The end of 2006

We made it through the funeral Saturday and are plugging along. Today we said goodbye to Maddie and Annie's cousins Amanda and Spencer. They were a complete joy while they were here. Spencer had fun playing the Wii and Amanda had fun shopping. We all played a few rounds of "blew-it" or "dice" and Scrabble. They enjoyed being with the girls. Maddie and Spencer had a lot of fun together playing with the Wii and Amanda played Polly Pockets and doll's with her. We were very sad to see them go. We have tentative plans to see them again next summer for a trip to the east coast.

Annalise Renee met her Great Aunt Renee (and Uncle Bob) on Saturday. Renee gave her a very special gift; her mothers baby ring. It's very special that Annie can recieve this from her Great Aunt Renee. I hope Annie (and Maddie too) have the opportunity to spend time with Renee like I did as a child. We had so much fun baking cookies together. I can't wait for the girls to have that experience too. She also met her Great Grandpa Edelmaier. He loves the girls so much and it was nice to see them together again. She also met her other Great Unlce Rich and Great Aunt Debbie.

A day before Amanda and Spencer came we said goodbye to the Jacksons. It's always sad to see the Jacksons go because we enjoy them so much. Madeline idolizes her cousins Maggie and Jack. We're looking forward to seeing them in late spring this next year. We're beginning to plan a Fort Robinson/Boulder trip. We hope to see the other cousins Chad and Toni and their kids Conrad and Carter while we're in Fort Robinson. Maddie had so much fun with them June 2006 that she can't wait to see them again.

The girls are doing well otherwise. Madeline is looking forward to going back to school next week (and I can't wait to get back to work!). Annie has been spreading out her daytime feedings and that will make nursing during the day at daycare much easier. She just went through a growth spurt and we're looking forward to the developmental changes in her near future. She's talking so much and sitting up in her new Bumbo seat really well. She loves to chew on her fists and stare at us from across the room. She's starting to grab things and can almost get them into her mouth. She's been batting at toys for a while now but getting much better at her aim. In just a few weeks she will start rice cereal! I can't believe how quickly she's growing up.

Equally amazing is that Madeline is growing up too. Madeline has become much more independent and self supportive since she's been at home with Annie and me. She is taking more responsibility for herself and helping with family tasks like setting the dinner table and picking up after herself. She is also getting better at accepting things as less than perfect. We've been working with her on that and she's becoming more accepting when things are not quite as perfect as she'd like.

So as we head into 2007 we face many new joys, challenges and changes. We wish you and your family the best in this new year.

Merry Christmas

It was hard to get through today, but we managed. Everyone had as good of a Christmas as possible. Madeline loved the gifts from her Grandma Linda. I believe her favorite gifts were ones that Grandma Linda gave her. She said "Thank you Grandma Linda in heaven".

Sad day.

Today is the day Madeline and Annie's Grandma Linda passed away. We are all very sad and will be dealing with her loss in the coming days. Grandma JoLene said that both Annie and Maddie cried out in their sleep at the time Grandma Linda passed. We think Grandma was saying her goodbye to them. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we deal with the loss of a wonderful Grandma, mother, and friend. The funeral is set for Saturday December 30th.

Only 13 shopping days left!

As much as I'd love to say I have more shopping to do, the sad fact is that I've purchased more than enough this holiday season. Of course, that doesn't stop me from creating a myriad of reasons to buy more. Unfortunately Anna does not seem to be reaping the benefits of my shopping fits. It's hard to find things to buy for the baby who will inherit absolutely everything from her previously spoiled sister. Previously, as in, when Maddie was an infant. She still is spoiled but we're trying to cut back on that. In theory anyway.

So the week updates include: Maddie enjoyed an evening out with the "big girls" Mary and Sarah. Madeline idolizes older girls so I can only imagine the pitter patter of her heart as they took her to see Happy Feet last Friday in a spontaneous movie outing. Ryan, Anna and I took advantage of the Maddie-free time to assist Santa in his shopping for the stocking. Santa will be very pleased with our purchases. Santa's been good to me too since I discovered a new local store called Kajoma's. I believe, in this respect, Ryan thinks Santa is the devil since the bank account is being drained in the spirit of keeping me stylish. I blame it on the postpartem hormone fluctuations in re-establishing my sense of self now that I have my body back. I wish I had a little more sleep, which leads me to my second week update. Anna is getting a little better about sleeping longer at night and stretching out her feedings. Last Friday she went 6 hours and followed it up with another 4. It was a little slice of heaven. I think she's on the cusp of sleeping through the night more consistently.

