Saturday, November 28, 2009

New Layout and Project

I made a project with the kids this week. Josh printed them out at the office, and I put contact paper on the sheets and cut (loosely) around them. Then the girls and I dunked them in water and rubbed the paper off so only the colors of the animals and people stayed on the plastic. It's still sticky afterwards to stick to the window, making awesome window clings!

Once I put Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the barn, I let Jasmine do the rest with very little direction, thus the animals flying overhead.

And I had this story from Bekah for a couple months now, but I finally thought to turn it into a page. Her narration may not be exactly true to scripture but it was highly amusing:
(both are linked to my TDC gallery)

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Christmas Tree

We have a lot more decorations to get up still, but we got the tree up and decorated. It looks wonderful (new tree this year!) and Bekah keeps telling me it looks beautiful, so I think they approve too.


They had their first taste of eggnog (at least their first this year; I don't remember if they had any last year). Jamine liked it, but Bekah wasn't convinced.
Putting on ornaments

Or trying. They had a hard time since I won't let them use hooks unless absolutely necessary (don't want any ER trips, thankyouverymuch), so it ended up being me doing 90% of them!
Same is true with the angel. It didn't fit on the tree top as well as we would have hoped, so it ended up being a 20-minute job for Josh. She looks beautiful up there now, though!
Hudson agrees!

Friday, November 20, 2009

Christmas Pictures

I decided it was time to start getting Christmas pictures today. The kids had two photo shoots, one in the morning and one in the afternoon after Hudson's nap. They had a blast...I did too!

Here are three of my favorite pictures from the day, turned into a layout:


(linked to my gallery at the digichick)

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Knox Farm III, part 2

I made a layout with some of my favorite pictures, using the coolest kit! This was one of those "have to have this" kits that I knew would make awesome layouts. And it did!!


I know I'm days behind on my thankfulness pictures. I'm working on them and will get some posted in a few minutes, children-willing!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Knox Farm III

We went to Knox Farm on Sunday. We've been there twice before, but both times were in the summer. Going in the fall was very different. Very, very beautiful! And still had muddy patches, even though we went after a pretty dry week.





It was cold, but it was really beautiful!

Friday, November 13, 2009

Thankfulness

I'm just thankful it's Friday. I love having Josh home so I count down the minutes after he goes back to work after lunch!

Day 11: I'm thankful for my Princess Punk Rocker, aka Jasmine.



Day 12: I'm thankful that I'm not a vegetarian, and that I don't eat kosher. This is one of my favorite fall/winter meals: Cider-Sweet ham. Crockpot, simple, warm and comforting.



And today, day 13: I'm thankful that I can recreate some of my favorite Turkish meals, even without a nearby Turkish grocery store to run to. This isn't perfect, but since I haven't had true manti in 6 1/2 years, it works!


It's meat ravioli with plain yogurt, melted yogurt with garlic powder, and dried mint on top. Those who like it spicy can add crushed red pepper, but that's not my thing.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Running Behind

(what else is new??)

I forgot to upload Day 8:
I'm so thankful for my Hudson. He's such a little sweetie, and it's so much fun watching him grow up. We needed him in our family!

Day 11. Yes, I know I'm missing two days.
I adore my Jasmine. It's hard sometimes, because I'm realizing she's a mini-me, and some of my characteristics that I consider to be weaknesses are in her personality too. So it's making me look at myself differently, in a good way, I think...realizing that it's the way God made us, so He must have some reason for why we are the way we are.
Anyways, she's 4 1/2 now (her half birthday was yesterday). She says she's been 4 enough now, and can't she be 5 now? but I had to break the news that it didn't work quite that way. She's starting to learn to sound out words in her world, and it's slow but it's coming. And that's very exciting. She loves to dance, imitating various dances from my DVD of the American Ballet Theatre production of The Nutcracker. I'm hoping we can get both girls into ballet classes next fall, if we can find a place I like (I'm looking for the same place where I had my lessons, but unfortunately that's impossible since the owner passed away, the studio is 1 1/2 hours away and it's merging with another studio so Ballet Theatre is no longer!)

And I am officially babbling. I had Coke on the drive home from my family's so I stayed awake while I drove, and I'm exhausted but a little nervous that my brain isn't ready to shut down just yet.

Saturday, November 07, 2009

Thankful: Day 7

These are obviously not in order of importance, but more in order of what happens to be going on that day :D Because I think it's pretty clear that this one is higher up in my list of priorities than little tutus!


Be still my heart :D
I'm so thankful for Josh. Thankful for his gentle nature. For his having rescued me from a life of spinsterhood. For his ability to answer any question I throw at him, without making me feel stupid for not knowing the answer. For his unconditional love. :) And sooo thankful that he's mine for life :D

Friday, November 06, 2009

Thankful: Day 6


I love that my girls are getting into dancing! I loved ballet growing up, so it's very exciting to see them want to learn! And they look so cute in the skirts!

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Thankful: days 4 and 5

Yesterday was the last day of the baseball season, as the Yankees had a beautiful victory to take their 27th championship victory. What's more, my favorite two pitchers played beautifully, and Hideki Matsui won the World Series MVP. Mom and I have decided Matsui is a lot like Josh in temperament, which means he's replaced Jeter as my favorite player :)

And because the game was so late last night and I had to watch the speeches afterwards, today I am most thankful for

Oh! And a side note. I've been weaning myself off of sweeteners in my coffee. I decided I didn't need the sugar, so I've gone almost 2 weeks with just cream in my coffee now! I haven't decided yet if I'll try to go to black coffee or if I'll stick with it this way. But I'm proud of myself :D

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Thankful: Day 3

Today I cheated a little and had Josh take this, because I wanted to be in it!

I'm thankful for this great country. I'm thankful for the privilege and responsibility to vote. I'm thankful that, even on an "off" year, we can still have some say in what happens in our world around us. Even if I don't live in one of the places with super-important elections going on today, it feels good to think that I do still have a voice.

Monday, November 02, 2009

Thanksful: day 2

I'm thankful that I'm a wife and mother. It was what I knew I wanted to do from 6th grade, maybe even earlier.

Three Sisters Islands

Here are the rest of my favorite pictures from yesterday's outing:

Jasmine was cautious at first, but eventually felt like she could conquer climbing over the rocks!

A rare picture :)

My model :)

LOVE Bekah's pose!




Carry me, Daddy?

Sunday, November 01, 2009

A Month of Thankfulness

I decided it would be fun to push myself a bit this month. I'm going to try to take a picture each day of the month of something I'm thankful for. I have SO much to thank the Lord for, but so much of it I take for granted. So it's time to seek those things out! I'm hoping to make a mini-album of these pictures as the month progresses, too :D

Day one: I'm thankful for God's amazing world, including Niagara Falls:
Okay, so this obviously isn't the main Falls. Today we went to see the Three Sisters Islands instead, and we loved it! I'll post more pictures of our outing later (or tomorrow). We see the Falls more often, but this area is so beautiful and much more peaceful than the Bridal Falls et al!