Happy New Year 2012

Dear family and friends,

First and foremost, we want to wish everyone a Happy New Year! Hopefully you spent quality family and/or friend time with loved ones to ring in the new year. We were fortunate to celebrate with The Hawkins and had the perfect low-key night in. London style. We watched the impressive fireworks display around and literally off the London Eye, celebrated with *crackers, and opened the front door to 'let out the old year and ring in the new year.' 

We've also included two video clips to show what Grace is up to these days. Since she's been around family and friends back home, we feel she has turned into a little girl and not our baby Grace anymore. It's crazy, exciting and exhausting to watch her explore the world around her and learn how to use those tiny muscles of hers. Her love and laughter continues to be contagious.

Aunt Susan and Uncle Matthew have shared a few times how much they love receiving video clips of their other niece. After taking the hint and figuring out how to get them on the blog using our Mac, I think it's fair to say I'm making up for lost time. Ask and you shall receive. Enjoy!

Love, The Nierengartens 

The fireworks display was impressive and supposedly much bigger since they're ringing in the year of the Olympics. 

*crackers- Thanks to Paul Hawkins, we now know how to properly use crackers during a celebration. They come in all sizes, decorative paper and are filled with different types of goodies. Crackers are to be pulled apart by two people just as you would break a wishbone in half. If your piece of the bone is bigger your wish comes true. If your piece of the cracker is larger than you win the goodies. We thought everyone was given their own to pull apart and keep the goodies for themselves- oops! Silly Americans!

Apologizes for the video quality. It was tricky trying to play with Grace and tape her at the same time.

It's not everyday we have other people around who can record both of us interacting with Grace. Thanks Alyse, for capturing some of Grace's 1st steps for us. Apologizes for the New Year morning laziness.

Happy New Year! 
2012- Can you believe it?