This past week Madeline has been practicing being "fancy" like Nancy in her "Fancy Nancy" book. This does mean, unfortunately, that she tries on a plethora of outfits before she settles on just the right coordination of stripes and, uh, stripes in a variety of colors, paired with at least two but preferably more necklaces, a headscarf or headband (sometimes both), two sweaters over her shirt, clip on earrings and a bracelet. It's all about the accessories! She sometimes dons a tiara if the occasion allows. Let me just say that she always, without a doubt, gets a few comments while out and about. I was in Kajoma's last weekend and I asked Madeline if she was ready to go, to which she responded "As I'll ever be" and another customer said "oh yes you are!". So all of this is to say that she's not interested in being a princess this week but rather focusing on accessories and being fancy.

Annalise is still growing, sheesh, you'd think she's knock that off. She will be 11 weeks on Friday. She's enjoyed blowing bubbles for the last couple of weeks and it's fun to see her frothy mouth. Her other favorite thing to do is suck on her hands. I suspect she may be a thumb sucker. She sucks on pretty much anything that gets within an inch of her mouth. It's like a vacuum. She makes all kinds of fun noises now too. We've gotten into a pretty good routine where I feed her around 5:30 or 6am and before Ryan leaves for work he puts her into the swing. She sleeps there until 10am so Maddie and I can sleep in. I haven't slept this late since before Madeline was born. Ryan reaps the benefit of this on the weekend.

This coming weekend Maddie has two birthday parties (one of which is in Lincoln). During our Lincoln trip we will be visiting Maddie's Godparents Brian and Erin and their three bundles of joy; the triplets. We're looking forward to meeting them since the last time we visited they were in utero.

I am including some fancy Maddie pictures for your enjoyment!

Happy Holidays from the Horners

Anna is ten weeks old today. She's doing beautifully. She is now wearing some 3-6 month clothes. She seems to be very long and outgrowing the length of her 0-3 months clothes. She has little rolls around her upper arms and a little chub on her hams, but she still looks like your standard issue infant. She is doing really well holding her head up and pushing up on her arms. She's talking a lot and practicing new sounds. She has told me on numerous occassions that she is most looking forward to meeting her Jackson relatives. She's saving her most interesting conversations for Uncle John and Aunt Michele. We'll be sure to get those on video.

Madeline enjoyed pretending to be a princess this week. She's decided Mulan is her "princess" of choice this week. She's been wearing her play kimono every day and insisted on having chinese food last Friday in order to get into complete character. Today we went to the library and she borrowed the Snow White dvd so she might be into dwarves this weekend. Last night Annalise, Madeline and Ryan went to look at Christmas lights and visited Grandma Linda. I stayed home and baked a couple batches of cookies. This Friday Maddie's school is having their annual holiday party. Maddie will make Christmas crafts and we'll all munch on some treats for a couple of hours. We're looking forward to the party.

Over the last year Madeline told us that she knows Santa is not real because no one can logically get around the world to deliver gifts nor fly in a sleigh in the sky. She kept asking us if Santa was real. We told her that many people believe in Santa and he's very real to them. We also told her we believe in the spirit of Santa and giving, yada yada. She still insisted that she doesn't believe Santa is real, however, since then she must have decided that she wants to believe in Santa because she's very into him this year. We visited Santa at the Olde German Christmas festival where he arrived in a convertible. She now tells us that Santa rides in a car and not a sleigh. Alas, the joys of Christmas. I hope she decides to beleive in the "magic" of Christmas for a few more years. I am not sure if she'll pusue the conversation with anyone this year, but I wanted to give everyone the update on her viewpoint.

We've also noticed recently that she is a bit (that's an understatement) of a perfectionist. She becomes easily frustrated when she cannot do things correctly, must restart things when she makes a mistake and she has unrealistic expectations for herself. Yes, they actually write books on this personality trait, so we'll be working to help her enjoy the process of learning and not get too focused on winning, or doing things correctly and understanding that mistakes are part of learning. I told Ryan that we won't need to worry about her being successful! LOL

I've included a picture of our tree so you can see how Maddie decorated it. She's been making snowflakes almost daily to hang on the tree. Last year she made rings, but this year it's snowflakes! :)