DPP Wrap Up

I sort of stalled out with the DPP. I'd like to share some images from the rest of winter break. My little sister, Amy, has been in the hospital since last Wednesday, and we've all been worried sick about her and her unborn son. So, Christmas was a bit different this year. We made the most of it, but it just wasn't the same without Amy and Doug here to share in the fun.

We ended up doing Christmas Eve dinner at our house with the Mills fam (minus Amy and Doug -- sniff, sniff), and we headed off to Kearney to be with the Heckmans on Christmas day. We ended up really enjoying doing it this way -- it gave us the ability to spend Christmas morning alone at our house to do Santa gifts with the kids -- so I would imagine we might do something similar in years to come.











Alice was a riot on Christmas this year. She remembered Christmas from last year, but she was a bit fuzzy on all of the details. When she realized that she was going to get multiple presents, she was pretty stoked. On Christmas morning she came into our room and asked us if she had to go to school. We told her, no, it's Christmas. She asked us then if it would be okay for her to play with her new toys after breakfast. We had to remind her that Santa might have come. She got excited, but she didn't really "get it" until we went downstairs to see the tree. Silly kid!



Elliot was more interested in the bows on the presents than the actual gifts. He did, however, surprise me very much with his ability to actually PLAY with his new toys. Since he isn't very verbal, I don't usually give him very much credit in the "smarts" category. He impressed me with his dexterity -- he was able to pick up his new toy cars and maneuver them into the ramp that came with them. He was able to push the large truck around the room, and he danced when the truck played music. I was in awe! I was also surprised by how much he loves the books he got from Jessica. I've never really read to the poor kid. We read to Alice EVERY day, but we do it after Elliot goes to bed each night. When I sat him down on my lap, he reached out for the pictures, and enjoyed turning the pages. I felt a little bad about it, like maybe I've been neglecting him for a couple months! He's definitely a bigger boy than I thought he was!