My new camera came yesterday. Yay! It’s super PINK! :) They lady on the phone said red, but this is not red! I like it. It’s funny that it’s so bright and new, but otherwise exactly the same thing I had.
New camera!
Eve painting her letters (I think this was actually still with the old camera)
Our thank you notes are a bit late this year, but they are pretty... pretty crafty anyway! :)
Eve mailing the thank you notes. She likes to bundle up and put things in the mailbox all by herself.
“Let’s play hop scotch. If there’s one, you hop. If there’s two, you scotch.” said Eve, as we walked down a stone walkway yesterday.
Today was the first day back to routine. Back to the daily grind. Back on schedule. Alan and Lex were none too pleased about the whole thing, but I was ready! I need routine and schedule. I love the break and love having everyone home, but it was time to get back to the routine. In my opinion. Lex, however, went to bed last night insisting he would not go to school this morning. After a brief fight at 6am he decided to quietly protest instead of actively fight. Why? Because I told him he was going to school. I told him at 8am we would be in the car, heading to school. I told him that every other choice this morning would be his, but school or no school was not a choice. I guess he must have heard something because he quit fighting and let me get him dressed and brush his teeth. He managed to eat breakfast on his own, thankfully, and play on his own, of course, and then let Alan get him bundled up and in the car. On mornings like today I think not fighting is good enough. When we got to school he dragged his feet, but made it inside (not like the HUGE fight we had a few weeks ago at school that was HORRIBLE!). Once in his classroom he saw his friends and started perking right up. By the time I left he was hugging me and bouncing and happy. Phew! Alan was equally unexcited to return to work, but fortunately for me he’s a little more mature and managed to get himself out the door :)
After school today (Lex had a good day, of course) the kids played super nicely… for about 10 minutes. I allowed myself a few minutes to think “Wow, they must have really missed each other.” They were hugging and kissing and sharing really well. Like I said, for about 10 minutes, then right back to the bickering I’ve been hearing all week. Ugh! However, around 5:15pm Lex announced that he needed some alone time and Eve, who had been following Lex around (I think she did miss him!), announced that she too needed some alone time, and they both picked out books and went to separate rooms. I enjoyed the moment of silence… and it lasted for 45 minutes! I kid you not! I was making dinner and they were silent. I checked on them both several times, thinking they must have fallen asleep or something, but nope, just quietly reading to themselves. I got a delicious dinner cooked and on the table without any interruptions. I am one lucky momma! :)
Happy 2011. It’s funny trying to explain the New Year’s celebration to the kids because it’s such a non-event for us. Go to bed, wake up and it’s a new year. What does that look like? Well…. different calendar… and that’s about it. Whee!
This year we celebrated New Year’s day with a trip to visit the Johnson family. Or you can call it a second Christmas, as there was lovely tree, a delicious dinner, and presents.
Lex's big present was a Thomas the Train track set. He was pretty excited.
Eve got a little pet shop mall toy thing. I've never heard of it before, but she loves it!
Lex is definitely a directions kind of guy :)
Hard at work
Everyone enjoyed the train set.
Eve and Mandy playing with the kid camera
This is from this morning when Lex and Eve were playing hangman together. She doesn't fully get the game yet and he got frustrated that she couldn't guess the puzzle. I stepped in to help. I love his sweet messages.
Speaking of the kidcam, here are a few more pictures from them…
Lex discovered the fancy photo editing features. He was very proud of himself.
Snack
Mommy
Eve wanted to take an "us" picture. I helped a bit with the stabilizing :)
Eve. I took this one. Shh....
Even the kids wanted to be sure to document this fun train set.
Aunt Mandy
The kids loved their Christmas tree and made sure to take pictures of it before we left.
We set the train tracks up in the office this morning and Lex said, “Oh, this must be a New Year’s present. How fun!” :)
We have been having fun on this, the last day of 2010. In bed last night I whispered to Lex “Do you know what tomorrow is?” He said “Yes, it’s bowling day!!” :) He said the same thing at 6am when he woke me up this morning. I think he was excited.
We spent the morning chilling, playing games, doing Hidden Pictures, bouncing off the walls, etc. Then the kids took great naps/quiet time because I told them they needed lots of energy for bowling. Then after a little more bouncing off the walls we managed to get ourselves out the door!
Hidden Pictures
We played hangman while I made lunch.
