We were happy to have a full weekend at home this week – we filled up on Waffle House and spent Saturday at the Museum of Life and Science who had a temporary exhibit on snow and igloos and ice. A big hit with our Frozen-obsessed toddler.  Do you want to throw a snowball? (sung to the tune of Do you Want to Build a Snowman?)

We packed up the Christmas decorations today. I have two toddler observations:
1. It is not a good idea to pack Elf in a transparent bin and leave it out for your toddler to see.
2. Toddlers can teach us something about gratitude and satisfaction.  Gammy made Kaya a collection of 24 wrapped books at the beginning of December, with the theory that she would unwrap one a day and get to read a new Christmas book each night. The first night went great – she unwrapped a book and we read it and she loved it.  However, she wanted to read that book every night. I got her to open two more books, which she didn’t like as much as the first, and then she refused to open any more books. Why would she need a new book when she had a book she liked already? So we now have 21 leftover books – we’ll try again next year! Maybe she’ll be more greedy then.

It took 6 weeks for Laney to give us some sign that she doesn’t hate us all (and another week to catch it on camera) – but she is officially smiling!

We headed to the National Zoo on Friday before heading home to NC on Saturday. We saw an orangutan swinging on the wires and tigers wrestling. Kaya’s favorite part was the Carousel – she picked the hummingbird.  Laney spent the day in a baby carrier on my chest and slept like a champ.

We spent the last day of 2014 catching up with one of Kaya’s oldest friends Emerson, followed by a nice dinner at Margie’s and the three of us Rose girls were in bed by 10.  Tommy stayed up to drink cocktails by the fire and ring in the new year.  Here’s to a wonderful 2015!

Well, we are officially all partied out. It was wonderful seeing our families (all of them) and we hope to bring in the New Year by relaxing!  Laney best sums up our mood:

Just belatedly sharing a couple of newborn pictures we took of Laney that I love.  More on Flickr.

The Rose Family has completed 2 out of 4 Christmas parties and are having a great time!  Thanks to our families for hosting us.

Merry Christmas from the Rose Family!