Christmas Day

Joy woke us up bright and early Christmas morning. Considering she'll spend the next two decades getting us up at 4:00am on December 25, I guess we should be grateful that she waited until 6:30am this time.

Here are our gifts piled under our lovely, non-dry, non-stinky tree. Yay!

Joy's presents included clothes from Mama and Daddy (we're taking full advantage of the fact that she's still too young to be disappointed by non-toy gifts), and a book from Aunt Alissa and Uncle Nate. Hmmm . . . book or clothes? Duh - BOOK! (I like this kid.)

After presents, eggnog pancakes (alas, that recipe still needs some tinkering), and Joy's morning nap, we headed to my parents' home for further festivities. With both our families, Christmas Eve is a time for reflection and Christmas Day is a time for fun. At the Sorenson house, that means hunting for Mom's tiny pickle ornament to win a prize, then participating in one of Dad's famous treasure hunts.

Mom and Dad ushered us out front while they hid all the clues, then Dad separated the boys and girls, and gave each team a different starting clue. For about ten chaotic minutes, the two teams raced around the house trying to solve Dad's riddles and find all their clues. At the end of the treasure hunt there was actually a prize for each of the participants - the only reward for reaching them first was fame and glory.

So guess who won. That's right . . .

. . . the Girls!

Once we caught our breath, we headed to Uncle Nile's house for the larger Sorenson Clan gathering (translation: more Sorensons eating more food, then playing more games, then eating more food). For some reason, I neglected to take any pictures there, which is a pity - I'd like to have photographic evidence of my first shot at Guitar Hero. I actually hit 75% of the notes (on the super-easy setting). Not bad for a rookie.

I truly love this season of the year. It's a wonderful time for reflection and creating fun family memories. We hope you've enjoyed it, too, wherever and however you celebrated.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

We joined Phillip's family for Christmas Eve this year.

The evening began with a delicious dinner followed by a white elephant game, then we moved on to the traditional Hendrickson Christmas Eve Program. The program included . . .

. . . Laura, Alissa, and Mom playing "Carol of the Bells" on (what else?) brightly colored bells . . .

. . . Nate reading some passages from the scriptures . . .

. . . and an ensemble performance of "Peace, Peace" (we non-instrument playing folk contributed by singing along at one point). Yes, I did sing a song in the program, but no, I don't have a picture of that. If Alissa and Nate send us one, I'll post it (unless I'm making a weird face, in which case I'll just have to leave the performance to your active imaginations).

Joy's favorite part of the evening was probably sampling Grandma's molasses crinkles . . .

. . . or playing "Stick the Post-Its on the Baby." 'Cuz who wouldn't enjoy that?

Happy Hendrickson Christmas!!



************Edit************

For your viewing pleasure, here is the picture of Phillip and me performing "First Christmas Story" by Kelly Crabb.

Late Trimming Is Better Than None

We've had our tree since the beginning of December, but we haven't found time to actually trim it until tonight.

Feast your eyes, folks. Loverly, ain't it? If you think we're brave (or nuts) to decorate the bottom branches with a toddler in the house, look closer.

Everything within Joy's reach is either baby-friendly or (more often) Joy's toys. I didn't want the bottom half of our tree to be bare, but I didn't want our ornaments demolished, either.

Of course, by putting toys on the lower branches, we may be encouraging a bad habit of pulling things off Christmas trees (until now she's ignored it most of the time). Oh well--she can't do much damage in a week, and perhaps we'll learn helpful insights for future use.

Party Time

We didn't quite make it to a certain fire-marshal-defying white elephant party on Friday, but we've still managed to have a pretty wild weekend. Or at least, wild by Hendrickson standards. :)

Saturday evening, a friend held an "Alice In Wonderland" themed birthday party, and asked everyone to either wear creative headgear or consult their local mad hatter about procuring some.

We also played "Pin the Ears on the Cheshire Cat" and sampled cupcakes with "Eat Me" written on them in pink and purple icing. When a dessert demands to be consumed, I'm certainly not going to be the one to disappoint it.

Sunday night we had relatives over for Joy's family birthday party. (Hey, Joy--the party's THAT way.)

We ate a lot, talked a lot, sang the super-extended Sorenson birthday song, then Joy got to celebrate her first year on earth by . . .

. . . finally tasting some chocolate! Woo hoo! Hey--since she's now got the green light to eat peanut butter as well, maybe we'll have to share a Reese's tomorrow, too . . .

Baby, This Is Your Life!

It's hard to believe our little girl is already a year old. It's been so fun to watch her grow . . .

Day 1

Month 1

Month 2 - Baby props herself up; parents go nuts.

Month 3 - First roll (and the last until 3 months later).

Month 4

Month 5 - I call this the "Lemme tell'ya" picture.

Month 6 - If you look close you can see those first two teeth.

Month 7 - Baby meets rice cereal.

Month 8

Month 9 - Can you tell Mama likes that purple shirt?