Then we went for an early dinner to Panera Bread, of course. The kids were thrilled to buy their own dinners with the gift certificates. Thanks Aunt Joyce! Then we were off to Cosmic bowling where we had a great time. The music was playing, the black lights were one, the bumpers were up ;) Turns out our local alley has candle pin bowling as well as regular bowling, so we opted for candle pin so the kids could actually lift the balls. Part way through the game Alan found a ramp thing too, which the kids loved.
Eve at Panera Bread
Lex at Panera Bread
Eve bowling
Eve with the ramp
Game 1. Yep, I got my butt kicked by a three year old... at bumper bowling!
We ran out of time to finish the second game, but look, I was winning! (impressive scores, eh?)
I often forget that Eve is just 3yrs old (poor girl, I grow her up too fast!) and she was exhausted by the end. She skipped her last turns and just wanted to snuggle in my lap. I took my last turns with Eve on my hip. (Of course now it’s 9:40 and she is wide awake upstairs. Crazy girl!)
Alan and I are ringing in the new year with The Other Guys and mountains of laundry. Whee!
I ordered a “refurbished” camera from Canon today. Refurbished just means a retailer over ordered and returned some to Canon, or boxes were damaged in shipping. It does not mean, as I originally thought, that the camera first belonged to someone else and was sent back, repaired, and sold to me. Basically brand new, but they can’t call it new because it already left their warehouse once. They give great discounts if you send the defective one back! I’m a dork but I got the exact same thing, only a different color. I like my camera! Why change?! Get excited for spot-free photos again :)
This is what uncles are for!
Christmas morning…
Fun with the new presents…
Today was a beautiful, sunny winter day. Tons of snow, high temps (mid 20’s anyway!) and perfect. Guess what we did?! Went swimming, of course! The kids were bouncing off the walls and we have a new pool membership, so away we went! It was great. I am constantly amazed at the progress Lex and Eve are making in the pool. It seems like they somehow had a burst between last time and this time as well. When we first got there they were both jumping off the edge at the same time (despite my protest) and swimming everywhere! I thought for sure someone would be drowning today, but they were awesome little swimmers. Suddenly Eve has noticeable form and Lex is getting braver by the day. In the current pool, where he used to cling to me for dear life, he is now asking me to let go of him for short bursts. It’s great! I had a glimpse of what the future might hold… them swimming along and not even needing me! Sigh. Then at the end Eve swallowed a ton of water and threw up and Lex announced he was too tired and needed to go home. They still need me, for now :) Seriously though, they are amazing in the water. I wish I could take pictures or videos, but my camera is far from water proof!
Alan worked hard and got the pictures off the camera! Yay! He even set up a script so I can do it myself in the future. Good thing I have a live-in tech support!
Here is a sampling of the pictures from the camera. Many were just all black (hand over lens?) or all white (flash?) and many of the rest are completely blurry. They’ll have to practice their photography skills a bit longer. :)
We got our first real snow fall of the season! I think it’s about 18″ (though I didn’t really measure). We went to bed with nothing and woke to a winter wonderland. Awesome! After breakfast we all bundled up and headed out for shoveling, digging, sledding (attempts anyway) and general merriment.
The first thing she does is plop down in the snow and take her mitten off. Silly girl.
Our mailbox, a casualty of the overnight snow plow. (That darn spot won't go away. The camera is no longer under warranty so I guess the spot will be there until I suck it up and buy a new camera :/ )
Our street
Our house
Lex unburied the mailbox. Later in the day the mail lady put our mail in it, while it was laying on the ground. I was happy just to get mail! :)
The kids watching me talk to the snow plow guy. He stopped on his way past when he saw we were outside. He apologized and said he would come by tomorrow and fix the mail box. He also said we weren't the only ones :) It was a dark and stormy night. Poor guy!
Eve got cold so I bundled her up a little more. Lex opted for a scarf shortly after. I like the look :)
Snow on the siding makes for a beautiful wintery look.
The kids wanted to sled, but 18+ inches of powdery snow is just too deep, as Parrish quickly discovered!
Eve looks so adorable in her new sweatshirt. I wanted to take a picture, but she wanted to cuddle in Alan's lap in peace. She looks like such a baby here, until you realize that there's another whole half of her in legs not in the picture!
No more mommy paparazzi!!
Eve and I went back out for a second round of shoveling in the afternoon. The snow had finally stopped coming down and most of the snow on the garage roof had slid off, so the driveway had a good covering again. No pictures that time though because it was getting dark and cold and I was in a hurry!