Boise Bakers

We're starting to get back into a normal routine after the holiday rush and bustle. We had such a wonderful time with mom and dad when they came on Christmas. We loved visiting and playing pinochle, and the kids were in absolute heaven with grandma as their fulltime playmate.
Xander was blessed the Sunday mom and dad were here. It was such a sweet blessing and he looked so handsome in his little outfit! We actually ended up forgetting to do pictures that day, so we had to dress up Xander a couple days later so we'd have something for the photo album.


We also went to the Fesitval of Lights at the D.C. temple. The lights were beautiful, and there was also a neat international creche display and Christmas trees decorated by different wards in the area.


Eva was excited when school started up again. She has a great teacher and she loves to learn and play with her friends. Her favorite subject is art. She is so creative. All during the holidays she made tons of ornaments and decorations out of paper. A few days ago she put together a "beach party" for her and Aiden and I. She laid out a blue blanket for the water and a white blanket for the sand. Then she made a bunch of shells, a starfish, and even a mermaid out of paper, hid them, and had Aiden and I search for them before putting them in their places on the blankets. She also likes to dress up and pretend she's a princess or a dancer. After we put her to bed at night she likes to stay up for a little while and play. If we peek in her room, she's often acting out elaborate dramas with her toy dinosaurs or dressed up in one of her princess outfits and fairy wings building with her Kid K'Nex or animatedly reading one of her books. She also loves playing with Xander. She does a great job entertaining him, and he just grins whenever he sees her


I didn't have room in this post for a picture of Aiden by himself, but I love the one of him in the snow in the last post. He is getting so big. He has just blossomed over the past year. He has become very social and talkative. He loves going to the joyschool we do with a couple other families in the ward. He has started getting into puzzles and does a great job with the 24-piecers. He is a sunbeam now, and with Jeff teaching the 9-year-olds and me being primary chorister (not nearly as good as mom, but trying my darnedest :) ), the whole family is in primary together on Sundays. It's a lot of fun. Aiden still loves music and he already knows a lot of the primary songs. It's fun to see him right there on the front row in primary, singing his heart out and trying to move his hands around like mommy.

And Xander turned 4 months old yesterday! He is such a little light, and we all just adore him to pieces.
Sometimes I can hardly believe how blessed I am to have such a wonderful family - both our little family out here in Virginia and all of you extended family - and to know that we get to be together for all eternity. I love you all.