In case you think we’ve stopped counting Becca’s week birthdays, we haven’t! Today we’re celebrating Becca’s 61-week birthday. Last year at this time Becca celebrated her 9-week birthday by moving from of her plastic bin to a real crib. Now Becca celebrates by climbing in and out of bins, emptying bins, and putting things in bins.

This week we decided to give Becca her Christmas present. I know Christmas was two months ago, but Becca had many new things her occupied without adding another gift. Becca is now enjoying her Noah’s ark with all the animals. Grandpa and Grandma J bought her some extra animals for the ark.

Friday night Becca went to her first little girls’ birthday party. We celebrated Amaris’ 1st birthday with some families from our church. Becca enjoyed being with the other kids, and she loved the chocolate cake. In preparation for the part, Becca drew some art on our homemade birthday card.

Speaking of birthday parties, Yani (Amaris’ mom) planned a little surprise party for Becca’ 1st birthday at a church fellowship back in November.  I didn’t have our camera with me, but I was able to get some pictures from Yani (see pictures on the left).

Happy Birthday to our most faithful blog reader and commenter. We love you!

At the beginning of this week, Josh and I enjoyed our 3rd annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day getaway. We had decided to skip the hotel this year and just do something at home. What Josh didn’t know is that I was planning a surprise getaway. In December, my sister-in-law Ashleigh offered us a night in a hotel, and that’s when I decided to surprise Josh. (She told me about it, but not him.)

So, without Josh knowing, I packed up everything, loaded the car, and then escorted him to the car. I love surprising Josh, but it’s hard to do, especially when I’m dying to tell him what the surprise is. The surprise was a success! The hotel was perfect. Our room was a King Suite, so Becca got her own room (which was a big plus). We enjoyed playing with Becca and eating pizza — compliments of Caroline and David — for supper (Becca loved the pizza!).

Our stay included a special breakfast that was great, and since we didn’t have to checkout until noon, we were able to enjoy the indoor pool as well. Becca wasn’t sure about the pool at first, but once she decided it was safe, she loved it! We had a great time, and it was so nice to get away and relax.

Josh’s semester started on Tuesday. He’s teaching one class — Grammar and Morphology — and working as the web/lab assistant, and he’ll be collecting data and writing for his dissertation. I continue to work on my paper and wait for my committee to get back to me. Right now, the progress of my paper is in the hands of my committee members.

Becca continues to grow, learn, and explore. She has learned a hand sign for “please.” It’s so cute to see her use it when I ask her if she wants something. Becca has four top teeth coming in, and has also made good progress in walking with a baby stroller and standing on her own. She’ll be walking on her own very soon.

After our Christmas in PA, we drove with my brother Jon and his wife, Ashleigh, to SC for our second Christmas. We are very thankful for their willingness to let us tag along with them for the trip. While down south we got together with both sides of Josh’s family. We also celebrated Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Jensen’s 60th Wedding Anniversary. It was great seeing everyone.

We visited my friend Mr. Leo West. It was good to see him and spend a little time together. While in SC, Becca had a sick day. She had a fever, took extra naps, and wanted to be held most of the day.

We enjoyed our time at Dad and Mom Jensen’s and Becca enjoyed meeting and playing with her cousin, Bella. On our way back to TX, we caught the beginning of the Martin Christmas gathering which was at Great Grandma Martin’s house. It was the first time for all three great granddaughters to be with their Great Grandma.

We arrived back in TX on New Year’s Eve and celebrated our 3rd Christmas at home in TX. Becca was very proud of the present she made for Josh. We’re now back into the swing of things. Josh went to Pittsburgh for 4 days to present a paper at the Linguistic Society of America, and I continue to work toward my dissertation deadlines.

On December 17th we left for a two-week trip to visit both our families in PA and SC. This week we’ll share some pictures from our trip to PA, and next week we’ll share some from SC. We had a wonderful time visiting my family in PA. It was the biggest Sutter gathering yet: the first time for both Dan’s wife Isabelle and Becca to be with the rest of the family (all at once).

Our schedule was packed full while in PA. With a house full of 13 people, there was lots of cooking to do and dishes to wash. We had family photos taken, went snow tubing, went bowling, celebrated Hanukkah, and visited Santa’s mother-in-law’s home. Among all the activities, we were able to squeeze a trip in to visit Grandma Sutter and Uncle John. It was great to be together and we enjoyed seeing my siblings and my sisters-in-laws.