Indiana

We were able to take a trip to Indiana to see Grampa Bryant (Wren's only living great grandparent) in Speedway and the Vargo Clan in South Bend. Sadly, we didn't have the camera with us. :-( But it was great for Wren to meet her Great Grampa and all those crazy Vargo relatives!

Christmas Day

We had Santa Claus at our house and then spent Christmas Day over at the Bryants. It was fun hanging out with Grammy, Grandy, Aunt Jess and Uncle Pat. Poor Wren stayed in her Christmas pajamas all day!


Look what Santa brought me!


I love my laptop computer that Cici gave me.


Look at all these presents!


Christmas wears me out!

Christmas Eve

Cousins Wren & Ryan in their pretty Christmas dresses.

We had a nice Chrismtas Eve at my parents' house along with Stuart, Lauren and Ryan. Mom fixed a yummy dinner (with her special rolls of course) and we had a good time opening presents. It was great to have Wren with us this year and we are looking forward to the many more to come.

Mommy and Wren

CiCi and her two girls.


Aunt Lauren, what are you doing to my hair!


Pappy and Daddy being silly.

I've got great friends!

What a great Christmas present - all of the gang was able to make it for a Christmas get-together. I don't know if it will happen again, but thanks to Steve, we have a picture to commemorate the event.

Settling In

Wren is settling in like she's been in Huntsville since the beginning! Samanhta (the big dog) scares her a little but I'm sure she'll come around. We had dinner with our friends Brian and Sandy and among other things, they gave her a little car. This is one of her favorite toy. She loves sitting on it, putting thins under the hood, and trying to scoot around on it. So far, she can co backwards pretty well but forward is a little hard right now. :-)


I'm a happy girl!


Yep, I know I'm cute!


I'm not sure about this big dog!



I love my car (and the remote)!


Sammy's lookin' pretty.

Home for Christmas

We arrived home in Huntsville on December 20th. It felt so good to be there and to see little miss Ryan. How I missed that niece of mine! She gave us a big welcome (along with my mom and dad) at the airport. Luckily, our plane got home in the evening so we were able to have some supper with Jason's family and then go right to bed. Wren was happy to meet her grandparents, cousin Ryan, and Uncle Pat. I was afraid that all the traveling so soon after we got home from China would be too much for her, but she’s a trooper and a really good traveler to boot.

Lucerne

December 15&16, 2006

We had a really fun time on our trip to Lucerne. It took about 4 hours by train to get there. It was beautiful but very cold.


view of Lucerne


Wren and Lee Anne in front of the Nativity Scene


Jason and Wren in front of holiday decorations.


Walking through the Christmas Tree Market

Weekend in Verona

December 2 & 3, 2006

We spent the weekend in Verona. It's only 2 hours away by car. We had a nice time seeing the Roman Amphitheatre, Roman Arena, and of course, Romeo & Juliet's Balcony. We also took a couple of rides on the carousel in the town square.

Wren and LA in front of the the Amphitheatre. The star is put up at Christmas.

Jason & Wren sitting inside the Amphitheatre.

Jason on a bridge in Verona with the Roman Theatre behind.


Family Photo

Christmas Markets

We spent the weekend visiting Christmas Markets around the area. We had a lot of fun looking at the crafts and eating roasted chestnuts. It was one of our first real outings as a

family since we came back from China.

Happy Birthday

November 24, 2006

Today was Wren's first birthday. It was a quiet one with just myself and Jason. She ate all of her cupcake (she loved it) and opened her presents. She got lots of cards from friends and family and her CiCi gave her a pretty ruby cross necklace.

First days home

November 18-23, 2006

We arrived home in Italy safe and sound on Saturday, November 18th at 9:30 pm. It was good to sleep in our own bed again. We're home for a month before we head off to Huntsville for Christmas.

I like to cook!

Jason turns 36

Monday, February 16th was Jason's 36th birthday. Yes, Jason is 2 years younger than me -- and he likes to rub it in! Today was also Presidents Day and Wren was out of school for the holiday. Jason also took the day off of work in order to celebration his birthday.

Aside from Jason's birthday today, we also had a bit of excitement. Wren was playing at her Sissy's house and while Jason and I went to the movie. When we went to pick her up, it turned out her cousin Ryan had just gotten there so we let Wren stay and play for another half hour while we went to pick up Jason's car from the brake place. We were gone about 30 minutes. When Jason and I went back to pick Wren up, Sissy was holding a compress to Wren's head and there was lots of crying going on. Apparently, while we were gone, Ryan was pulling Wren around in a wagon. The wagon got too heavy and Ryan let go. Wren rolled down a small hill, fell out, and hit her head on a concrete birdbath and spilt her head open pretty good. We took her to the doctor's office where they gave her a shot in her head to numb the area (more crying) and then the doctor put in two stitches. The stitches will need to stay in for two weeks.

From the below pictures, you can tell that Wren had gotten over the trauma by the time we finally made it home to have Jason's birthday cake.