Tuesday, January 27, 2009

SNOW at LAST!


Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! The kids stared in disbelief as they rolled out of bed expecting to get ready for school this morning. Hannah was a little disappointed because they were supposed to perform for us this morning a special Chinese New Year musical presentation. Hopefully they'll reschedule! The kids waited and waited for the grass to be covered and when that didn't happen by lunchtime-- they decided they had waited long enough. We set out to play in the snow... but, oh no! The sled was in the attic and I'm too short to reach... so alas they had to wait until Marc got home to get it down. Jacob didn't quite know what to think... he didn't want to go out, didn't want to step in it, didn't want to touch it, didn't want it on his pants, didn't want to sit in it.... but then after a while he didn't want to leave it behind to come inside! I suppose his second time out in the snow might be less drama! Nonetheless, I was able to get some great shots of them goofing off and playing! Here's a few-- they are all posted on my facebook profile! Keep it coming-- the snow, that is!




Fun at the Garden!

Jacob and Abigail had a blast running around last Friday when the weather was warm-- I think we were in the mid-50s. They didn't even need coats. Just getting out of the house was a fiasco... but Havalynn saved the day. We made plans to take the kids on a trip to MD to check out a photography shooting location and let them run around outside. I got the girls off to school, and then got Jacob and me ready for a day out... this in and of itself is exhausting... it has only gotten marginally easier since the girls are in school :) The advantage to that, at least, is that it gets us moving early! So we get in the car, get buckled in, Jacob is chanting "Abby, Abby"... and what happens? Nothing--- the car won't start! UGGGH! So tears streaming down the little guy's face, we get out of the car to call Havalynn. She volunteers to drive and off we go. It was a beautiful day, and I really think that this place will be a beautiful backdrop when the weather warms a bit. In the meantime, they have a couple conservatories that are inside. However, we learned the hard way, that children must use inside voices while in the "greenhouse". The kids were having a blast running back and forth across a little bridge, but Ms. Garden lady put a stop to that as she stomped after me (as we were leaving, no less) to ask if I was the mother of the screaming children. As she continued to scold me, it was on the tip of my tongue to tell her that she was almost as friendly as the staff at Meadowlark Gardens in Vienna. Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate the planning, labor, and skill that is required to operate and maintain these county parks. However, I do not understand why every person I've encountered at both aren't nicer to the patrons. I'll save that theory for another post :) On to more beautiful topics... pictures of the kids!










Oh and one last thing to add. I got a giggle when a man and his wife walked by us taking pictures of the kids running across the bridge. It was in the sun, but we were just snapping anyway. Heavens knows if I had gone back to my bag to get my flash, the moment would have been gone! Anyway, the guy must've been a photographer or knew something about photography because I heard him mumble under his breath-- you need some fill light. Yep, we did....oh well :)

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Happy New Year!

Since the cards are out, I'm posting a few pictures here that I had been holding onto of the kids. I wanted the holiday cards to be something nobody had seen ;) Hope everybody is having a great 2009!







Sunday, January 4, 2009

What, no Christmas pictures?



Nope NONE! Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Ashley and half of her class had been sick with a stomach bug. She actually got it twice and passed it on to both of Marc's parents. We thought it had run its course, but guess who it struck on Christmas Eve? Yep, ME!!! Luckily it was sometime during the night-- after Santa had come and gone, thank goodness! I have never had an illness come on more quickly and violently! Yuck! I just remember praying that I would please get to see them come down the stairs on Christmas morning... and I did... but I looked like this...



I started to feel better later on Chrstimas Day so lucky for me it was short-lived, so much so that I thought it might be food poisoning. I didn't eat another Christmas cookie and candy the entire holiday!

So all photos taken during Christmas were compliments of Hannah and Ashley. Santa brought them both a real digital camera this year. Hannah's pretty good with hers. Ashley has deleted all her pictures accidentally several times-- and she had some really cute ones from Christmas Day-- boohoo!! So here's the extent of our Holiday memories :)