He's the Man.

Chad suprised me the other day with a new camera. I think it's the first time I've cried over a gift from him. Now I'm keeping myself busy learning all about F stops, aperature, shutter speed, ISO and more. I'm determined to learn to shoot manually. Luckily, my wonderful fabulous friend Kristi hasn't tired of me yet...I instant message her all day and night with questions. She's my tutor.
Here's my first batch out of my Nikon D80.

"I got a Nikon camera. I love to take a photograph" Simon & Garfunkel, KODACHROME

I was practicing my indoor shots with this last one...it's ok..but I love it because it's so 'them'...Gabby and Chad...two little peas in a pod. They're like this every Saturday morning....all cuddled and slumped together...their own little entity.

Christmas

I woke up on Christmas morning with the flu! This was the first time I can ever remember being sick on Christmas...what a bummer! We had a quiet Christmas morning with just the four of us. Nick and Gabby perused the contents of their Wooden Shoes, emptied their Stockings and unwrapped their Gifts from Santa...and then their gifts from us. Santa brought each of them a digital camera....exactly what they wanted. They spent much of the day photographing everything in sight. Below, you'll see some of Nick's favorite photos. Gabby hasn't let me remove any from her camera

(she doesn't understand that I can SAVE them....I'll convince her later so I can share)

(shoes on the wrong feet! hee hee)

The unwrapping of the gifts was a blur...as my camera shows

Mom and Jack, Alvin and Anne, and Beth and Lon arrived around noon and spent the day with us. Beth made a fabulous dinner for everyone...which I slept through. They saved me a plate, though, and it was even delicious microwaved three days later. I was either huddled on the couch, asleep in bed or in the bathroom most of the day, but I did play a little bit of Rumikub and visited a little bit with everyone. I didn't comb kids' hair, didn't take a bunch of pictures...I didn't even set the dining room table in a martha-esque fashion! Chad did pretty well though, keeping things going. The kids were dressed...a little crumpled, but still dressed.

Nick and Gabby hung out in the family room a good majority of the day, playing with all their new toys. Nick received magnetix, tinker toys and k'nex so they were busy building all sorts of wonderful, imaginative creations.

I hated missing so much of the day...I was in tears over it all the next day, but I'm glad the kids Christmas was happy anyway! Luckily, they weren't sick on Christmas...but they were both down with the same bug by Wednesday....it's Friday now and the kids and I are much better...but Chad's starting to feel a bit uggy. Here we go again.

Here are a few more pictures from Christmas Eve...didn't share many in my last post as I wasn't feeling up to par. In this first one Nick is opening a toy jeep...orange w/ blue flames. Gabby is saying "I helped choose that one!" Nick is saying "Well, I LOVE it, Gabby." so cute.

Gabby and her sparkler.

Jordyn sprinkling reindeer food! (oatmeal, sugar...and some sparkling sprinkles)

The Farm Grandma's tree...five little trees all growing from the same fallen branch...a tree to represent each grandkid...even the one on the way!

All the kids with the Farm Grandma and Grampa.

Goofy Goofsters.

Oh yeah...almost forgot...I promised to share a few of Nick's favorite photos, taken with his new camera.

What a shocker. His two favs...Anne...and Anne's ring. Who'da thunked?

This is MY favorite photo of his....what a sweetie...takin' a pic of his sweet sis.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds....

We spent Christmas Eve at the farm and had a wonderful time. We played games, the kids sprinkled reindeer food in the yard, we had our traditional feast of oyster stew...this year with the addition of Josie's delicious spring rolls and some yummy quesadillas made by Travis...and of course, we opened gifts. The kids were bursting with anticipation for the present opening and could hardly wait until after dinner. Nicholas must have come to the table a dozen times asking the adults to please eat faster!! After the gift opening we had our traditional bon fire of wrapping paper. Then Spencer put on a rousing fireworks display! After the fireworks the adults had their gift exchange...and guess what??I actually went home with the gift I wanted this year!

(Thanks Spencer!)

Nicholas and Gabby fell asleep in the car on the way home. Once we arrived at our house, Chad and I tucked them into the hide-a-bed as promised. They really, really wanted to sleep in the hide-a-bed on Christmas Eve. I snapped the above photo at about 2 am, just before I went to bed. At 3:22 am Gabby and Nick bounded into our room. Gabby exclaimed, "Mommy! You were right!! Santa DID leave candy in our wooden shoes! And our stockings are full! And there are presents under the tree!!" After shooing them back to bed, explaining that it was still night time, I decided I better make sure they actually went to bed. I crawled out from under our cozy comforter to find the living room aglow with lights and Nick and Gabby back in the family room ON the hide-a-bed...not IN bed..ON it. Nick was busily unwrapping candies and shoving them into his mouth....he already had the Santa Pez unwrapped and loaded....all this at just after 3 am.

With horrid visions of what Christmas day would be like if I didn't get them off this Santa/candy high, and back to bed, I somehow convinced them to crawl back under the covers and coaxed them back to sleep. With the exception of a leg cramp at 4:45, we didn't hear from them again until almost 9.

Holiday Party

We went to a Christmas party on the 23rd at my aunt and uncle's house. Almost all my aunts and uncles on my mom's side were there...and lots of cousins and cousins' kids too. It was a fun time. My cousin, Melanie, and I had a snowball fight in the backyard with our kiddos...it was a blast! Gabby snuck up behind me and shoved a huge chunk of snow under my sweater...of course it all dripped down into my pants. Gabby is still talking about this...

she is quite proud of her moment of trickery.

