Ten on Tuesday

So...we accidentally missed a few Tuesday's, and everybody is clamoring for an update so I'm going to do one for you.

1. Here are some Christmas pictures, since we haven't done a real update about that.
   
   Santa got Uncle Ryan a sweet new toy. The girls weren't allowed near this obviously.
   
   
   The leopard girls.
   
   
   
   Alice and Kaylee got matching strollers and dolls for Christmas and had a blast running around Grandma and Grandpa's house with them. Unfortunately this is the best picture we got of that.
   
   
   Alice and JJ. Not sure why Alice is attempting to pick her nose through her upper lip, I taught her the proper way...
   
   
   Alice tracing her hand on the day after Christmas.
   
   
2. We had several visits from Auntie Tori, and Grandma Cindy/Grandpa Charlie/Maggie made a visit as well. The chicken and dumplings were (was?) awesome, it just took about 3 hours longer to cook than we thought it would.
   
   
   Alice and Tori playing with the easel Alice got from the Arizona Rice's for Christmas. She loves this thing, thanks guys!
   
   
3. Alice LOVES to read. We read her books every day, and she reads them back to us as well. When she is reading, they usually go something like "once upon a time, there was a girl named Alice and she was a princess - she had a mommy and a daddy, THE END". I've read War and Peace 3 times, and that was definitely the best version.I think Becky was just testing the camera or something - but this is a darn cute picture.
   

   
   
4. Becky and the baby are doing OK - Becky is mostly just tired of being pregnant and can't wait for it to be over. As of her last doctor visit the baby was breech, but they said that is nothing to worry about...yet. We think she (the baby, not Becky) flipped sometime recently, but neither of us are doctors.
   
   We just got back from our successful "Steal the Watermelon" caper. Strong Bad would be proud.
   
   
   
5. Alice is getting very excited, and talks to the baby in mommy's belly a lot. She also comes up with elaborate little stories about how she is going to help us with the baby, or play with the baby. Some of it is in the video below, but she wasn't really into it when I recorded this.
   
   


6. Unfortunately, both Alice and Becky have been perpetually sick for...a long time... Alice has a hacking cough that won't go away, and Becky keeps getting cold/flu like symptoms on and off. We've all been to the doctor (I had it for a few days myself) but it looks like this is a (non-flu) virus so they can only treat the symptoms. No pictures for this, that would be gross.
   


7. Thanks to the unseasonably warm weather recently, Becky and Alice have been outside to play a few times. One day they even got to go out for a picnic, and Alice loved that.
   
   At the park
   
   
   Playing hopscotch - only missed it by 3 feet
   
   
   Eating at the picnic in the backyard
   
   
8. The picnic made me sad - because when I got home from work that day, this is what Alice said to me "we had picnic and ate apples and peanut butter sandwiches and you were at work and I miss you!" (I'm paraphrasing of course.)
   
   
9. Alice has grown up a little since our last blog post - she is talking in fuller sentences, and can mostly hold a conversation. This also means a change in her TV viewing habits. She isn't on the Caillou and Sesame Street so much anymore, but she LOVES Dora.
   
   Too bad she's already outgrown this shirt
   
   
10. For whoever was frightened by my poor attempt at a beard - that scraggly, wispy, ugly thing is gone. The result of my experience is this - it is not possible for me to grow a ZZ Top beard in 3 months. Even 3 years seems dicey.
    
    Seriously? This is nearly 3 months of growth?

That is 10 things, so hopefully this is good enough for you all. Becky says she will be doing a post soon, but if not I'll try to be better at keeping them going. Here is one last picture of Alice to get that ugly visage of me out of your brains.

Oooohhh, a movie star!