"in town" for Christmas!

First of all, Merry Christmas! We celebrate our Savior's birth today. Matthew says that Jesus lives in his tummy and since Jesus was born today, he wants to know how does he get out?

We're down in Marco Island, with poor internet connection, so this won't have any pictures, but will have some stories sure to make you smile.

Matthew has been entertaining, as usual. In fact, when Grandma was babysitting, she took the kids down to the beach and it wasn't until they were all the way down by the water when Matthew started running around non-stop on his tip-toes. He'd run in place and then run around for a while and then run in place again. Grandma asked him if he needed to go to the bathroom and he said, "yeah, the poop is in town." So, they had to make the 200-yard trek up to the condo and up the elevator, down the hall, and then to "Florida" (he calls the condo "Florida"). He held it the whole way and made it to the bathroom. When he was done, he hopped back up on the toilet and told Grandma, "I'm not done, the poop has a friend!"

Speaking of friends, when my mom picked us up from the airport, the first thing Matthew said after "GRANDMA!" was, "Where's Grandma's friend, Grandpop?" He associated Uncle Rob and Auntie Rachel as friends and Mom and Dad as friends, too.

Another story that Matt's family will appreciate involves a family walk on the beach. To set the background... a long time ago (when Matt was 4), in a land far away (Orlando, FL), Matt's family was at Walt Disney World and Matt, who was very capable of walking around, decided he needed to ride in the stroller all day, while little brother Bryan needed to be carried. Similarly, the other day we were walking on the beach and Matthew wanted in the stroller while Natalie ran the whole 200 yards back "to Florida."

We've been busy here in Marco Island. It has been 80 and sunny here everyday. I know, everyone up North has been getting slammed with snow, blah blah blah, who cares? It's the topic of conversation around the pool here, we feel really bad for our families. We go for walks on the beach and swim in the pool daily. Matthew made it down to the last step on the first day! This is a huge accomplishment seeing as last May it took him all week to get down to the last step by the very last day. He also took Natalie's baby floating ring and has the courage to swim around the whole pool in it. He'll even jump off the side of the pool with it around him! Natalie is quite the swimmer, too. No problem for her to be thrown up in the air, go under water and then be caught. She'll swim to the side of the pool by herself without a panic, too. She knows how to kick her little legs, keep her head up, and spit water out of her mouth as she's swimming. It's so fun to watch them. I have pictures, but I may have to wait until I get back home to upload those.

Have a very Merry Christmas!