Santa, Baby

As you can tell, Anabelle's first visit with Santa went very well. The girl has never met a stranger! She loved him. Memories were made. I cried... She is SO MUCH FUN!

Biter Biscuits

Among many other first tries of foods, including peas, green beans, sweet potatoes and peaches, Anabelle had her very first "biter biscuit." Her sweet friend, Addie, shared them with her since Addie has all of her teeth now. I must preface the pictures by telling you that Anabelle has never smiled, not once, while eating. She is a serious girl a lot of the time, and eating is definitely one of those times. We can tell when she likes her food by the speed with which she eats it. Smiles are not even a consideration.

If you watch the pictures, you can see she loves this. No smiles, but she demolished it in minutes. So fun to watch!

Sprinkle, Shower and Bath

One of my dear friends, Heather, is expecting her second baby any day now. Well, mid-January, really. We threw a surprise "Sprinkle" for her a few weekends ago. What's a Sprinkle, you ask? It's smaller than a shower, since showers aren't typically held for second babies. It was food, friends and pampering for the mommy. Here are a few of us with the glowing Heather.

One of my other very dear friends, Amy, is expecting her first just before Heather. We don't get to see her very often, living in different states, but it's always a wonderful reunion when we do. The Groves and we decided to have our own shower for the Domingos in the form of a weekend reunion. It was so relaxing, fun to catch up and filled with delicious food! Here are the three mommas and our babies (with baby D giving Amy that beautiful mommy-to-be glow).
And speaking of showers, Anabelle loves them! It's a good thing, because we don't have a bath seat that fits the tubs in our temporary house. She either gets to take a shower, when possible, or a bath in this fabulous kitchen sink, surrounded by granite countertops. I keep telling her not to get used to it. ;)

Christmas with Grandpa Mack

After Christmas celebrations with Mike's mom and grandparents, we met his dad for a little QT. Anabelle was in a terrificly smiley mood, as you can see! And check out her beautiful new hot pink scarf that Aunt Chelsie diligently crocheted for her.
We may need to sell this photo to Starbucks. I'm sure it would increase their business at least two-fold.

Grandpa Ron is an incredible wood worker. He made Anabelle a beautiful toy chest that is in her room, with her name carved in it. For Christmas, he made her this gorgeous rocking horse. She loves to sit on it and rock back and forth. I am amazed by his talent and thrilled to have a piece of furniture like this to pass on through the generations.

Christmas at Grandma Mack's

We celebrated Christmas with Mike's family last weekend so we can wake up in our own house this year for Christmas and celebrate just the three of us!

Saturday night, we ventured out into the cold to take a stroll through Auburn's park that was decorated with lights and Christmas attractions. It was very pretty, and Anabelle loved all of the lights!
We managed to get a photo of the whole crew... barely. The kids also saw Santa, but the photos turned out pretty terribly between the two older kids wanting nothing to do with him. Anabelle, on the other hand, was happy just to be there.

And thrilled to be Rudolph, as you can tell.

She opened her very first Christmas presents while we were there! She loved unwrapping them. In fact, we may just wrap up paper and boxes for Christmas. It was so exciting to think about what Christmas morning will be like. Here she is checking out her gift.

And here she is being a little mommy to both of her new baby dolls. She has a hand on both of their bellies. Patting them, probably, because that's what she does to things she likes.

6 Months!

Anabelle turns 7 months old tomorrow, so I figured I should post her 6 month bunny picture. It's the last one against pink walls. *sniff*

Chatty Cathy

Apparently I have become quite the "Chatty Cathy" this past month because I went way over on my minutes! Since we don't have a house phone, I'm guessing a lot of those minutes came from setting up our new accounts and cancelling old accounts as we moved. Regardless, texting will be my new best friend this month while I try to limit my talk time before 9 PM. If you're on Verizon, we can talk all day! Otherwise, I may have to be selective in my talking time for a while.

This has been a public service announcement by Biz Mack. Sponsored by a grateful husband, I'm sure.

Snow & Shopping

Photos have been tough to come by with our busyness, but my (camera)phone is always handy! Here is a summary of our week this week thanks to Verizon:

First, Sonya and Connor came to our new house to visit! We ate lunch at Chicago's Pizza - SO thankful to still have one nearby. Connor was smitten by Anabelle. See him checking her out! Anabelle saw her first snow this week! It was beautiful to wake up to, even if it was just a dusting. Here is how excited she was to watch it fall from the sky!

And then she went Christmas shopping with Mimi and me. We went on the coldest, iciest, 60 mph windiest day, but she still loved it! Here's proof:
So that's our week, plus organizing and such.

And More of the Beauty

Merry Christmas from our little sweetie! Her mimi has made her a hat like this in girly pink, Colts blue and now Christmas red with jingle bells on the little pigtails. It's darling! (She makes them with shorter tails for boys, if anyone is interested). We are so excited for Christmas with Anabelle this year! She will be so much fun!

By the time Mike got home, Anabelle was pretty tired of being the beautiful model. We got a few family photos in, but she kept her game face on. Abby still captured a few cute ones. We may try again another day for three smiles!

That's it for the photo shoot! I've already "hired" Aunt Abby for her 9 month and 12 month photos. She was so generous to do these for us, and we are very thankful to have her, plus Mimi and Auntie Rachie to help! I imagine more Christmas photos will be taken when the aunts are home for break.

Speaking of Christmas, we actually get to decorate for Christmas since we are moved in to the rental house now! I am thrilled for that. It will make this house seem even more homey, even though we know we're moving out in about six months. Anabelle may get tired of watching Elf and White Christmas since they will surely be on repeat this week as I unpack our stuff!

Contact Mack

Dear Friends, Family and Blogging World,

We have temporarily relocated. We would LOVE to get mail from you, especially at Christmas! Please send us lots of letters and your family photos to:

PO Box 122
Greenfield, IN 46140.

We can safely advertise our temporary address since it's a small metal box in a US Postal Office. If you want to come visit, we will give you our physical address. Just ask!

Love,
The Macks

6 Month Photos Continued

More of Aunt Abby's fabulous photo work. Anabelle was a terrific model. We just love the smiles... and those chubby cheeks/thighs/etc.