Photo 365 #148

January 2, 20155 Comments

My cousin and his wife came for a visit yesterday. We don’t get to see them very often, so it was nice to see them. We exchanged Christmas gifts; we visited; it was a good time. Cricket and Thumper enjoyed opening presents again, but I’m not sure if they had more fun with their new toys or the wrapping:

“I’m a present!”

That poor bag definitely paid for itself. First Cricket wanted to sit in it, and I think he sat in it for five minutes. As soon as he got out, then Thumper wanted in. But Thumper is a perpetual motion machine, and he was tired to boot, which meant he was going even faster than normal just to keep himself awake. He sat in the bag for a couple minutes, then he wanted out. Then he wanted back in, and then he wanted back out. I bet he was in and out of that bag seven or eight times. It was pretty entertaining.

We still have a couple Christmas celebrations to go yet, but I’m enjoying the seasonal extension. It just didn’t feel like Christmas this year since we didn’t get the tree up right away.

Are you all finished with Christmas? Or do you still have some celebrating left to do?

Photo 365 #146

December 31, 20142 Comments

Among the many things that Cricket and Thumper found under the Christmas tree at Grandma’s house were matching Scooby Doo jammies. If their Halloween costumes weren’t indication enough of how excited these two get over Scooby Doo, then heres another picture that’s worth a thousand words on the subject:

scoobytwins

Trying to get Thumper to sit still for longer than two seconds is like resisting the Borg. Still, this picture was the better of the two I snapped this afternoon as we were getting ready for naps. If naptime hadn’t been imminent, they’d have probably looked a little more excited, but as we all know, naps are evil and must be fought at all costs.

*cries*

At least it’s quiet upstairs now. That’s either very good or very bad, and I’m a little bit afraid to find out which it is.

Photo 365 #145

December 30, 2014December 31, 2014Leave a comment

This picture is a little old, but it does a fantastic job of illustrating little Thumper’s personality:

tuckeredout

He just played and played and played until he couldn’t play anymore. Didn’t even make it into bed before he collapsed. My Thumper is like the Energizer Bunny – he keeps going and going and going…

I hope whomever he marries someday is equally energetic. She’ll have to be in order to keep up with him.

Photo 365 #144

December 29, 2014December 31, 20146 Comments

toogrownup Yesterday we traveled south to celebrate Christmas with Seymour’s family. Normally they come up to our place for Christmas, but it just didn’t work out this year (darn work schedules, anyway). We had a lovely time, full of great food and lots of togetherness.

One of the things Miss Tadpole received from Grandpa and Grandma was the rockin’ purple hat she’s wearing in this picture. She then spent a good hour or so arranging her hair and playing around with her hat. I got a couple of pictures of her, and this is one of my favorites.

However, she looks so grown up! I’m not sure I’m ready for this yet.

I couldn’t help smiling a bit, though, at my reaction to this picture. All I could think of was the scene in the movie Blended where Adam Sandler’s newly-made-over daughter enters the dining room and the first thing that pops into his head is, “It’s the end of the world as we know it…”

And for the record, those are my shoes. How she managed not to break her neck in them since they’re three sizes too big, I’ll never know.

Photo 365 #143

December 28, 2014Leave a comment

A rare moment of peace in my house:

The boys love their rocking horse. They do not, however, love to share. Imagine my surprise, then, when they not only shared the rocking horse but did so for ten full minutes.

It’s a Christmas miracle! 😀

Photo 365 #140

December 25, 20142 Comments

We always open stockings on Christmas morning; it makes Christmas without the kids a little less dull. We get up early, open stockings, have a special breakfast (this year it was glazed cinnamon twists from a local bakery – yummy!), and then hustle off to get the kids where they need to be.

