The sun does shine!

Can't complain too much about the weather the past couple of days as we've had brilliant sunshine and mild temperatures! Yippee!!!

Nini and Papa left today to go back home. They spent Thanksgiving and the weekend with us, which was lots of fun for all. Addie especially had a good time with Papa and Jack and Nini had some special bonding moments. Nini sang "Fruit Salad" to him which he just loved to imitate. He has quite a little personality, too. My favorite new thing he does is say, "ohhh" when you tell him something. Too cute!

Mom and I actually braved the crowds on Friday to do a little bit of shopping. We got a few things marked off the list and we certainly spent some time waiting in lines.

Thanks to Papa for bringing his tools to help with several home projects!

Of course lots and lots of pictures were taken over the course of the holiday weekend. We got to spend a little time at beautiful Green Lakes on Saturday (along with the rest of the city, it seems!). So nice to be out in such gorgeous weather.

Hard to believe that it's almost December, the year is winding down and Christmas will be here and gone before we know it...

Happy Birthday Beautiful Girl!

Addie turned 3 years old today! Hard to believe how quickly three years flies! She was such a good baby - settled into a schedule fairly easily, slept through the night fairly early, was curious, outgoing, never had seperation anxiety, nursed well, ate well, etc., etc... The terrible twos are offiically over, but I hear the threes can be just as challenging. She's a funny little girl with a lot of spunk. Happy Birthday Addie, we love you!

How many birthday parties can an almost 3-year old have?

Why, three of course!!!

Today Addie had her first of three birthday parties with a few playgroup friends. She was SO excited this morning. Last night before bed we started cleaning and setting up for her "party." After her bath she went downstairs and pulled an extra chair up to the table. She put a beaded necklace at each place setting (to go along with the plates that were already at each place). This morning when she woke up the first thing she said was, "we need to put the party hats out!" Then, we iced the cake - she chose yellow and red food coloring for the icing. She picked out green candles! She had a fun time and when it was time to sing Happy Birthday she made sure everyone knew it was HER birthday and HER cake! Oh boy!

We'll make cupcakes tonight to take to school tomorrow. Wonder what color we'll choose to ice the cupcakes?? I'll let you know tomorrow.

The last 7 days --- no sunshine :(

Every Sunday the paper posts the past week's weather statistics - percentage of sunshine, inches of rain, temps, etc. It was a rather depressing report this week. There was not one day that had over 6% of sunshine, and most days were 0% sunshine. OH MY! The forecast isn't looking too good, either. I guess we'll just eat ourselves into a sunshiny state on Thursday and then it won't matter.

Time is ticking to capture the "perfect" Christmas card photo... oh, what am I to do? I haven't done much shooting of BOTH kids lately - it would be helpful if there was more light during the day (gray, gray, gray). They may have a photo shoot coming their way!

Enjoy your Sunday. Hope it's sunny!

I think we're all over our sickness, although Addie was complaining that there was "something in her ear" the other day. She has been sleeping much better so I take that as a good sign. Just a little cough. Jack's ears are dry and infection free one week post-tubes, according to his ENT. He feels so good that he found a new face he likes to make (see photo)! Silly kids.

Our babysitter's mom (who loves the kids) asked if I had taken a picture for the Christmas card yet... AHHHH!!! No, I haven't found "the picture!" I guess I better get working on that since card writing time will be here before I know it. We should probably get through Thanksgiving first. Looking forward to having Nini and Papa here for a visit. I can almost taste the turkey now! Love this time of year.

When it rains, it pours!

Literally and figuratively! Rain, rain go away... boy has it been a gray and dreary weekend. Addie continued to be sick on Saturday and MAMA got sick, too! Oh boy! Addie and I have had a lot of time to bond as we snuggled up on the couch together. I have seen more Noggin shows than I care to imagine! I would have loved to curl up and watch a sappy chick-flick or something, but Little Bear won out. Oh well.

