My kingdom for some good Christmas pictures!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. It's been nothing but loved ones, old friends, gifts, and food 'round these parts. I just didn't capture much of it on film! I really need to sit down with this camera and learn the ins and outs. In the meantime, I'm thinking of investing in a nice point and shoot for crowded gatherings and hectic outings. It's simply a pain to think about shutter speed, ISO levels, and the lot while capturing rampant toddlers. I can put it on auto, but I think the flash on this thing is worse than the flash on my old point and shoot. I'm really not a fan of the flash, but I was miserable without it in low light with fast movers. I've been doing some reading, and I think I could get a fairly inexpensive lens that would solve some of these problems. Enough griping...we had a blast. The girls got lots of goodies, but not too many. We tried to put a cap on it, as they have way too much already. In fact, it's time to thin things out a bit and start donating.

We also got to meet Sweet Aiden at last.



Rachel getting ukulele lessons from Dad.



Charlotte and her mandatory Christmas morning cinnamon roll.



Carol and Aiden

Just in case you haven't seen it...

My friend Susan sent this to me the other day. I love a cappella music. Straight, No Chaser is one of the groups out there who has fun. Also, see The Brown Derbies from Brown University. I saw them do "A View to a Kill" completely a cappella on GMA once.

Desperate times...

...call for-- well, you know. Megan, our Christmas cookie pusher, is no doubt buried under irate Target holiday shoppers and piles of Children's literature. Busy Megan=make your own darned sugar cookies! Well, I did! And they're yummy! Be it crowded or quiet, may your Christmas be sweet!

'Tis the season...

...for Calvin and Hobbes snowman cartoons. I love Calvin. Here's a link to more of them. This one is a personal favorite:

Welcome to my world...

Charlotte likes to hold "little guy" conferences on my keyboard every so often. The scary thing is--I can still manage to type while it's in progress. Adaptation.

Hello, my name is FABULOUS!

We got chic new haircuts today, compliments of Grammy. Posh ? Katie? Suri? Psh! We are so much cooler.

Had to jump on the bandwagon...

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1250302187

I can't begin to tell you...

...how much I MISS this stage! This is Christmas, two years ago. I say that about EVERY stage, and it sounds so cliche--but they grow up TOO FAST!

Our playroom

We're slowly but surely trying to assemble a playroom for the girls. They seem to be enjoying it so far. Most of the furniture is from Ikea, as well as the super-cheap train set, which they love! I'd like to get some of their fun lighting for our room. Next trip. We're also trying to figure out what I want mom to paint on the walls. Ideas are welcome!


Lazy day today. I couldn't bring myself to brave Christmas shopping.

Rachel is very in to posing lately. She hoisted herself onto her play table for this one.

I caught half of Charlotte behind the chalkboard. Silly goose.

Christmas Parade

Today was the annual Christmas parade. The girls just love their marching bands, so it was a must. A good time was had by all. I didn't get many parade pictures, as I was mostly turning around to capture the girls and their dad.

Grammy stopped by on her way home from work, and Charlotte practiced new faces on her.

We thought this was so funny--the Sheriff's Dept. had their bomb dismantling robot out there. Uh...Merry Christmas?!

Fingerpainting

I can't believe it has taken us this long to do some fingerpainting, but sadly...it has. Actually, we've tried the Color Wonder paints before, but they don't care for those. Toddlers are an instant gratification lot, and having to wait 2.3 seconds for your color to appear on the paper is unacceptable! So I picked up some of the old fashioned stuff at Target tonight. Who says you can't have fun on Friday night for under 6 bucks?

Poor guy...

I just came across this picture while I was looking for other photos. It was taken about a month or so ago, at another game night. The girls had their tutus out, and well...poor Michael fell victim to "tutucide."

This is how moms play Wii...

We had game night here at the house. While the boys play cards, we usually chase kids around and chat. This time, we borrowed my parents' Wii for some games of our own!

Donava and Sabrina...with Michael helping.

The Cupcake Triplets (Rachel, Charlotte, and Kara Mae) retired to the kitchen for a snack.

Cutie Madison loves to have her picture taken.

Kara Mae and her cupcake.

"Happy Thanksgreenbeans!"

For those of you not in the know...that is Charlotte for "Happy Thanksgiving." She knows the right way to say it, but finds her version SO much funnier! We had a wonderful time at the Mariposa fairgrounds this year, and we were POOPED! Here are a few pictures. I'll try to get more up.

Rachel was a tee ball fiend.

The girls were obsessed with what looked like an auction arena.

We finally got to meet our cousin Eva. She is the cutest, sweetest little girl!

Charlotte and Grammy...and Charlotte's little lop-sided "cheeeeese!"

Wheeeeee!

Papa made a huge pile of leaves just for us to play in today. So much fun!

Happy Halloween!

at Grammy Terri's house...

Zoo Boo!

This evening we gussied up in our ladybug costumes to go to the "Zoo Boo" at Applegate Zoo. The zoo was all done up in Halloween decor with lots of people to trick-or-treat from. I got some pictures, but they're not the greatest. Note to self: bring a point and shoot next time. The Rebel is very cumbersome when trying to trick-or-treat and carry ladybugs. Thanks to PaPa for the pictures!