Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everybody! We wish a safe and very happy holiday to you and yours.

As a special Christmas treat, here is a video documentary of Cassie's progress at about 6 months. WARNING: Contains poop.

First Fruit

Cassie's been eating rice cereal and baby food vegetables for several weeks now and really starting to enjoy solid foods. She is noticeably starting to prefer solids to milk for some of her feedings. We've just started adding baby food fruit to her diet, which is a significant change in taste for her. This video shows her trying peaches for the very first time. We'll leave it to you to decide whether or not she likes them.

First Snow

Even though the forecast while we were in Michigan called for several inches of snow, we only got to see a few small flurries. But that was enough to justify bundling Cassie up in her snowsuit to go outside and see her very first snowfall! She was admittedly a little underwhelmed. Maybe she'll be more excited when she can play in it...

Toe Eating...Yum!

Cassie has been learning new tricks almost daily. She discovered her toes a few weeks ago and they are now one of her favorite toys. She can play with her toes for what seems like hours on end. In Michigan, for the first time, she discovered that she can actually suck on her toes and apparently finds them incredibly delicious.

Friends in Michigan

We got to see lots of old friends while in Michigan, which was a lot of fun. We met up with Linda in Ann Arbor, Katy and Josh in Birmingham, and in this picture, we're having lunch with Heidi and Christy and CK Diggs in Rochester. Christy came with her husband and two kids who were very fun to see.

Happy 1/2 Birthday, Cassie!

Today is Cassie's 1/2 birthday, exactly 6 months from the day she arrived. Happy 1/2 Birthday, Cassie!

Back to our adventures in Michigan...Cassie really enjoyed the piano that we all played growing up at John's parents' house. The video is a short clip of her very first piano composition.

Cousins in Michigan

One of the special things about going back to Michigan for Thanksgiving is seeing family for the holiday. Cousins Lillian and Penyuan joined us from UChicago and Duke. We also took the opportunity to celebrate Ben's birthday which was just a few days before.

Family Historian

At Thanksgiving dinner in Michigan, Lillian presented a very special award to dad recognizing him as the best family historian. If you would like to subscribe to the family mailing list and find out about the happenings within the extended family, you can e-mail him directly.

John Goes to Japan

John had an opportunity in late October to take a business trip to Japan. His new customers are located around Tokyo, so this was a standard customer visit. Because of where the program is, several other Intel folks joined in on the trip. This is a picture of everyone who traveled at dinner one night, enjoying some delicious Japanese shabu-shabu.

Mmmmm....Cider!

With Thanksgiving and us spending a week in Michigan, we're just now catching up on blog posts. There's a few coming over the next several days. Suffice it to say though, that we had a fun trip to Michigan and that Cassie is a great flyer! You can see Carrie enjoying some delicious hot cider and donuts here in Michigan, a midwest tradition. Yum yum yum.