamentally very different things.
Any way, fast forward a little, here is Maile and one of her dolls she got for Christmas. This particular one came from her auntie and uncle.
On her own accord, she started feeding her dollie too.
My little girlie girl
Growing up so fast
Here is doll number 2- she loves playing with her hair.
Then, on the other hand. You have my son who gets a pirate hook and starts having a sword fight with his uncle.
And then gets a belt from his auntie in Guatemala, which turns into a perfect sword holder...
..which leads into another sword fight with another auntie.
Never a dull moment with these two.
It took a little while for Joseph to follow his string Christmas morning (Santa ties a string to your stocking and a big present is at the other end of it). Ultimately, Auntie Sari had to help him follow it to the bathroom...
...where a balance bike was waiting for him.
Later that day, Joseph convinced grandpa to spend a little time playing trains with him.
Thank you everyone for making Joseph and Maile's Christmas so special.
They are so loved.
Later on Christmas day, we also some arm wrestling competitions
Jason is still the champ, then Robert, and my dad.
One night, Joseph request that grandpa read him the train calendar as a bedtime story. While an unusual request, grandpa was happy to oblige.
Joseph got to have some fun play time with his cousins- here they are having some fun with playdough.
When Uncle Taylor came to visit, Joseph snuck his way into play with his iPad.
Until he won the battle and got it to himself. Look at that smile, he's pretty proud of himself.
Later on in our trip, Joseph got an imaginary phone call from "little boy Brems". He spent some time talking to him about Christmas and other important topics.
"Let me check the computer"
On another night, grandpa read Small Pig to Joseph- it was one of my favorites growing up.
Both of my kids are enthralled by grandpa's fish tank. Maile and Joseph would stop and stare.
On Saturday, we got to be a apart of my sister's wedding. Congrats Sari and Jordan- we're so happy for you both.
We also got to spend a little time learning how to play the piano.
I'm definitely not the best person to teach them, but it was still a lot of fun.
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