Little Love

Going Private

In a few days, I'm going to turn on the privacy setting on our blog. Access to the blog will only be allowed to readers who are recognized. If you want to be included on the list of readers, please leave a comment on this entry with your email address or send me an email. I believe you may have to 'sign in' the first time but after that the system should recognize you and automatically allow access.

Thanks!

Strumming Santa

Here is Santa making his entrance at our house...

Will getting ready to go sit on Santa's lap...he wasn't scared at all.

Miss Allie wants a Barbie and a jewelry box...

Miss Katie wants a Wowee Alive pet...

Miss Emmie also wants a Wowee Alive pet...

Santa sings Christmas songs and plays the guitar!

Some of the girls watching Santa play the guitar and singing along...

I really loved this pic (in a color pop action) of our friends Sophia and Joseph. It is so sweet how he is looking at Santa and his big sister is smiling at him and holding his cheek....seems to capture the spirit and magic of Christmas.

A Special Visitor

Look who came to our house tonight...

More pictures coming soon...

Little Star

Allie had another busy day performing. Today her preschool put on a little Christmas concert. It was so very cute and sweet. She did a great job and seemed to love performing for the crowd. She had FUN.

Here are some pictures...I am so excited that I was able to use my zoom lens and shoot in manual and get these pics...baby steps.

Simply Sweet

There is something so incredibly sweet about little girls dancing. It can bring tears to your eyes. It can make your day. It can make your week. It can make you realize just how lucky you are...incase you have forgotten that day. It can cause you to take your daughter through the McDonalds drive-thru for a Happy Meal to celebrate.

Today Allie had her little Christmas performance at dance class and she did a wonderful job. Here are some pics (with a Faded Daydreams wash). (Sorry, no video...I need to get a new SD card so I have enough room to take videos on the old camera...or I need to get a new video camera that isn't 8 years old and as large as my purse, ha).

Allie blowing me a kiss during the performance.

A Little Bit Of Holiday Fun

This past weekend the girls made little ornaments for their small tree I found at Hobby Lobby. They filled small glass ornaments with snow, glitter, confetti, balls...pretty much whatever they could find. They loved it and sure did make a nice mess. Today the girls decorated a gingerbread house...a kit of course!

I really need to think of some more fun things for the girls to do. I feel like I used to do so many fun crafts and things with the girls and now I just find myself in somewhat of a survival mode...make the meals, give the baths, get them to school on time, pick up the crumbs, etc etc. I'm not complaining...just wondering if anyone has any advice for just 'letting go' and 'living in the moment'. I want to be MORE FUN. :)

A Special Birthday Party

Allie's preschool has a tradition of having a birthday party for Jesus. It is so cute. They bring presents to donate, sing happy birthday to Jesus, have some treats and make crowns. This morning Allie was very excited to wear her polka dot outfit to Jesus' birthday party. She put her hand on her hip and said "Take a picture of me like this Mommy."

A few more pics of Allie...

15 Months Old

Will turned 15 months old a few days ago on the 10th. Rich took him to his appointment that day. It seems our 90th percentile boy has slowed down...it must be all of the walking...and maybe the stomach bug he had a few days prior. Here are the stats:

Height: 31 3/8 inches (60th percentile)

Weight: 24# 9 oz (50th percentile)

Head Circumference: 19 1/8 (75th percentile)

Here's what you can't see on paper: He is the sweetest and happiest little boy. He still loves to hold hands and cuddle. In fact, when I was sick all he wanted to do was lay on the couch with me and hold both of my hands. He LOVES to play with his big sisters. He loves to learn new things and new words. He will now hold up a toy camera to his eyes and say "CHEESE" real loud, hold up a phone to his ear and say "HI!", and lay his head on a pillow and say "Nigh, Nigh."

Here's a leaf for you mommy...

I totally blew out these next two but tried to save them in black and white because his faces were too sweet to delete.

We love you William Joseph! Thanks for being our little buddy!

Amateur Actions

No need to write about the fact that the stomach flu has been a guest at our house for 7 days now. No need to write about the fact that I didn't get to wear my pretty pink dress to Rich's company Christmas party tonight. This is my place to be positive. I have no real reasons to complain.

I ventured into the world of Photoshop Elements 8.0 today...wow...it has come SO FAR since my version of 5.0. I browsed the web, downloaded an action installer and many actions and played and played and played. I know that actions can't cover up poor quality pics so I will have to work on getting better quality pics.

Here is the same pic of Katie that I ran actions on...not sure what I would use them for but it was fun to learn....and it kept me from dwelling on missing our night out with adults. Why can't I be relaxed like other moms when it comes to babysitters? Is anyone else like this? If you know of a great sitter that can handle 4, please let me know....I need one for next weekend also.

Anyway, here are the pics with the names of the actions I found.

COLOR POP

B&W SPLENDOR

PORTRAIT

VINTAGE NEWS

FADED DAYDREAMS

CREAMY CHOCOLATE

Drool Is Cool

Down to 9...

Nine finalists, including Jenn, have been chosen!

Please VOTE again before Wednesday at midnight.
www.matildajaneclothing.com/vote_viewproducts.php

My Happy Little Model

Katie is my willing and happy model. She will flash her smile for my camera anytime and loves it. I decided to take one of my pics and play around with it a bit. I think I need to start a new photography blog for the camera club I am putting together. That way I won't have to bore any of you who are still stuck reading this with my camera chat.

St. Nick & An Elf On Our Shelf

Last night we put our shoes out in preparation for a visit from St. Nick. This morning we found that St. Nick brought us our own personal Elf. He is a magical Elf. He came with a cute book explaining all about him. We were told to go to http://www.elfontheshelf.com and give him a name and register him in Santa's Official Elf Registry.

We named him Eddie. Today he found a spot on a shelf in the hallway. Each day he finds a new spot in our house to see if we're being good little boys and girls. At night, he leaves us and flies back to the North Pole to give Santa a report. Each morning the girls will have to find his new spot he has chosen for that day.

Tonight, Eddie will have to report to Santa that poor Emmie, Will & Allie all had the stomach flu today. :( Hopefully this will atleast move them up on Santa's Good List!

A Thin Line

I've noticed there is a thin line between love and hate (ok, hate is too strong of a word but I really like The Pretenders) around here lately. One minute one sister is telling another sister that THEY are their best friend in the whole wide world and giving BIG hugs. A few minutes later...watch out...they are saying that that same sister is THE meanest girl in the whole wide world and they are NEVER, EVER going to play with her again.

This day...it was love, best friends forever...even changing the 'seating arrangement' to sit together. Hugs and giggles galore...just ignore the healthy lunch of McDonalds and Capri Sun.