Keep meaning to post this cute picture of Addie's self portrait. This was a school project and the teachers had them look in the mirror and draw what they saw. I think Addie did a great job!

Happy Sunday!

Lots of dogs and a sick little girl

Today was the photo shoot with Toby and Rain, and boy are they cute dogs! Handsome, I should say. Rain loves his duck and Toby is oh, so majestic in his old(er) age.

Jack is better, now Addie is sick. I guess we should get ready for this scenario as we get closer and closer to winter.
Happy Friday!

Strange week!

I think it was just a full moon recently! Things are a little out of sorts at our house! Strange things have been happening.

Jack got tubes in both ears on Tuesday and he did great! I was surprised at how quick the procedure was. He was a brave little boy and bounced right back to his old self in a matter of hours. Then, last night I heard him crying at about 1:30am --- finally went into his room at 2am, since he wasn't going back to sleep and WHAM! He was sick... UGH! I cleaned him up and he and I spent a restless, sleepless night on the futon. Poor guy. Poor Mama! Throw into the mix that Addie got up at 4am and had a hard time falling back to sleep. Finally she did go back to sleep and she slept until almost 7:30. She came bounding in the computer room and she said, "Does Jack feel better???!!!" What a nice little girl!

Addie's teacher reported on Tuesday when I picked her up that she was "aggressive" all day. So disappointing to hear that about your child, but it's bound to happen, I suppose. I hope today has been better for her.

My "photo shoot" with Rain and Toby was cancelled on Wednesday due to rain. Jen's mother-in-law was so happy with the pictures I took of her grandsons that she wants pictures of her two golden retrievers! We've rescheduled for tomorrow, so cross your fingers that all goes as planned and that I am successful in capturing some nice expressions/moments. I'm nervous!

The good thing about this week is that we have a beautiful blue sky today. Everything is better when there is a little sun! Oh, and it's Mama's Night Out tongiht! Looking forward to some adult conversations and mommyhood support!!!!!

No new pictures today - the camera is taking a rest!!!!! More later!

The best picture from the photo shoot!

ok, so it's not the best picture, but it's one of my favorites. Don't know what it is about barefeet - but I love it!!!! Hopefully Jen will be happy with the pictures I took of her family - two ADORABLE boys in constant motion and two adults - whew! I have a lot to learn! Thanks Jen for giving me the opportunity to learn.

Addie and I went swimming at the Y last night. Just us girls. It was fun. I can't believe how fast she's growning. She is such an independant little girl. So full of life!

Ruby

Guess what? No snow yet!!! But it is darn cold!

Tomorrow should be an exciting day - I'm going to my friend Jen's house to take pictures of her beautiful family. I'll let you know how it goes. We may head to the YMCA for some swimming with the kiddos... Addie is very excited about that. I am bound and determined to clean out some clutter in our closets and drawers. We'll be making a trip to Goodwill and also adding some items to Ebay to see if we can make some extra cash!

I was practicing focus and exposure with Ruby today - wish I would have taken off her red collar. I like the colors behind her. We have a couple of beautiful trees still in fall splendor.
Have a good weekend!

Will it snow???

Stay tuned! We may be getting our first true snow of the season tomorrow. Is it all a hype or is it a true possibility??? I'll keep you posted!

Stage Fright

Happy Halloween!!! What an exciting day! Two parties, costumes, lots of candy and some tears. Addie's school had a Halloween Sing today and all of the kids lined up and paraded into the gym for the moms and dads. Addie entered the room and burst out into tears, crying "mama!!!" Literally crying. She did not participate in the sing - but watched her little classmates. I guess you can do that if you're the Queen Bee.

Jack was a cute pumpkin. Both kids enjoyed going trick or treating to a few houses in on the street. Addie wasn't shy about ringing doorbells and exclaiming, "Trick or Treat!" She also loved watching the kids come to our door. She held the candy bowl for them and sometimes even showed them different pieces of candy and asked if they liked that particular kind.