This year, the kids awoke to stockings full of candy and frosted pretzels, plus a gift or two (a movie, a blanket, a pineapple – the usual stocking stuffer-type things). 🙂 But, even better, we awoke to a beautiful Christmas sunrise (which I promptly called a sunset because apparently I can’t talk that early in the morning). 🙂

I hope your Christmas morning was as beautiful as mine, and that the rest of your day is full of good food and family fun. Merry Christmas, everybody! 🙂

Photo 365 #139

December 24, 2014December 25, 20142 Comments

Tonight we celebrated Christmas for the second time. Bubbles and Miss Tadpole will be spending Christmas Day with their other parents, so tonight we had Christmas with them. Our plans of having delicious turkey went awry, though, and our backup plan (ham) failed, too, but it all worked out for the best – we had chicken, noodles, and potatoes, which is Seymour’s favorite meal.

And boy, did that chicken hit the spot last night. 🙂

The kids had a blast opening their presents, and then Seymour kicked our butts at Huckly Buck before bed. It was a good night.

From my family to yours, have a very, very merry Christmas! 🙂 How does your family celebrate?

Photo 365 #138

December 23, 2014Leave a comment

Our Christmas celebrations began tonight with a visit to my aunt and uncle. They took us out for supper, and then we all went back to their house to open gifts. On our way there, we had to stop for some people who were crossing the street:

A group of carolers was going from house to house on my aunt and uncle’s street. We told them what we’d seen, and my aunt said she wished she’d seen them. Thus began a conversation about caroling when we were younger, and as we each shared our memories, the group reached us, so we all headed to the door to listen.

Well, all of us except the boys. They were too busy playing with the toy nativity set on the coffee table.

It was a perfect night for caroling – it wasn’t too cold, a light snow was falling, and everyone’s spirits were high. I haven’t been caroling since I was a kid, and I remember it being much colder then (though that could have been because we didn’t walk – we did more of a singing hayride sort of thing). I haven’t even seen carolers in a very long time, so this really made my night.

Do you go caroling, or have you in the past?

Photo 365 #137

December 22, 20146 Comments

It’s been gray and foggy and rainy here for a good week now, maybe even a little longer. I love the atmosphere fog brings with it – I find it very inspiring – but at this time of year, I also find it rather depressing. Winter is such a dreary time of year anyway, and the fog doesn’t help.

Hence today’s picture, a reminder of sunnier times:

I miss the sun.

We had so much snow for Thanksgiving that it felt like Christmas had arrived a month ahead of schedule. But it’s been so warm (relatively speaking) lately that what snow we had has all melted, and now it feels more like November than November ever did.

All of this makes it hard for me to believe that in just three short days, it’ll be Christmas. And seriously, they’ll be short days – tonight we celebrated Miss Tadpole’s birthday, and my in-laws were able to make it for the first time in a very long time, which made the evening extra special. Tomorrow night we’re having Christmas with my family, and I still have gifts to wrap for them, so I’m really glad I’ll have a little time to do that in the morning.
We’re celebrating with our kids on Christmas Eve, then doing stockings on Christmas morning, then another family Christmas on Sunday…

It’s a good thing I’m not back to work yet, because just thinking about all of that is making me tired. Er, more tired. I love the holidays, but I’m feeling so run-down this year that it’s hard to feel my usual Christmas spirit. Hopefully I’ll be back to my usual carol-singing self this time next year.

How has this Christmas differed from prior years for you? Is the change for better or for worse?

Photo 365 #136

December 21, 2014December 20, 20147 Comments

Yep, it’s another Christmas tree picture:

Seymour’s had Data for longer than I’ve known him, but the Enterprise is a recent acquisition. I told Seymour and Bubbles they’d wear out the batteries on it the other night; as we were setting up the tree, they kept pushing the ornament’s play button so they could hear the intro from Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was awfully funny, and reminded me of when I was a kid. My grandma used to have these bird ornaments that would sing when you tapped their beaks. Her cardinal ornament was my favorite; they have such a pretty song. I’m pretty sure I wore out its batteries. 🙂

In the end, we decided that, so long as no one shows the boys how it works, our pretty ornament will live to speak another year.

What are some of your favorite ornaments?