Merry Christmas!

With love from Casa Cook!

'Tis the Season

Stellan has been helping to get us in the Christmas spirit with some help from his preschool. He's been making super cute art projects (the wreath banner made from green handprints is a keeper for sure), telling us stories and singing us songs. In case you have a soft spot for 4-year-olds singing together, here's an excerpt from his class's Christmas concert, plus a still in case you can't play the video:

Happy Solstice!

Living in Florida, it can be hard to track the changing of the seasons. No changing leaves, no snow, warm(ish) year round. I've had to rely on more subtle cues to decipher these sorts of things. Luckily, this morning Stellan (who, like a good Floridian boy, generally scoffs at sleeping in pajamas and goes more for the underpants-only approach) helped me realize that winter is indeed upon us:

Rachelle Is 1 1/2

Yes, it's true. Rachelle is 18 months old. And she acts every bit of it. Don't get me wrong, she is still just as sweet and good natured and even tempered as ever. But she loves to get into things, take things she shouldn't have and then hide them behind her back while smiling mischievously, and insert herself into big-kid play. She pops out new words everyday and then looks at me with mild disdain when I act surprised. She loves to "read" everything, and will drop any toy to look at a book that catches her eye. She also loves to talk on the "phone", which is in quotes because anything can be a phone to her. She likes to strip off my wristwatch and hold it to her ear: "Hewo... Byeeee."
I've included a video for you at the end of the post, but first, to prove she is still the awesomest little girl in the world, here's an 18-month-old story. In LDS congregations, 18 months is the magical age when kids start attending the nursery instead of you having to schlep them to Sunday School with you. So a couple of weeks ago I was opening the nursery cabinets for our substitute nursery leaders and Rachelle was with me. She looked around, decided to take a seat and play, and then refused to leave. I guess she knew she was just about old enough and that she was ready. So I left her (the subs didn't know she was only 17 and a half months old!). She stayed the whole 2 hours without pouting, looking longingly at the door or crying. She just decided it was time to start nursery and did it. She's been going ever since. In fact, one of the leaders reported yesterday that she is the best picker-upper in the group. Awesome.
So here she is, my sweet RaRa. I love you, sweet thing!