Playing and Learning

Yesterday, Aunt Lissy got to join Lily and I for our Play and Learn class at Gymboree, so I had an extra set of hands to take pictures. And, pictures she took. Geez, oh Pete, I think I had 70 pictures on my camera from one 45 minute class. I also have some videos from the new Flip camera, which I am still playing around with.

(opening the class with a big circle activity- very fun and Lil loves it!)

(rolling out pretend cookie dough with rolling pins)

(bouncing down the "counter" into a bowl of cookie dough- which you can't see, but is a bucket with a soft parachute in it to cushion the bounce.)

Bubbles! (check out the video to see how many bubbles there really were! Lissy swore one went up her nose.)

Practicing

We just got a Flip video camera, and I am trying to see how easy it is to share videos on the blog.... Bear with me.

(Okay, wow, you don't know this, but that uploaded crazy fast. This may work!)

The Christmas Post, Finally

Are you ready for this?

Okay, here we go. We had a great Christmas, with just a few bumps. It turned out to be a really good thing that we didn't travel this year because Matt was SICK. Luckily, we have kept it from spreading, but he was pretty miserable.

We start with Abby and Lily's cookies for Santa. Abby made a special picture that we left out for him. She found it very funny in the morning that he left a few red hots on the plate. Apparently, there were just a few too many on those cookies for him.

Santa brought Matt and I some candy in our stockings, which Lily thought the cats needed and she spent most of the time that we were preparing breakfast, positioning it near the cat bowls. Meanwhile, Abby played with the cat laser toy that he brought the cats. So, if you are paying attention, you are understanding that while we made our Christmas breakfast they didn't actually play with any of their own Santa toys, just the candy boxes and cat toy. Yup, money well spent.

Ah, but yes, the breakfast we made was yummy. Monkey bread....

Lily got a Little People Zoo, which she spend about 10 minutes roaring at (because of all the animals showing).

...Presents...

...presents....

...and...

...more...

...presents!

Our girls are very spoiled and loved. Thank you everyone!

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Mesmerized

Lily is mesmerized with the pictures on the digital picture frame...

First Play in the Snow

Here are some pictures of our first play in the snow of this winter, AND, Lily's first play in the snow, ever! She's at the age and size where walking in show is pretty difficult and she ended up face first when she tried once. But, we had fun!

When walking is too hard, spend some time in the air!

And, let's be honest, Abby was all-out playing in the snow this year....

and fighting a losing battle~

A Social Network Christmas

My friend, Joyce, posted this on Facebook, and I finally got around to watching it and wanted to share (Thanks, Joyce!). I always think it is interesting to change the perspective on how it might seem in modern times. Enjoy!

(I've tried embedding it as the smallest possible size and it is still cutting it off weird. To see if full size on You Tube, just click on it after it starts playing.)

It's back!

The iMac is back! We went to pick it up today and I've spent the last few hours trying to restore it back to its glory, in terms of reinstalling programs and preferences, etc.

Abby, Lily, and I spent a minute or two playing with the built in webcam and program Photo Booth. Very fun. Abby and I crack up with the distorted ones, Lily cries when she sees them. I think they freak her out.

Anyway, give me a day to catch up and I'll get a post out to you of Lily's first time ever playing in the snow!

Taking a little forced blogging vacation

I am, that is.

If you are a friend of mine on Facebook, you have probably already read this, but our big, beautiful, beloved iMac completely crashed. As in died. I struggled with it for 2-3 days and finally took it to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store and they unfortunately declared the Hard Drive dead.

The worst part is that we are losing almost everything. The only good thing is that I did save my pictures in a freak act of God. But everything else is pretty much gone. They will see if they can salvage anything when they replace it, but he said in cases like this they rarely find anything. The only good news (other than the photos) is that it is still under warranty so it is a free repair. It should take 5-7 days. I should be embarrassed, but yes, I did cry in the Apple store. Misted up and talked kind of funny. Just for a minute. Sigh.

That all said, for obvious reasons, I will be taking a little blogging break. I'll try to catch up later because I hope to have lots of pictures, because Christmas Break starts TODAY!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

Merry Christmas!

By now, I think most of our Christmas cards have made it out, so I'll share it here too...

Wishing we could send one to everyone we knew!

Fairy Juice

Let me tell you about this picture.

This is Abby (not sure you can actually see her in the picture). She is holding Tinkerbell. This is a light up Tinkerbell obviously. It resides on her nightstand every night, and every morning she takes it around with her to the bathroom, or where ever she goes that it is dark. She didn't play with it as much this summer because it was light when she woke up, of course, but now that it is winter it is very handy. I also have to constantly tell her to put it away because it gets left everywhere it is not supposed to be.

Now, let me tell you where this light up Tinkerbell came from. Seriously. It was clipped to the straw of a drink that she ordered at Disney World in May at one of the Character Breakfasts. It probably cost Disney $0.07. She claims it was called Fairy Juice and we probably paid $20 for it instead of making her get the orange juice that came with the buffet. At least we got the light up Tinkerbell that she is still playing with 7 months later, right?

Our first big snow day this winter

Yup, it's here. Our first big snow. Technically we got about 4.5 inches, which some would say isn't crazy, but with the cold and snow, it's pretty miserable. Plus, it's enough to mess up the roads until the plows have time to clean them up, and with the wind, it's taking a while. I always feel a little sorry for the city, because people are so hard on them. It just simply takes time, and the wind and snow have to stop some before the roads can really be clear. Just as an illustration of the wind, check this out. When we went to bed, last night, we had a nice blanket of snow. This morning, crazy drifting. Areas of our yard with grass, and areas with deep snow. Weird.

I love this. Our crab sandbox. Huge snow on top of it, but his eyes are still bugging out, like he can still see and watch everything going on. Kind of funny.

Abby had a 2 hour delay this morning for school, so we had a relaxed morning. Matt made pineapple pancakes, a family favorite. Lily and I decided to stay in the rest of the morning because it it FREEZING! I walked Abby to the bus stop and it was cold. Because of the snow, there wasn't really cleaned off sidewalk to stand on, we stood in the street as close the corner as we could get. Kind of gives you a new perspective on shoveling your sidewalk! I'm also thinking a need a pair of Ugg boots for all this snow, don't you think? Now, who wants to talk to Matt and convince him that he needs to make a line item in the budget for that? :)

Stay warm everyone!

Ten on Ten (a day late)

So, I have been wanting to try this, but I only remember this idea when I see it on other blogs after the fact. This time I saw it just a little late, but I decided to do it anyway. Here is the idea:

Ten on Ten: Take a photo every hour for ten consecutive hours on the tenth of each month. Document a day of your life and find beauty among the ordinary moments!

Not really rocket science, but something fun. Here we go...

Our day started with Matt running out to get us our favorite bakery's doughnuts. Yum.

The girls and Matt went out Christmas shopping, without me, which was also a Christmas present. I had almost 2 hours to myself!!

I wrapped in peace.

...and worked on addressing Christmas cards.

And then they came home and got silly on the ottoman.

After lunch, a nap was needed. (unfortunately it was due to a migraine. boo hiss!)

Ah, a new People and a mug of Peppermint Hot Chocolate because I can't seem to get warm. (but feeling quite a bit better)

Abby needed some snuggling. We decided to pose for a picture and I, in my brilliance held my finger over the flash, but we look good, so we kept it.

Abby needed some help getting out of her funk. Daddy to the rescue with a floor puzzle.

Dinner!