On a non-Halloween related note, Jack has yet another ear infection, so the tube surgery scheduled for next week is a firm deal. I hope it brings some relief to the little guy.

bridal bouquet

bridal
Originally uploaded by stephanieantshel.

We did an awesome wedding this weekend at the flower shop (www.thebackyardgarden for those of you who don't know). I made the bridal bouquet, of which I'm pretty proud! I thought it was gorgeous - the colors and textures were so pretty. The poor bride got rained on all day today, though.

We took a family jaunt to Rochester last night. Kevin and I saw Death Cab for Cutie in concert (we hadn't been to a concert in years!). The kiddos stayed at the hotel with our dear babysitter Patti (thank goodness for Patti!!). It was a quick trip and we're going to make another trip back sometime to visit the Strong Museum (http://www.strongmuseum.org), which we've heard is AWESOME.

The rain will NOT go away and it's rather annoying. ENOUGH ALREADY!

Addie is trying out "3" fingers

One month to go until we're finished with the "terrible twos," although I've heard that the threes aren't much easier at times!

Addie was practicing her fingers the other day- getting ready to hold three of them up. What a big girl!

Jack wakes up from a nap

IMG_9393retouch
Originally uploaded by stephanieantshel.

I love it when the kids first wake up from their naps. Rosy cheeks, big eyes, not sure what's going on or where they are....
here's Jack.
Still playing with the new lens and loving it!

The possibility of snow...

And, I'm only talking a dusting to an inch or so on grassy surfaces... but, the talk of it has made Addie go into a snowy tizzy!!! She told me tonight that she "loves snow" and is "going to dream of snow tonight!!!" Thought that was kinda cute. Here she is getting ready for a major snow storm. Good thing I just washed all of the winter stuff!

I was excited to buy a new lens for my camera today! I had debated whether or not to get a whole new camera ("out with the old, in with the new!!!!"), but the salesperson at Johnson's Camera had some good words of wisdom for me.. "The body essentially just controls the shutter. The glass is what is important" (meaning lenses). I bought a Canon 50mm 1.4, which is a pretty inexpensive lens. I have read good things about it, and have heard that it is a great basic lens to have. Of course I went right home and put it on the camera and started shooting away. So far, so good!!!!

"Bob" and Kerrianne visit CNY

Our friends, Jim (aka, Bud and BOB) and Kerrianne visited us this weekend. We were all so excited to see them - they're a lot of fun and so nice. Kevin and Bud went to the SU game and enjoyed feeling like co-eds again. We ate great food, drank good wine (all of us except Kerrianne, who is expecting in Feb 07!) and laughed about funny times. Addie and Jack had a lot of fun, too.

Trying to learn Photoshop

I have been so curious about Photoshop, wondering if it would be a wise investment for me. I went to the Adobe website and downloaded a free 30-day trial of CS2... I'm hoping to get the most out of the 30 days, but boy, is it involved! I guess I'm a better learner if someone is showing me how to do something. My friend and mentor Genevieve (www.genphotos.com) loaned me a book, but it's still somewhat confusing to me to get some of my photos to look the way I want them to look. I suppose I should just try to realize that this is learning process and I shouldn't expect too much to soon. Perhaps I'll take a class!

For now here is a cute picture of Jack that I tried to alter in CS2. He is "talking" about and pointing to an airplane!

Painting pumpkins

Addie is getting very interseted in Halloween this year. We were invited to a friend's house to paint pumpkins! Here is Addie's beautiful masterpiece. The goal was to get as much paint on the pumpkin as possible. And then more paint. And still more! She had fun and that's all that matters, right?!

brother and sister kiss

brother and sister kiss
Originally uploaded by stephanieantshel.

Another afternoon spent outside. Today wasn't quite as beautiful as the past few days, but at least there wasn't any rain. Addie is so excited about raking the leaves and jumping in them, and Jack just loves to be outside. Addie is becoming more "cooperative" about having her picture taken (with my direction), and she even likes to see it on the LCD screen. Thought this was a cute picture of sibling love!