Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, etc...

Wow, a lot of time has passed! Madeline celebrated her 4th Christmas in Defiance, OH with Grandma & PopPop Boose, Uncle Jason and of course, Mommy and Daddy. She received really great gifts from all over the country on Christmas Eve then from Santa on Christmas Day. She loved this concept. The presents seemed to keep on coming! The other day, she said that the Genevieve doll she got from Grandma & Papa Brown was the sweetest doll she got on Christmas Eve. She said it with such sugar in her tone that I just had to smile.

The Christmas holiday was filled with tea parties and petit fours. Everyone was invited, including the Woodsies, Genevieve, Babydoll, Bear, and of course the occasional human grandparents, parents, and uncle. Madeline put on many performances with her new microphone and guitar. She often performed Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, but the request that sticks out in everyone's mind was one made by Jason. He requested a pig song, so Madeline did a rendition of "Oink, Oink, Jason's In the House" and brought the house down! I wish I could play it for you, but I'll have to have it posted to the family website for your enjoyment. I'll let you know when it's posted.

Madeline had her first visit to the Detroit Institute of Art on Friday, Dec. 29th. She loved looking at all of the paintings, sculptures, armor, and she visited the medieval chapel a couple times. She really liked the stained glass and the holy water bowl (anyone with the appropriate terminology, feel free to tell me). This year will be the year of introducing Madeline to the different forms of world faiths. There was one painting in particular, she noted as being her favorite (to be named later, once I find it again). We made a marionette spider together and had our photo taken for a museum project. We lunched in the cafe and had a really great morning at the museum. I think Madeline would really enjoy going again.

Well, it's just about bedtime so I'll close for tonight. More to come later.