Lydia ~ 28 Months

Our little girl is 28 months old now! It is so amazing to watch how much she can learn and how quickly she truly does grow - almost before our eyes each day! Lydia had a rough few days this month with Croup, which turned into Bronchitis, but we are so very thankful that the Lord healed her little body and she did not have to be hospitalized for treatment. She was one sick little girl for several days, though. As with most children, that was very short lived and she is now back to her silly, fun-loving little self, and we are happy about that!

As you can see in the last post, Lydia also got to enjoy playing in the snow this month and she thoroughly enjoyed that! She also continues to enjoy reciting her numbers, letters, and likes to point out shapes, colors and letters that she recognizes. We are thankful that she enjoys learning and try to work with her every day. She is also completely enthralled with "Veggie Tales" right now and we know most of the songs by heart, and enjoy listening to Lydia try to quote bits from the movies at random times!

We were also thankful to celebrate Valentine's Day with our little sweetheart this month! When she discovered that her Sunday School teacher had a party planned for her class, she announced that they were having a birthday party for Valentine's Day! ha ha! :)

Valentine's Day ~ 2010
being silly with Daddy one morning...

taking the "say cheese" thing very literally these days... :)

Valentine's Day and Snow 2010

Our church on Saturday, February 13
the snow was just starting to fall and she was already loving it!

Daddy was "throwing" snow to her... :)

Our other daughter enjoying the snow...

Yep - she's eating it!

Happy Valentine's Day 2010!!

Well, after hopeful forecasts and several incidents of mostly frozen precipitation, we finally got some snow! Lydia LOVED playing outside in the snow, and even gave it a taste test (yuck!) Hopefully, she enjoyed the snow cream better and will just wait for that next time! :) This had to be the perfect snow storm for almost everyone, because by Sunday afternoon, you would have had a difficult time proving that we ever had inches of snow on the ground! This weekend, we also celebrated Valentine's Day! Mel surprised me with flowers at school (sold by the seniors for thier upcoming trip), but we are hoping to celebrate a little more next week when we go to the beach for a short family get-away!

Lydia ~ 27 Months

Well, month 27 for Lydia was pretty much covered in our Christmas pictures, and included a LOT of traveling, but these are a few pictures of some of her "treasures" from Christmas. Above, she is sitting on her new Dora trike from PawPaw and Nana Anthony ... and yes, she is sitting in our living room because we have had few days with temperatures even in the 40s! She loves all of the sounds and lights on her new bike! Lydia also got [well, got handed down] a new kitchen set! She loves to be in the kitchen when Mommy is cooking, so now she has her own set of utensils, stove, mixer, etc. - all of which she LOVES!

Lydia has continued to learn so many new things. She has pretty much mastered basic colors and shapes, but has really begun to recognize more and more alphabet letters! She can usually recognize at least 10 at this point and is starting to "draw" some letters, although they are often backwards (which we are told is normal for little ones just learning).

Daddy and Mommy both celebrated birthdays during Lydia's 27th month as well, but unfortunately, we left the camera at home when we went out of town to celebrate... hopefully all of the abundance of pics taken last month wil compensate! :) Of all of our gifts and blessings, our little gift from the Lord is our most special!

Christmas 2009

We have many reasons to rejoice this Christmas, among which is celebrating the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ! We are realizing more and more how difficult it is to keep this at the center of our focus, with the business and commercialization we see at Christmas. Although we enjoy giving gifts to Lydia, we do not want her to start to think that this is the main reason for celebration. Our prayer is that this Christmas will bring much joy to your family and that 2010 will be filled with God's richest blessings! Merry Christmas from the Winsteads!

Lydia posing with the Christmas tree...

Naming all of the characters n the nativity scene...

Christmas Morning at Uncle Paul and Aunt BJ's home...

Lydia with Karolina ... Opening gifts on Christmas Day...

Lydia with Nana

Brittany with Lydia

Paw Paw with Lydia and Brittany

Our very favorite gift of all!

Lydia ~ 26 Months

Okay, so I am a little late with this post... We have been so busy during the month of December, and I am just now getting around to posting Lydia's monthly update, while at the same time uploading Christmas pictures... In addition to this month going by so quickly, Lydia has continued to be a "trooper" in the midst of a hectic time. We know now, however, that she was just getting prepared for the crazy Christmas travels that were in store... :) We celebrated Thanksgiving together during this month, and decided to stay at home and just be together as a family. The day after Thanksgiving, I cooked a "traditional" meal for some of Mel's family, though, who came to visit for a few hours. Daddy and Mommy also celebrated their 8th anniversary this month, and did so with a nice family lunch and trip to Wal-Mart... ha ha... :)

Lydia is realizing that the weather is starting to change and she does not get to spend nearly as much time out doors. She often tells us that "it's too coooold..." to go outside! She is really beginning to pick up other skills, however, including being able to complete more complicated puzzles without assistance, and is improving with her letter recognition. She is also learning to form certain letters, which for now include "L", "D" and "O" and enjoys "drawing" all kinds of pictures, especially with markers! Another favorite activity for Lydia is Play-Doh; she will literally play with it for an hour or more! It is fun to watch her imagination at work with these different activities. Lydia has always loved music, but lately, she is definitely enjoying her own style of "dancing" with some of her favorite tunes and DVDs (mostly "Veggie Tales"). She continues to love to read and look at books and we often hear her "reading" to the congregation of stuffed animals and dolls which accompany her to bed each night! These are just a few of the many ways our little girl brings us joy each day!

Ready for Church!

Brittany and Lydia at the Allred Christmas Party ~ December, 2009

Hanging her special ornament, painted for her by her Aunt BJ for her first Christmas!

Running through the leaves with Mommy!

Happy Thanksgiving 2009!

Wishing you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving! We have much to thank the Lord for, and one very special blessing is pictured above. I cannot help but be thankful each time I clean tiny fingerprints off the glass tables or pick up toys in my living room that I have been given a reason to do so!

Emerald Isle, NC ~ November 09

We were fortunate enough to be invited to a [big] beautiful beach house with some of our dear friends from college! Lydia had a blast playing with the other nine children who were there! Although Hurricane Ida was a problem initally, we did eventually make it out to the beach and to the aquarium, which was a lot of fun! We enjoyed catching up with some college friends and relaxing for a few days!

Lydia and Karis

Is this turtle real?!

Yep, that's Daddy...

Touching the water, but NOT the stingrays!

We have a pic like this from last year and it's amazing to see how much bigger she is now!

Lots of new friends!