Christmas 2008

No tears for Santa this year. She was a little hesitant, but this Santa was slick. He knew how to talk the Santa talk. When it was our turn his elf helper asked the names of the kids and Santa greeted T- with a smooth "T- its great to see you again, it's been a while since we've talked". That did it for T- he was in, G- needed a bit more - however once she was by his side she would't shut up. She had a lot to tell Santa, none of it was about her Christmas wishes but Santa took in all in stride.

Merry Christmas To ME!

Having a gadget junkie husband has it perks. This camera is something I'd NEVER buy for myself. I didn't even think I needed it, I love my trusty Rebel. However my beloved, generous husband bought me a new and even better camera for Christmas. What a great holiday surprise this baby was!

What You Don't See....

You can't possibly see how quickly the crocodile tears were turned on when I discovered this scene. Or how funny hubby and I both thought it was, but NO WAY could we let on that we thought this was funny. Nor is it possible to see the diaster that I found. She was supposed to be in bed sleeping, instead she jumped the gate and made her way downstairs to create chaos while I was cleaning the kitchen. Water was everywhere, soap all over the counter, wet soggy kleenex in the drain and as you will see in the next picture, a little person (actually it was the baby "taking a bath") was floating in the toliet. Thank GOD nothing else was floating in there.

Pumpkin Patch

Turns out we have several great pumpkin patches close to our house. None came close to the mega fabulous pumpkin patch by our old home, but they were all good and worth visiting. However there was a smaller and incredible one just 2 miles away. The kids and I couldn't get enough of it, whenever the weather was good we were there.

Here are the kids with Uncle "Lucky" (as G- calls him) on a ride that only fits small children. What a good uncle he is.

T- could have spent days playing this game.

Halloween

I was convinced this was going to be the weather on Halloween, I even matched their costumes to match their winter jackets. This was 2 days before (boy was T- excited to see the snow) however it was a quick snow flurry the weather on Halloween was wonderful.

This was his first year where he was really into scary Halloween and he had to be something tough and fierce.

As her first year officially trick or treating she did a great job. She greeted everybody with "Ick or eat".

More Pumpkin Patch

If you haven't figured it out by now, I love the fall. This pumpkin patch is minutes from our house and we just can't seem to spend enough time there! They have a jumping pillow and it is so much fun! The jumping pillow puts the moon bounce to shame and I wish I could have one in my back yard. This first picture shows a near collision, T- saved them both by stopping his sisters tackle.

This is the year T- fell in love with mazes. This place has 2 mazes - 1 for children (no way, now how can you get lost and I happily let T- lead us through) the other is a 10 acre maze. No way, no how am I getting stuck in that with 2 small children! T- isn't to happy with that, but hey sometimes a parent needs to put their foot down!

My little ham.

WARNING! Not The Halloween Pictures You Are Expecting!

Every year my brother in law goes all out for Halloween. He spends an enormous amount of time preparing and boy is it scary. He does a great job and my kids sob every time we have to enter the house. This year he asked me to take a few pictures and I jumped at the chance. Not only did it give me a chance to step out of my box, but it felt great to photograph something (or somebody) that I didn't have to chase after, beg to sit still and bribe to get a smile.

What I look like in the morning before my first cup of coffee.

I love how you can see all the different lights.

Apple Picking

To make our new home even more fabulous there is an apple orchard minutes away! Dad and T- were in charge of picking apples (and boy did we get a lot of apples) and I chased G- around and tried to sneak in few shots.

Darn the silly faces, I want smiles!

I had the brilliant idea to photograph the labels as we picked apples so would know what we had when we got home. However we picked so many different types of apples I have no clue what I'm eating.

First Day of Preschool

T-'s first day of preschool, also his first day of school where he didn't cry! He's still not happy about going, but so far we haven't seen any tears. This school also requires backpacks - he was so excited to buy one. Its huge on him but he loved picking it out and wearing it.

Here is handsome Mr. T giving me his best.

This school is a drop off at the door - here it is - he gets out of the car.......

The teacher sees me hanging out the window with my camera and tells him to wave.....

And the big moment, he strolls into school like its no big deal. Sniff sniff, he's getting to be such a big boy!

Ah La-La

Yes Ah La-La thats what G- calls her aunt. I'm going to miss all her toddler words some day.

Not exactly in focus, but I was laughing to hard. I love there faces in the first one. G- was trying so hard to make a goofy face. Ah La-La had no idea what kind of craziness was going on right next to her.

Portrait

There is a beautiful botanical garden minutes from our new house, the perfect place to take pictures. I drag Little Miss G- for her second year portraits - this is the only thing she would give me. Not the portrait I was hoping for, but its still pretty darn cute.

Picnic Wedding

One of my cousins had a lovely picnic wedding. Mother Nature couldn't have given us a nicer day, nice ceremony, lots of fun and if you asked my husband he would tell you the chicken was fantastic.

The weather was wonderful, except for when you were sitting in the sun.

I know I demanded a breath mint, but I'm pretty sure I don't like it.

Another cousin with perfect baby C-.

Getting Big

Scary Watermelon Faces