Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! We're glad to be home and now back in the swing of everyday life. We had a very good trip to Michigan. Annika is a great traveller and held out well in her carseat for over 13 hours each way! While in Michigan, we celebrated Christmas with the family, had fondue and Annika even tried her first solid food - sweet potatoes! We also got to see many friends that we haven't seen in a while - but there is never enough time to see everyone!

We also visited Beppe, and she was very surprised at how big Annika has gotten since we visited last - she said that she definitely looks like a Jellema! The picture is of all four generations - Annika Opal Green, Lynn Green, Clara TenHarmsel and Cornelia Jellema.

After visiting Beppe, we let Annika play in the snow for the first time! She wasn't too excited about getting snow up her sleeve, but she was interested to find out what the cold stuff tasted like!

We were very fortunate to have good driving weather both there and back, and we made it back in time to relax for one day before the New Year. We spent New Year's Eve with friends at a cabin in the mountains. Six adults, five kids and 3 large dogs - what a change from how we used to celebrate! Annika managed to be the only child to stay awake to see the New Year - not by choice - and I think we were all in bed by 12:15am!

New Year's Day we visited Curtis & Debbie for collard greens and black-eyed peas - a Southern tradition on New Year's Day. Mmmm...something I'm still not used to, and wouldn't eat if I had the choice! Annika enjoyed playing with her cousin Kirk and hearing about everyone's Christmas down here.

Since then, we have settled back into daily life here. I returned to work on Wednesday of last week, while Lee stayed home for three more days with Annika. The Christmas decorations are back in the attic, and the house is back to normal. Annika has spent the past few days discovering all of her new toys, playing with her new baby doll and looking at all the neat books that she got for Christmas! It is amazing to see her look at all the pictures in the books, and she gets so excited by the bright colors!