Merry Christmas!

At Christmas Eve service last night, the kids behaved fairly well. It was their first time going to the service with us; we usually take advantage of the Sunday school aspect of church and enjoy an hour of child-free worship. We sang lots of songs, listened to Pastor Kevin talk about a simple Christmas, and Kate even got to light a candle at the end. My favorite part: when the pastor asked for a show of hands as to who refuses to read the Christmas letters from friends and Luke enthusiastically raised his hand.

We let the kids open one gift on Christmas eve. In this case, it was an XBox Kinect.

The first present of Christmas.

We were up until midnight, prepping for Christmas morning and Christmas breakfast. We "set" our alarm for 6:15am so we could be sure to be downstairs when the kids woke up. I opened my eyes at 6:45am and jumped out of bed. Someone forgot to turn the alarm on, but we were the first ones up. I resisted the urge to check to ensure the children were still breathing. We made coffee, started breakfast prep, and waited. Luke was the first one downstairs, at just after 7am (a minor Christmas miracle that he slept in so late), followed by Kate about 15 minutes later. Luke hadn't realized anything was amiss until Kate informed him that his stocking was full. Then we had to contain them both until Claire came down.

Luke's big present: a new booster seat for the car.

Kate finally got her Blizzard maker, a year after she asked for it. Tim and I have placed bets as to how long it will last before it breaks. We're having trouble agreeing on the terms; we both think it will be busted by the end of the day.

Claire also scored big with another one-year-late Santa surprise: an Easy Bake Oven. Santa is so weak. He swore he wouldn't cave and give Easy Bake Ovens or Blizzard Makers, but here we are.

Luke got a puppy pillow pet!

And a crane truck he can take apart and put together!

The aftermath.

Santa, left in the dust.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas fun

It's been ages since I've posted here....I just can't keep up with my photography blog, this blog, family life and work!

Yesterday we made gingerbread houses. The kids loved it. Mostly the sneaking candy part, of course. At the end: stickiness on every surface, children giddy with sugar.

The afternoon started out great. Some tea, some quiet.

Then we moved on to gingerbread decorations.

And I moved on from tea to Bailey's and cocoa.

Building.

"Here, Mom. I don't want any more of these."

Snow on the roof.

Moving on to bigger snow.

Summer update

We went to Oregon, Scotland and Seattle...it's been busy. A few photos in lieu of stories.

Family.

Adorable nephew.

My husband taxiing for take-off.

Edinburgh.

My sister.

All about Luke

Watching the Indy 500 with his Daddy.

Luke just let out a big "yeeeehaw!" right along with Brad Paisley, singing 'Old Alabama'. Can this kid get any cuter? Yes, I know I am biased.

Today we had our first pee-on-the-potty experience. It was sort of accidental (he had bigger goals in mind, but only peed), but he was fairly animated about the Reese's peanut butter egg he got as a reward.

Luke is in his 5th week of ISR swim lessons. He stopped crying at the beginning of last week, and is now rolling from back to front to grab a hand or the bar. I'm hoping he will finish within the next 2 weeks.

He is no longer saying "itchin" for "chicken". I am heartbroken. He is also beginning to say the hard 'k' sound, so there are very few "otay"s left in his vocabulary. Devastated. There are just some things I don't want to change, ever.

Day to Day Changes

A walk with Grandma in Bonnie Springs.

Kate took 1st Place in the bean bag toss for grade school at her first track meet.

Walking the lines during the running events. I am hopeful that at least ONE of my children will one day compete in running events.

Luke checks out a caterpillar.

Yesterday, we were swimming in the pool. Today we are inside wearing sweaters and pants. (It went from 90ish yesterday to 68* + 50mph wind gusts today.) And we're setting up the tent for an indoor camping trip. ? It's easier than packing up all our stuff for 2 days. And also, warmer.

Overwhelmed, again

Life has been ... busy. I don't know how you ladies do it: work, family time, laundry, household maintenance. I am failing miserably at all of them, or at least I feel like I am!

Tim and I recently went to the Neon Museum to do a photo shoot for friends. So much history! Our guide knew so much about Las Vegas; it was truly amazing. If you ever get a chance to visit this place, go! It's well worth your time.

Most of you know that we are staying in Vegas for probably another 3 years. We're not pleased with the assignment, but it could be worse. We love our house, and Las Vegas is not a bad place to be for another bit of time. Hopefully it will give you a chance to come and visit us...

Oh, Dear

It's come to this: one post a month, if I'm on top of things. And here I am, trying to at least post some photos, but blogger isn't granting my wishes.

For now, a picture from Luke's and my trip to Calico Basin this morning. I know most of the country is frozen over, under feet of snow, but we had a cold morning here as well. At 10am, we were hiking in 33* weather, which is a bit nippy for here. Luke didn't mind.

Lightning Bob

Guess who came to visit?

Oh boy oh boy oh boy!

CB monster.

Realizing a dream.


Listening to stories.

A Christmas Story, 2010

I'll admit that Christmas Eve was a busy night, with setting out Christmas cookies for Santa, spreading reindeer food on the driveway so Donner and Blitzen would have a snack while they waited, last-minute wrapping of gifts, and mentally preparing for Christmas morning, but I thought I had at least tidied up the family room before I went to bed.