Month 10 - Remember that "tongue out the side of the mouth" phase?

Month 11

Month 12 - Ah, the supernal bliss of cheese!

Happy Birthday, Joy!

Happy First Birthday, Joy

Joy is officially one year old today.* That means she has the green light for cow's milk, peanut butter, chocolate, and . . .

Presents! Mom and Dad gave her clothes (might as well be practical while she's too young to be bummed out by them), but Joy's play group buddies gave her some pretty cool stuff.

At this tender age, Baby found herself confronted by one of those deep questions that has dogged humanity since the beginning of time: Soccer ball or Disney Princess book?

And the winner is . . . the soccer ball! At least for now . . .

*Yes, I post-dated this post, and no, I don't feel guilty about that.

Birthdays Are Just Ducky

It's Joy's first birthday next week, but since many of her playgroup buddies will be out of town, we decided to host a playgroup/party at our place yesterday.

Here Baby plays with the balloons as she eagerly awaits the arrival of guests. "No way, Mom! Will these things REALLY make me talk funny?"

Here's the party. Again, nothing captivates toddlers like balloons.

And for the adults, here's the birthday spread (to which Jessica generously added a tasty, cream cheesy appetizer). I found some fun, holiday rubber duckies as favors, then kind of built the theme from there. You know - ducks, and yellow, and . . . er . . . Christmas.

OK, so I'm no Martha Stewart, but you have to admit the duckies are cute.

Sugarplum Meets Tree

Here's Baby checking out the new, green addition to our household.

I bet she'll think it's even cooler when we actually get around to decorating it.

Temple Lights

This evening our youth group drove into LA to see the lights on the temple grounds.

This picture is admittedly a bit blurry, but I think it still looks lovely enough to include.

It was fun to walk the grounds and enjoy each other's company.

Q: "How many youth can you fit in the Muhlesteins' van?"
A: "Lots."

Happy December!

I don't think Joy yet grasps who the guy in the red suit is, nor why it's important to stay on his good side.

Frankly, when we placed her on his lap at the ward party and started madly snapping photos, she gave the impression that her personal space was being invaded. At least she didn't cry. We'll see if our luck holds next year.
After the party we brought home this year's Christmas tree (Phillip snapped this picture of it strapped to our silver bullet out front). We've had amazingly bad luck with trees throughout our marriage - the first dried out long before Christmas Eve, and the next one developed a singularly unpleasant odor. Third time's a charm, they say.

Look Out, Folks

So, I finally managed to snap a picture of Joy standing. What motivated her to relinquish every source of support and trust her safety to two unsteady little feet? What else?

A cell phone. "Watch, Mom! No-look texting!"

As if that weren't enough, Joy also tried her hand at climbing today. Anything to get at more books.

Plant Appreciation

Good news: The California Poison Control System informs us that African violets are completely non-toxic.

Nevertheless, we're moving the remnants of this particular specimen far from Baby's crib. Duh, Mama.

Evidence

Just three words:

"Baby was here."

There's One In Every Family

Nope, that's not Mr. Bean in our family portrait. It's my brother Andrew, giving Dad moose antlers.

Any bets whether that's the shot Mom and Dad will pick for their Christmas cards?

Thanksgiving ABCs

As some of you are already aware, it's traditional for my in-laws to play the Thanksgiving Alphabet game every Turkey Day. I love this game because it's usually a fun mix of sincere and silly. Here's how it works:

One person says they’re grateful for something that starts with A, (e.g. “I’m thankful for apple pie.”)

The person to their left then repeats the A item and adds one that starts with B, like “I’m thankful for apple pie and Bono.”

The next person repeats those items and adds one that starts with C: “I’m thankful for apple pie, Bono, and Christmas.”

Keep going around the circle and through the alphabet until you reach Z (for zebras, Zorro, Zarahemla . . .).

This year, our alphabet consisted of:

The Atonement
The Book of Mormon
Clothes
Daffodils
Egg Beaters
Fractals
Giraffes
History
Insulin
Joy
Kimberly Cruz (one of the Beehives in my class)
Laughter
Music
Nutmeg
Orion
Phillip
Quirkiness
The Resurrection
Sunshine
Temples
Umbrellas
Violoncellos
Water
X-rays
Yellow
Zzyzx Road ('cuz it's just fun to say)

Bonding on the Range

Boy, there's been a lot of water under the bridge since that blustery December day nearly a year ago when we clumsily bundled our newborn into several layers of clothes and took her . . .

. . . to the archery range! Cuz that's what you do with newborn, right?

These days Joy actually stays awake to watch the proceedings. She's happy to stay behind me the whole time because, even at this tender age, she's aware how lousy my aim is.

Here's Daddy taking aim from 40 yards. The mist lends a touch of romance to the scene, don't you think?

Oh yeah, and that arrow my dad accidentally shot into the branch above the target a few months back? Yup, the arrow tip's still stuck there.