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Lots of cool things happened on January 11.  Here’s some.

• Alabama seceded from the union in 1861.
• Amelia Earhart flies solo from Hawaii to California in 1935.
• Los Angeles’ first snowfall ever recorded in 1949.
• Chloe Mauter born in 2008.

We hope you have a great birthday and eat lots of cake.

Love, Uncle Brian, Aunt Janie, Samantha and Ellie

We spent a few days with Brian’s family.  While Sam was still in the meat of her cold/cough/throw up thing, we all shuffled from one bed or couch to the next.  Sam was sure to tell Daddy “no snore” when she would go to bed.  :)

Wow, yesterday was a big day!  We spent the day with Michael, Jackie, Chloe and Jolie.  The girls played hard in the morning and at 2PM, Sam went back to MamaLinda’s for a much needed nap and the rest of us went to Jolie’s Baptism.

Jolie was such a good little girl at her Baptism.  The only time she got upset was when they were pouring what had to be 40º water on her head.  I would’ve complained a little too.

She’s all Holy now.

After that Michael and Jackie invited everyone over to their house for food and fun.  They had loads of stuff to do outside and when Samantha returned she and Chloe played with everything:  the swingset, the tic-tac-toe game, crouquet, dirt and the bounce house!

Who likes cucumbers?  Chloe.

I feel like everyone has moved beyond Christmas.  I am running a little behind, so I’m just getting around to posting our Christmas pictures.

Christmas started with brunch at the Betbezes on Christmas Eve.  I really like this tradition.  We enjoyed brunch then the kids began opening presents.  Samantha got lots of great gifts, but the #1 score (in her eyes) was a new shopping cart from Great Aunt Mary.  She barely had the patience for her daddy to put it together.  Goodness.

After naptime, we headed to mass.  It wasn’t as crowded as usual, so we actually had a whole pew to ourselves.  Our friend Kris took this family shot after mass.  It’s one of the few times that Samantha has actually smiled for the camera.  Thanks, guys!

We came home, had Chicken Tortilla Soup (yum) then nestled all snug in our beds.

On Christmas morning, we got up and opened presents.  Samantha got a few books and some hand glove puppets from Santa.  The hit was the Abby Cadabby magic wand book she got.  I like this shot because it shows Sam in her Christmas PJs and slippers, inspecting her new book.

As we were packing the car and getting ready to drive to Huntsville, I went to feed the cats.  We didn’t arrange for anyone to stop by because we were only going to be gone for a few days.  However, I discovered that we were almost out of cat food.  As in, we didn’t have enough to last a few days.  Uh oh.  It was Christmas morning, and I was sure that no store was open that carried our cat food.  Luckily, the Grissoms came to the rescue.  Thanks for buying our cats’ food and taking it by the house to feed them!!

We drove to Huntsville in time for lunch.  The kids were getting ready for their naps so we hurriedly opened presents.  Wow, what craziness.  If I had to guess a favorite from that bunch, it would be the keyboard from MamaLinda and Pop.  Now Samantha can play the piano and push lots of buttons while her daddy is playing too.  She loves dancing to the beat.

On Boxing Day, my mom and I went out shopping while the boys and kids went to the Train Exhibit at the Botanical Gardens.  I think it was a hit.  Of course, anything involving Jackson is sure to be lots of fun.  See a previous post.

On Sunday, we traveled over to Florence to spend some time with Brian’s family.  We enjoyed getting to see everyone.  We opened presents that night then spent a few days relaxing and playing games.  Samantha’s favorite gift was the rocking chair from Nana and Papa.  She loves it!  She also loved Chloe’s skirt and playing with wrapping paper, tissue paper and boxes!

We had a great Christmas!  Whew.  We were glad to spend a few days at home relaxing before beginning the new year!  Here’s one final picture of us in front of our tree at home.  (And you can see my new curtain in the background, and Samantha’s new white dot outfit from MamaLinda!)