Oddly, I was the first one up. I awoke at 6:30am, thought about going back to sleep, and then resigned myself to getting out of bed and (hopefully) catching some of the childrens' Christmas joy on video. I went downstairs to start the coffee and open the curtains, and nearly tripped on this:

I thought for certain I had blundered and left unwrapped gifts on the floor, until I looked closer and realized that two of the stockings appeared to be empty, with their innards strewn about the floor. Upon closer inspection, I saw that someone who shall remain unnamed (but who has a bedroom on the first floor) had unceremoniously dumped out the contents of Kate's and Claire's stockings. Luke's stocking, which clearly had uninteresting Matchbox cars and a truck coloring book in it, was untouched. I also noticed an assortment of candy wrappers next to the Barbie that had been in Claire's stocking.

I suspected that this midnight snack had filled the little belly of the child who had rummaged through Santa's gifts, and realized that I probably had plenty of time to make coffee and breakfast.

Sure enough, although Claire and Luke were understandably enthusiastic and excited about Christmas morning and all of its tidings, Kate was more difficult to rouse out of bed.

While attempting to wake Kate, Tim asked her if she had had any part in the stocking annihilation. She told him an engaging story about how she had missed seeing Santa, but that she had woken up when the clock said 4 and also 5, and that the reindeer food was all gone. She also mentioned that the stockings were so heavy that they had fallen down to the floor. He asked her if she had a snack of candy, and she admitted she had.

Not realizing that she had relayed the story to her father already, I asked her if she was the one who had opened all the stockings. She told me, "No, it wasn't me," with a smirk.

My favorite part of the story: the candy wrappers were from the Rolos in my stocking.

Prized Barbie clothes from Uncle Bob.

Slippers!

Santa Luke and his awesome 'twaktoh' book.

Luke proved to be surprisingly adept at opening gifts. He would tear off a small piece of paper and hand it to the closest person, demanding, "bin", meaning, "kindly throw this in the garbage bin for me". Adorable.

Busy With Pictures

This is what I've been up to. Obsessing about photography. Snapping pictures of all my friends and their children. Processing images like I'm a professional. Ha! But it's my new obsession hobby, and I've been having fun. And like with any exciting hobby, I've been ignoring all household duties: the laundry is piling up, I failed to send out Christmas cards this year, and we've been eating a lot of fishsticks for dinner. But that's all okay becuase I'm having fun. Right?

[brushing hands briskly together] Okay, then! Off to test shoot at a new location with Kate. If I get any good images, I'll be sure to post them here in lieu of a Christmas card.

Random Love

I love how the boy one crinkles up his nose to open his mouth wider in order to stuff more food into it. It is also extremely adorable how he says, "Knnnnooooooooooowwwwwwww" for "no".

I love how the middle one can sleep in until 9am. Except then I wish she was in afternoon pre-school so I didn't have to wake her at 7am on weekdays.

I love how much energy the oldest one has, and the creativity and sense of imagination she exhibits.

I love 70* Sundays in November, even if it is windy outside.

I love that I finally made something grow here in Las Vegas: my serrano peppers are big enough to add to the next batch of guacamole.

Airshow

Claire's favorite part of the show was the Coast Guard rescue helicopter.

Mama, this is not an A-10.

We arrived at the airshow and the first thing we came upon was 5 fighters lined up in a row. I gave Kate a test. Daddy will be so proud: Kate correctly identified the A-10 on the first try.

Their second favorite part of the airshow was the strawberry ice we got to eat.

On the way home, all three children fell asleep. It's been a busy week.

Horsin' Around

They thought they were real cowgirls riding on this roping steer. Incidentally, this is the only thing Claire would ride at the ranch yesterday.

First time on a horse. She loved it. I see riding lessons in her future.

Luke also loved riding his first horse.

A few non-related informational points:

• The rest of my (hopefully) fantastic photos are in my camera. I've been practicing with film. It's exciting, but somehow disheartening to know that I have to wait to see the results.
  
• It is officially fall here. Really, it feels like winter, as we went from mid-80s directly to low-60s and blustery winds, but I know I shouldn't complain when other areas of the country are expecting snow next week.
  
• The girls are listening to Bocelli at a high volume in Kate's room right now. This has been a common occurrence since Tim pulled out his old CD and introduced it to Kate. They adore it.
  
• Luke had is 18-month well-check last week, at 19 months. He is a solid 28lb 4oz, and is 33.25" tall. And he didn't make a single sound throughout his exam, to include staying silent during 2 shots. Tough guy.

Halloween Recap

The children were super excited about Halloween this year. The parents, somehow, were woefully unprepared. Not as in "indoor decorations not up in time", but more like "carving pumpkins while the children rush through dinner so they can go get dressed" unprepared. Partly, it was the demands. No more triangle-eyed, toothy jack-o-lanterns here. One girl wanted a haunted house and the other a bat. During dinner preparations/pumpkin carving time, the boy one demanded to ride his sisters' bike, regardless of the fact that he cannot climb up onto it by himself (thankfully), nor can he peddle. The shrieking that ensued ensured that his demands were met.

It was another warm Halloween, so Barbie and Tinkerbell were comfortable in their frilly costumes. The fighter pilot was just excited that he got to wear patches. Each carried their own candy bag, walked nicely to the front door of each house, rang the doorbell, and said "trick or treat!". Or at least that's the theory. Luke managed to say something in the order of "tika tee" and then looked up with expectant/wary eyes. Each time he appeared astounded that complete strangers were giving him treats, and that this experience was apparently parent-sanctioned. At one point he stopped suddenly on our journey and attempted to eat a candy, wrapper and all. It was adorable.

Barbie cops an attitude while Tinkerbell curtseys.

The girls told the boy not to pick his nose, which inspired him to do just that.