The only bad thing about the party was a flu bug that was circulating...which I caught...and which reared it's ugly head Christmas morning.

(more on that later)

I only snapped one photo of the party...and it was actually before the party. I had to get at least one shot of Gabby in her festive attire.

N.I.C.K

Nick went into our room to 'rest' for a while before bed last night. He ended up falling asleep and I just had to snap these photos. Notice the ME spelled out on his car...Chad and I both laughed because the lined up cars and letters are so NICK.

Snow, Paper Whites, and Wooden Shoes

The weather man keeps telling us not to expect a white Christmas...maybe a WET Christmas, but not white. However, last night we received a light blanket of pretty white snow...possibly a pre-cursor to an unexpected white Christmas...possibly just a teaser...but it made a nice backdrop for a couple of shots of Nick and Gabby on their way from the house to the car.

Shortly after Thanksgiving, the kids and I planted some paperwhite bulbs and an amaryllis bulb. We watched them grow and tracked their progress with a ruler and a little chart. Every morning the kids ran to check them and were so excited to discover changes. It was amazing how quickly they grew and bloomed...in fact, they bloomed earlier than expected...too early for Christmas. So, we planted more. Our latest batch of paperwhites are just now starting to bloom, so we'll have lovely, fragrant blossoms for Christmas.

We decided to start a new family tradition this year and leave out wooden shoes for St. Nicholas to fill on Christmas Eve. We'd be honoring our Dutch heritage...and putting to good use a couple of wooden shoes from my collection. I just finished painting and trimming the shoes today! Nicholas and Gabby are excited to leave them out on Christmas Eve! (I'm excited too!)

Goodbye Little Friends...

Our neighbors just sold their house and are moving away. They were up all night packing and moving. Over the last five years, mostly in the last two, Nick and Gabby have forged a friendship with the youngest members of our neighbor family...Michael and Julia. They've danced and skipped up and down the sidewalk, painted rocks, covered the sidewalk with chalk drawings, hunted for rolie polies, eaten snacks on the porch swing, splashed in sprinklers and wading pools, sprayed one another with the garden hose, raced up and down the sidewalk on their trikes and bikes and scooters, flagged down the ice cream truck and shared in many other Spring and Summer front yard, porch and sidewalk adventures. This last summer, Michael even helped teach Nicholas to ride a two wheeler without any training wheels. And now it's time to say goodbye. Nick and Gabby don't understand why their little friends have to move...they're not yet old enough to know about moving for a better job or to understand why anyone would move out of one house and into another. Our neighbors are moving out of state and us adults are friendly enough in passing, but we're not friends and won't stay in touch, but I hope that Nick and Gabby keep fond memories of some of their first friends ever.

What a motley crew these guys made sitting on the porch swing, munching on Doritos in their funny little outfits. It started to sprinkle while they were playing so someone ran for an umbrella and they all huddled under it, giggling and laughing,
Dorito breath and all.

Julia gives Gabby and baby doll a ride.

Diggin' for Rolie Polies (this really isn't that dangerous and shouldn't require head protection)

Nicholas rides without training wheels! (spurred on by Michael)

The Many Faces of Gabby

The other day I was snapping some photos of some stuff to sell on Craigs list when Gabby asked me to take her photo. She's disliked the camera lately so I jumped at the chance to get a few willing shots of her. Here she is...in all her Gabby silly-ness...and seriousness.

I love this little girl.

Signed, Sealed...almost delivered...

Originally, I was just going to send a photo I'd done up in Adobe Photoshop...then that pretty sparkly red cardstock caught my eye. Once I'd attached the photo to the cardstock I thought of that snowflake punch and then found those cute lil' brads....it all 'snowballed' into the
finished product. Oh...and even my STAMPS match the snowflake theme...that was accidental, but don't I look spiffy?!

I finally finished them up today and got most of them sent off. I just have to buy a few more stamps and they'll ALL be on their way!

Be checking your mailboxes!

A Christmas Party

We attended the annual kids Christmas Party for my twins club this Saturday. As a few of the moms got the room ready for the party, Chad read a story to several of the kids.

There were yummy snacks and fun crafts for the kids. Nicholas made a lovely foam Christmas tree...and then gave it to his little friend Cheyenne. She and her brother, Skyler, are also twins...and just a month older than Nick and Gabby. Their mom and I are currently the co-presidents of the club.

Skyler has said for over a year now that he's going to marry Gabby, but Gabby insists that she's marrying Nick. She has some competition, though. Nicholas sent Cheyenne a drawing in the mail the other day and now she's saying she's going to marry Nick. You should have seen the blushing grin on her face when Nick then gave her his Christmas tree craft. It was sweet.

The main event of the party was a visit from Santa. When Santa arrived Nick raced full speed across the room and jumped into Santa's arms, embracing him in a bear hug. Later that day, we went to the Santa photo shop for our annual Santa photo. Nick was shy and reluctant and when he finally climbed onto Santa's sleigh for the photo, sat as far away from the big guy as he physically could. Daddy and I had to eventually sit with them for the photo. I'll post it when it arrives. I don't think I'll ever figure out Nick's moods.