Hooray Packers!

What a game! We are still filled with excitement over the Packer's win yesterday. I really wish I could be in Green Bay today. It would be so fun to help welcome them home. We had our life group over for the game. We had a wonderful time and ate a lot of food!

What is the latest with Joy? I would say her interest in counting and spelling her name. She was given a block puzzle of her name for her birthday. As you will see in the video, she has learned to spell her name because of her interest in that puzzle. She doesn't fully understand what she is doing. I think she thinks of it as a song more than anything else. But it is still fun and cute. She has also been very interested in counting objects. She can count up to three objects but most of the time every object is two, two, two, and two. In the video below and sometimes during play, she gets three mixed up with 'y' or something else. Watching her learn and grow is so much fun. Enjoy.

High Fives

We continue to be amazed at how fun Joy is these days. Dad and Joy started goofing around the other night while giving each other high fives. As you'll observe, she had a lot of fun. It is especially fun to watch her language develop by the day. For example, just today she started saying "Oh no". Enjoy this peek into our daily life.

Boom-de-ada

Joy's recent favorite song is "Boom-de-ada" or "Booo" as she calls it. A more common title maybe "I Like the Flowers". Anyway, here is some video of her demonstrating her fondness for this song. She received this guitar for Christmas from Grandpa and Grandma Krafve in honor of Danny's guitar skills. We were pleasantly surprised to find her favorite song on it.

Touchdown

Written at the end of last week...
Joy and I are back in the swing of working again. The baby we are spending time with is a really good baby and a joy to be around. Joy has become increasingly interested in her own baby dolls since we started working for this family. She is a busy little mama. We add the baby's older 3 yr old sister to our little group towards the end of the day. Joy greatly enjoys her company as well.
Joy learned how to say and do the sign for touchdown last weekend. I'm sure you can guess what dad was watching on TV. We grabbed the camera a little late because I decided to record her doing it as dad entered the room with her favorite meal, pizza. At least she entertained us once more before she ate.
Her language is developing great! It is so nice to have her ask for things she needs/ wants rather than yell about it. She said her first sentence today. We always halfway joke with her when she puts doll pacifiers in her mouth. She found one at work today, put it in her mouth and mostly said what we say to her, "No, that's for the baby."
Joy and I are looking forward to a 4 day weekend that will include play dates with friends and extra time with dad. She has been especially excited about seeing dad return home from work these days.
Speaking of work, Danny's new position is going great. He is busy, but enjoying it. We also invested in a new 2010 Mazda 5 at the end of December. It is a mini, mini van. It can transport 6 people if no trunk space is needed. We had to upgrade because I need to be able to transport 3 kids for work, and we need more space when we travel with Joy.
I apologize we are unable to share videos we have of Joy. Youtube is not working for me so I have passed that problem onto Danny to solve.
We pray that God richly blesses your new year!

Mamo aka Elmo

Joy LOVES Elmo! And she has since she was 7 or 8 months old, evident when she started giggling when I was carrying her through a store. I looked where she was looking, only to find a big poster cut-out of Elmo waving. Recently, Joy started saying two syllable words. Her first being "uh oh", which was soon followed by "Mamo". In the video below, she demonstrates her love for Elmo with some prompts for the camera from mom.

Joy Says Please

Joy is talking a lot these days. We are trying to teach her how and when to use the word 'please'. Danny caught her on camera saying her 'goofy please' when she wanted me to start a dancing Santa and reindeer. Enjoy.

Christmas with the Rainbows

We spent Christmas with the Rainbows in Madison this year. We enjoyed spending some time at home as well, which spurred us to think about what we would like our family 'traditions' to be in the years to come. The ladies (Peggy, Sarah, and I) started Christmas by going to the Nutcracker at the Overture Center, performed by the Madison Ballet Company. Then we went to Christmas Eve service at Mt Olive Lutheran Church. We opened gifts slowly over Christmas Day, giving Joy the opportunity to play with each gift a bit before moving onto the next. And, Joy learned the word cookie from trying several different kinds of Grandma's delicious Christmas cookies.
Danny and I are on vacation this week. Our plans include: going skiing tomorrow, picking up our new 2010 Mazda 5 tomorrow, getting together with friends, polishing off a few unfinished projects, Joy visiting Grandma and Grandpa Krafve without mom and dad, and celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary. Danny pointed out last night that we have been together for 10 years already.
Below are a few pictures of our Christmas celebration.