One of the things we ate was bacon -- and Laura loves bacon. She can eat a piece faster than most adults and then promptly says, "I want mowr bacon, peese!" We had to cut her off at about 3 pieces or she would have eaten it all!
Laura was very excited to open her first present...a big red wagon with a little baby wagon she can use for her dolls! After she opened it she said, "Fank you, Nana! Fank you Danddad!"
Laura sitting with some of her favorites. The guitar plays Dora music and every time it starts playing, Laura starts dancing and singing. The sledding disk will be a lot of fun at the next snow, but for now, Laura thinks it is a big bathtub. She wanted to go get a baby to give her a bath. And I'm opening her new Fridge Phonics in the background...a great way to learn letters!
A great picture of Granddad, Nana, and Laura. Laura was a little concerned with the cast on Nana's hand (she broke her wrist a few days ago after falling while shoveling snow). Laura didn't know what to do when she saw it...cry or run away! She eventually made peace with the cast and now she and Nana are good friends again:)
A beautiful picture of the gardens.
This area in the summer is the children's garden. I love how they light up the big veggies for the kids to see!
A family picture in the conservatory. It was so warm inside with all the tropical plants, but we were still so cold from being outside that everyone kept on all their winter coats, hats, and gloves!
We got our first snow of the year the first weekend in December (a rarity in Virginia!). Laura loved looking at it, but it wasn't quite enough to play in:(
Laura, Nana, and I had Christmas Tea at the Jefferson Hotel and had a wonderful time! Laura tried a little bit of everything but ultimately decided that a bowl of fruit was the best. You can see that she is talking in this picture...something she does non-stop! She always has stories to tell and tales to share. It keeps us all entertained!
A slightly overexposed but still cute picture of Nana and Laura with the beautiful hotel and decorations in the background.
A fun self-portrait!
Laura riding on the alligator's back. There are alligator statues all over the hotel and she had fun finding them. Whenever she saw one she would say, "Can I touch the aldator?"
"Can I wide da twain?" Laura would ask me that every time we passed this train at the mall. Finally Mommy and Daddy agreed, and she had a great time!
Daddy and Laura having a good time on the porch swing. I love that her little hand is in her pocket! She's becoming such a big girl!
We volunteered through our church to ring the Salvation Army bell for an hour last Saturday. We all had a great time. We sang and wished people "Mewwy Cwistmash!"
Laura, Nana, and Granddad with Laura's Tres Leches cake. It was delicious! One of the little girls who came to the dinner asked when she got there if there was going to be birthday cake for Laura. Needless to say...none of the kids understand adoption yet!
We got Laura a small Colombian trinket for 18 of these celebrations. This year she received these fun crayons that are in a tree limb/stick. All the kids loved them and they colored everything they could find for quite a while (fortunately I didn't find any marks on the wall, though!).
A nice family picture to commemorate 2 years together. We can't imagine our lives without Laura. God truly blessed us when He brought us all together.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!
Laura had so much fun playing with Bob and Gigi. They had found a lot of toys so the whole house was filled with new things for Laura to learn and explore. She loved putting these foam numbers over her head and around her waist...they became like necklaces and skirts.
Auntie, Bob, and Gigi even made a playhouse for Laura out of an old 
My grandpa uses oxygen a lot during the day to help him breathe and at first Laura was very hesitant to go near Bob when the oxygen machine was running. So then my mom had the great idea to let Bob give Laura's babies oxygen. That solved the problem immediately and Laura would run over to Bob and say "Baby needs air, Bob!"
I just couldn't resist adding this picture...she looks so sweet and so long!!
Auntie is a recently retired librarian, so Laura has been stocked with books since the day she joined our family. Laura loves to be read to but is usually very specific about what book and who is doing the reading. If you offer to read "dis book" (the one she has picked out) but you aren't the person she wants to do it, she'll say very 
I'm pretty sure that Laura was performing for us here. She loves to sing and dance, but only when she is in the mood. Don't ask her to perform on demand or she will get shy and run away!
This looks like Laura and Nana are playing some version of Laura's favorite game, "Doe (g0) night-night, Nana!" Laura tells Nana to go to sleep, my mom closes her eyes and pretends to snore and after just a few seconds Laura yells, "
Auntie found this vacuum at a yard sale and Laura loved it! We quickly put her to work doing all the floors and rugs!
This is a front view of Laura's playhouse. What you can't see since the "door" is closed is Auntie is sitting inside helping Laura poke her head out of the skylight. Every few minutes, Laura would then come out of the house and dance for a while. Auntie was getting a little tired of sitting in the box so at one point, she tried to sneak out and sit on the couch. Laura saw her about 1/2 way to the couch, pointed at the box, and said "Get back in that house, 
Laura loves to swim with her Nana. Just recently Laura has gotten brave enough to swim out to the rope and sit on the floater-things. When she gets back to shore, she has always has a huge smile on her face and is ready to do it "o moe dime!" (one more time)
It is really hard to get Laura out of the water...and she always wants to have someone with her, too. Fortunately, Nana and Granddad are up to the task. They have a great time floating around and playing with her.
This was the first weekend that Granddad and Daddy decided to try their hand at fishing off the docks. Laura was very interested. She wanted to help with putting the worm on the hook...
...and help hold the fishing pole...
...and even help hold on to the fish that Granddad caught. She was so excited as he was reeling it in saying over and over "Randrand taught a fish!!" (Granddad caught a fish!)...but as soon as the fish wiggled on the hook, Laura jumped about a mile and wanted nothing else to do with fishing or fish. All we heard the rest of the weekend was "Fish huwt Wawa." (Fish hurt Laura). We tried explaining that it didn't even touch her -- but she was convinced she got hurt! Kids are so funny sometimes!
On our last boat ride of the season, Laura decided that she needed double life jacket protection. She was even concerned about the adults safety trying to get us all to put on life jackets! 
We also spent a few days at the lake. Laura and MeMa had a great time floating around at the beach area.
A fun picture of Laura playing at the light table at the museum.
While MeMa was visiting, Laura only wanted her to read books and sing. Anytime Shawn and I would start singing one of her favorite songs, she would say, "Sop it Mommy Daddy! MeMa doit!"
A lot of time was spent watching Laura play outside. And yes...Laura is wearing a winter hat. She recently found it in her closet and she has decided that it should be a part of every outfit she wears. Again, Laura was the most happy if "MeMa doit!" when it came to being pushed on the swings, helped up the ladder, or helped down the slide.