Happy New Year!

Happy 2010!!! Is that even possible? Annabel was born in 2008, and surely it hasn't been that long...... but I guess it has! So I have to open with a comparison picture of Annabel, wearing the same Happy New Year hat as last year. I was hoping to get a shot that was more similar to last year's, but Annabel was a ball of energy this morning, and had absolutely no interest in posing for a picture in this hat - so this was the best I could do.

This is Annabel on January 1, 2009....

.... and this is her January 1, 2010. To me, it looks like she's grown two years in one!

Yesterday we finished out 2009 with good friends.... in the morning Brooklyn and Amber came over to play, and in the evening we had several friends over to ring in the new year. It had been a couple of weeks since the girls had seen eachother, and they were SO EXCITED. I really love to watch them become friends. They played hard to make up for lost time, and the favorite toy of the day was definitely the ball pit. Here are some pictures of them.... I think it's evident by their faces how much they were enjoying themselves.

Even though they would be coming back that night for a new year's party, we decided to try to get their picture with their new year's party hats in the morning, assuming our odds were better of success. So we plopped them down in the ball pit, put on the party hats and asked them to give each other a hug..... they were so stinking cute, they sat there for probably a minute easy hugging, smiling, and cheesing for the camera. If I had a better camera, I think the picture could have been even better - but you get the idea:

A picture from earlier that morning with Annabel in her party hat. She wasn't really feeling it, but I like this picture because I think she looks like such a big girl.

Annabel didn't last long at the new year's party, and was pretty tired and cranky while she was awake. So we only got one picture of the girls at the party, but I think it was a pretty good one. I had already pulled out Annabel's jammies when Brooklyn came in and said "I have monkeys, too!" She was right, they just happened to be wearing the same pair. Pretty fitting for these two monkeys, I'd say!

Nate and I had some friends over to ring in the new year.... here is a shot of the two of us just after midnight!

Today, while Daddy spent a little down time watching bowl games and the PU basketball game, Annabel and I went to visit my mom and dad. Not too many pictures from the day, but I did snap this one on the way up. I thought she looked so sweet.....