more from Christmas

whew! I'm tired and the house is a mess. The kids are enjoying their new goodies.

Merry Christmas, of course!

Santa arrived. Santa arrived, for sure. Here is the scene from last night (I was lucky enough to stay up past his arrival to snap this shot).

He was obviously hungry:
Having fun with the self-timer, again!

The kids looked so darn cute for church last night, but were total pills when it came to taking pictures. Ugh.

More pictures to come from the chaos of Christmas Morning. We're getting ready to enjoy a lovely little family meal. We're missing Nanie and Poppy this year and our thoughts and prayers continue to be with Nanie.

she's amazing!

Addie never ceases to amaze me. Today she wrapped her teacher's gifts ALL BY HERSELF (of course). She was very patient, didn't get frustrated and she took her time. She tied the ribbon around each package and knotted it (something she recently learned how to do). I told her she needed to make a little card to attach to each bag and I wrote out the words on a separate sheet of paper. This is what she did:Pretty cool, I think!

not sure of the exact total of snow that fell over the weekend, but guess what... it is coming down again!

pictures, a party, a storm and more

Every year for the past eight years or so we've had a holiday party at our home. It is something we look forward to each year. Last night about 30 of our friends gathered at our house to join in celebrating the season. Good food, good wine, great company and EXCELLENT home-brewed beer by Kevin and Joe. The beer was a hit - everyone loved it. I think Kevin is a little sad that it's all gone, now, but there will be more next year. Fun night and today we're all tired!

In the middle of my party -prep, I found a few moment to do a quick session with a repeat client. Mom wanted "just one" good pic of her too-cute-for words girl. It seems a certain 18 month old just doesn't like to sit for pictures and doesn't share her smiles with the camera often. It must have been my lucky day -- just look at this cutie pie - this is my favorite picture of many smiling ones!
We're getting a rather thick blanket of snow. It started last night as our party guests were leaving and is coming down steadily now. I will update as to how much we end up getting, but I think it will be enough!

Ok, it's 3:30. Time to get out of my jammies and ready for another party tonight.

taking a moment

from my busy, busy week to address christmas cards, which is one of my favorite things to do during the holidays. I know other people dread it, but I have always enjoyed it. I love getting cards from people, especially those who I don't see often. I love the updates and the pictures they send of growing children. I especially love the handwritten notes, which are few and far between in this day and age.
I got our cards today and I love them! I hope they bring a smile to the people who will be receiving them, just as their cards brought a smile to my face.

I'll tackle my to-do list later!

Mug Shot

Bail is set for $2.00. Charged with taking off jammies in the morning and pee-peeing in bed. Also charged with throwing food on the floor on purpose. Santa has been informed of naughty behavior.

something green

there is something large and green in our living room. It smells great. It is as tall as the ceiling. It is going to be glowing later today! Its our Christmas tree and it is perfect.

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

And, so it did. We're winning the Golden Snowball Award (5 cities in Upstate compete for the most snow a seaon. Here is where we are as of today (first place, BTW). Notice that we're up 20 inches of snow from this time last year. Ugh!

GSB City's	This Season	Normal Average to Date	Normal Seasons Average	Last Season This Date
Syracuse	22.2	13.7	111.9	2.0

The good news is that I visited two cute girls who look WAAAYYY older than they are. Great girls, great family, great dog, Jake!!


Loved playing outside!
Jake says, "I'm cold. Let me in!"
Brrrr... bundle up!

A very princessy party

Addie and her best friend Payton had a dual birthday party today. It was a princess party in every sense of the word! The girls were treated to "manicures" and up-dos, candy necklaces and sparkly tiaras!
The decor was SO darn cute! Decoupage (is that how you spell it?) board games and childhood things... Here is a snap of a HUGE canvas filled with Life and Monopoly and other board game pieces.

December. Snow. The Season.

Can't believe it's December already.
Woke up to a blanket of snow. Kinda exciting. My philosophy on the CNY weather is that if it's going to be gray and cold it might as well snow. It makes things so much prettier! Got my wish today and... stay tuned, we may be getting more! Now, I'm just wishing for snow on Christmas day!
The kids and I had so much fun playing with the self timer on the camera today. I ***may*** have gotten ***THE*** picture for the Christmas card. Here are some shots from our "session." One disclaimer... trying to nail focus and exposure on self-portraits with a timer is rather difficult!!! these are not the best technically sound photos, buy boy are they fun!

Ohhh... serious mama!!!

The kids love playing on our bed.
I'll leave you with this final image! Thank goodness she knows not the error of her ways!
PS... I'm saving a couple of my favorites!!