Camera Creativity

Aurelia received a digital camera for Christmas and has had a ball taking 81 photos, uploading the said photos and repeating . . .every two minutes. This camera doesn't take very sophisticated photos so the effects of her view point added to the camera's limited capablities creates some really awesome art. Here's just a small (and I mean VERY SMALL) sampling of the fruits of her photographic endeavors.

Two Year Olds

NEVER leave your two year old alone in the bath tub. This I discovered recently when I returned after a few minutes away from Ezra. He had filled th tub with this potty-training cheerios (for aiming at) and was eating them. Gross!!

SNUGGLES are the best when the Oedipus complex is alive and well in your young son. Ezra "needed" some snuggles to get to sleep yesterday and this is how he wanted them. He layed on his back with his arm out. My head was to go kind of on his chest (without crushing him!!) and my arm was to reach over his body and hold his hand. I love this kid.

LAUGHTER apparently can get one out of any situation. Especially when mommy's a pushover.

CHICKEN DINOS are a complete meal any time of day. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner would be wonderful if they included chicken Dinosaurs, String Cheese (cut up) and "Fruity" Snacks. What food groups do these fall under??

CHRISTMAS is not over until your two year old says so. The tree is still up and the lights are still on. Shall we begin a count-down???

Happy New Year!

The TEN Days of Christmas!

Day 1: Aguilar Christmas Girl's Party: Stockings!
Day 2: Asylum Christmas Party: StarWars!
Day 3: Christmas at the Lodge: Santa!
Day 4: Dinner with the Whartons: Play!
Day 5: Christmas at Granna's: Books!
Day 6: Christmas Eve Eve at Church: Candles!
Day 7: Christmas Eve at Uncle Frank's: Late!
Day 8: Breakfast with the Wards: Cousins!
Day 9: Lunch with Mima: Twins and Thomas!
Day 10: Dinner with the Hampens: Wall-E!

Next year? Who knows.

A Few of My Favorite Things

New Ring. New Friend.New Toy.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Christmas #3

In attempting to truly celebrate Christ on and at Christmas, we visit a man named Santa once a year at my dad's lodge and he gives the kids a gift. This solves a lot of problems for us and makes the kids happy : ) Plus - we get to watch a pretty fun magic show and spend some quality time with my dad and my poppa. Aurelia received a fun pizza balancing game that she and Ezra have adapted to make it easier (even I had trouble!!) It's been a lot of fun.
Ezra was given some paper and crayons (staples in our home, so a GREAT gift that will keep giving -- for a while at least).
Oliver, in a fun twist, decided not to exhibit his stranger anxiety and sat (curiously) on Santa's lap! We were so surprised and got quite a few pictures, but I liked this one where he was looking at a smiling Santa (this guy was a real sweetie!)

I have to say (those of you who don't care can skip over this part) how proud I was of Aurelia this year. She sat so prettily with her head held high and she laughed in all the right parts and was fun to watch. She participated for a few minutes in the fun until she realized that the magician's silliness made the kids laugh (at her she thought!) and she opted out. I was proud that once she realized what she had given up (a part in the fun and a balloon animal!!) she didn't get mad or throw a fit - next year maybe she won't get embarrased and she'll be able to do those whole trick.

Anywho - we had a good time. Thanks for this fun annual treat, grandy! Love you!

New duds

Thanks, Angela, for being such a sweetie and buying the kids dress-up clothes. Aurelia wore her new dress four days in a row. It's in the wash now and she'll probably wear it again tomorrow!


Aurelia forged a friendship with Angela at our local library. Angela lets Aurelia help her put the books away and is reinforcing all sorts of skills when she does. I so appreciate just that she let's Aurelia help, but in turn, I guess, Aurelia means a lot to her.So much that she asked if she could buy Aurelia a fun and fluffy dress for Christmas. Beyond that - she bought the boys little man-suits too!! I'm so overwhelmed by her generosity. (I'm open to any ideas on how I can show her how grateful we really are.)

Hey, Arnold!

Thanks, L&T, for sharing your cabin with us! We had a great time up in Arnold last week, just Mima, me and the kids! We arrived late Wednesday night and spent the rest of the week exploring the area. First we went to Big Trees and wandered in,through, on,under over and around the fanstastic stumps and trees there (but boy was it chilly!! brrr!). Friday we spent the day in Murphys. It was a breath-takingly beatiful day for swinging, sitting by the river, and pic-nicing at the park, reading stories, eating ice-cream, and buying shoes! An odd thing happened: a sweet, leather-clad gentleman followed us into the shoe store and gave me $20 to "put in the kids' stockings." Very odd, but very sweet - Thanks, guy!

Saturday (After Ezra threw up in the car on the wind-ey way to -- I guess breakfast didn't sit too well in the warm car on that curvey road!) we spent some time at Columbia where we climbed rocks, dipped candles, visited the museum, took a wagon ride and were almost robbed! We ate lunch, had some leather keychains made, and panned for gold! The "gold" guy, John, gave Aurelia "lessons" and helped her find REAL gold. He was so sweet! He also gave both kids a nice piece of orange citrine to put in their vials, and a big piece of crystalline gold (iron pyrite) too! And when we thought we'd lost Ezra's blue egg rock, he gave us another one just in case. That really made our trip to Columbia extra special! Finally we drove home. It was good to see daddy again and share with him all our great memories -- and now we get to share them with you!