Minnesota Warm Winter (so far)

It's been unseasonably warm this Christmas season and Nina has been enthralled to be outside again.  She loved going back to the park and other places she hadn't seen in months.  Nina is quite the ham this break; laughing, dancing, drumming, shouting and she never stops moving.

Penguins and trying to touch the ray at the Minnesota Zoo

Nina the Explorer

Checking out the ice at the Rec Center

Reading her Gus book

Christmas

The Naks liked staying home for a change and gladly welcomed the Zeilingers in for the holiday.  Nina was so excited for Santa to come that she threw up the night before.  Her health made her a bit crabby, but she still loved getting to see Nana and Papa.

 Going to the Minnesota Zoo with Annie and Adam

Christmas Conservatory

As mentioned earlier, Nina has loved her Christmas music and has tried to make some of her own.  Here's a collection of some of her greatest hits:

Owatonna Christmas

The Naks headed down to O-town for a celebration before Grandpa Rod and Grandma Katie head South to visit Cassie in Florida.  We played a lot of games and Nina loved hanging out with Gus.  The biggest influence on the weekend would be the gift of a PERCUSSION SET from Aunt Annie and Uncle Adam.  Nina loves banging on her drum, using her maracas, and hitting things with her drumsticks.  She puts her heavy drum over her neck and tries to march around while playing (video upcoming).

Nina has also taken to playing the harmonica as of late.  She has progressed quickly; she used to just pretend it was a hot food item and blow on it, then she started saying "shoe" into it to make some more noise, and now she's getting pretty good.

We took Nina to get her first "real" haircut and it went as well as her trip to see Santa.  She did like the bubbles, the sucker, and the kids, but she still wailed throughout the actual cut.  The only time she let up was when a giant clump of hair fell into her lap and she had to analyze the situation, say "hair," and give us a confused look before resuming her screaming.

Santa! Yay! Wait... don't give me to Santa!

We made another trip to Holidazzle this year and Nina was very excited.  She loved all the lights, seeing all the kids and talking about Santa.  No surprise, when we actually got to see the jolly old guy, Nina was not happy to be given over to him.  There's a bit of a difference between last year's photo and this year's.

Nina did enjoy the parade.  She yelled a lot, did some dancing, and LOVED the moose (reindeer).  Between each float she would always say "more, more, more."  She says oooo whenever we drive by Christmas lights in the car and demands Christmas music more often than not.

Nina will now try to say most short words if you ask her and is working on some phrases.  She likes trying to say "I love you" but often gets so excited she just shouts out "YOU" and gives a big smile.   Of course her favorite words are still "mine" and "no," but "bus" has been another favorite this week, maybe because Great-Aunt Rocky gave her that bus book.

Chillin with her snowmen friends

Rocking her snow-suit

New Video

She's turning into quite the toddler, as you can see, she still thinks her name is pronounced nani.  Higher quality video is on google+ like always.  Hope everyone had a great weekend.

17 Months

Nina just keeps growing up.  She is learning more words, climbing all over, and has a good handle on what her parents think is right and wrong; although that doesn't necessarily mean she always bends to their will.  Thanks to Aunt Cassie and Annie's moose presents from last year, Nina now calls all reindeer "moose" and loves to say hi to them.

Nina is already tired of the cold and dark, being stuck inside so much, so we've been going out a bit more.  We saw a choir concert at Hamline, went to dinner with some old college friends, and got to hang out with second-cousin Emma last week.  Now we're excited for Great-Grandpa Don's 80th birthday party this weekend.

Thanksgiving videos

A collection of Nina's goings-on throughout the holiday.

Thanksgiving Time

Nina had another fun road trip to Nebraska.  She loved spending time with Nana and Papa and enjoyed the warm weather for the first part of the trip.

Playing outside in the 70 degree weather

Matching sweaters-----------Wearing Papa's boots

Cheering on the Huskers-----------Bath Time

Spending time with Ashley and little Ella

Reading in the car-----------------Road nap

Getting colder, get inside!

With November realizing that's it's supposed to be cold, the Naks have retreated indoors to play.  Nina has found new fun jumping from the chair into Mama's arms, climbing with a purpose, driving around in her box, and reading books again and again.