12.20.2010

Just a Couple Pictures of the Wee Ones

Mr. Handsome
Mr. Serious

Miss Shy

Miss Sassy

Super Creative
This is Clare's new art station. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! This is what Clare chose for her birthday. I think she loves having a place all her own with all of her supplies. I can't wait to see what she creates!

12.14.2010

Stockings

We've needed these for a while. I'm pretty sure that last year, in the midst of adjusting to a new baby and all that entails, I thought to myself that I should make some stockings for the family and that's pretty much as far as it got. This year I was determined to get them finished. I used fusible fleece and lined them with Kona muslin.

Mike's stocking
Kate's stocking
Clare's stocking
Finn's stocking
All the stocking hung by the mantle with care!

12.11.2010

Catching Up - A Series - Part 4

Hey, has anyone seen Finn?
Look, Mom. He's in his toy box. Seems as though the little rascal figured out how to climb in here and get all those fun little toys that end up at the bottom. Clever.
The two munchkins in all their gear. Don't fall down and don't tell me you have to go to the bathroom!
Clare and Finn enjoy a foot of fresh snow in the front yard.
Clare pulling Finn in the sled. She was amazingly careful with him and his giggling made us both crack up.
Finn getting a free ride! If he could talk, he would have asked for a hundred more.
Paper snowflakes by Clare and the mom. One little button-covered tree from preschool.

Catching Up - A Series - Part 3

Thanksgiving dinner, complete with "The Rolls."
Clare practicing her number writing with the preschool pal looking on.
Mike getting the wee girl ready for some outdoor adventures.
Geared up.
Clare's snowmen and the preschool pal. Some jackass knocked her snowmen down one evening. He had large footprints. I know nothing else, but if I ever find out, there will be serious hell to pay!

Catching Up - A Series - Part 2

The birthday boy. There might have been pictures of him with lighted candles but it required all hands on deck to keep him from burning down the place.
Clare modeling her birthday boots. She was ready to go play outside. Hmm. Forget something?
That's the preschool pal. He came to our house for a week, ate all our food, made a huge mess, then demanded to go live somewhere else. Clare loved having him and the responsibility of documenting every minute detail of their time together.
Here they are watching a bit of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Valencia got to be part of the gang on this occasion.
Here's a picture Clare drew of our family. I'm particularly fond of the earless cats. Speaking of cats, we now have an extra to call our own. Joyce's kitty became our kitty. It hasn't been a smooth transition to put it lightly. We'll keep trying.

Catching Up - A Series - Part 1

It should come as no surprise that I have once again fallen behind in posting on the blog. I'm pretty sure a lot has happened, although I'm guessing the most important thing is Finn getting new teeth since this has directly impacted the operation of the entire household. As of today, the boy has three molars and none of them have come easily. Sleepless nights, crying, crankiness, and the like have been very common. I'm hoping number four shows up soon and those bottom lateral incisors with it.

Life has been pretty peachy for Clare aside from the undiagnosed double ear infection I let her live with for who knows how long. She is doing great in preschool, growing like a weed, and getting more and more clever by the day.
These two love each other and Clare is pretty much willing to do anything it takes to get a shot like this!
See, he adores her. I hope they like each other's company just as much in ten years.
And finally, a picture of Clare's newly remodeled bedroom. I think it looks pretty darn good. I am especially liking the chair rail as it divides the room nicely and allows for me to hang things higher on the walls without them looking terrible.

11.04.2010

Dress Up for Dress Up Sake

First up: a little monkey business. This drawing got a bit altered when Finn got his hands on it, but I think it is still pretty darn cute. I'm especially fond of the two arms coming out of the same side of the body, like the monkey is turned sideways and looking back over its shoulder.

Then we have a nice shot taken by Clare. She desperately wants to get her hands on our new camera whenever an opportunity arises. I must school her in the fine art of minimizing mess in photos! Remember, if you'd like to see that mess in even more detail, just click on the picture.

Here Finn shows you his skills at completely unloading a toy tub in less than ten minutes. Oh, the boy is gifted!















Clare celebrated her fourth birthday in style. This is her new blanket from Cheda. She loves it so much as she snuggles under it each night.








Here is the birthday girl, all dressed up and ready to get to preschool. It was a great treat for her to be able to go to class on her big day!














And no photo session is complete without a picture with the baby brother. Clare is eagerly awaiting his birthday so she can play with all of his new stuff as well!







Clare and Finn enjoyed a chilly day at the park. Finn is getting quite good at negotiating the equipment and Clare is eager to show him all the cool stuff to play with.













Finn ate some chalk!













Window decorations for the birthday girl.














Post-cake smile!













Preschool owl treats. Way messier than I thought they would be. Live and learn.
















Halloween princess.














The princess and the bee.


10.20.2010

Goodbye Old Friend

I often find myself repeating the same internal dialogue. New ones are better. But the old one works just fine. I could do so many things with a new one. But the old one works just fine.

That is, until it doesn't. A couple weeks ago found us looking at a camera that refused to take pictures. A quick call to my dad, my go-to expert on everything electronic, revealed that we were going to need to buy a new camera.

Following a briefly frustrating issue with the first new camera having the same issue as our old camera (bad photo sensor), Amazon became my newest favorite store. I called, reported my issue, gave a few bits of info, and a replacement arrived on our porch two days later. And now I can once again document our lives through photos.

We've also been working on the house at bit. Once we secured childcare in the form of a visit from the grandparents, we went to work down in the flooded basement room. Digging out window wells, filling with gravel, new sheetrock, new texture, new paint, soon to be new carpeting (it's cheap and we don't plan on being here forever), trim and perhaps Clare will be back in her room by the weekend. Fingers crossed. Thanks so very much Carol and Bob. We couldn't have done it without you!

And our new furnace arrives tomorrow. I'll give an update on that once it is in and running smoothly!

Here are a couple pictures from the last day Bob and Carol were in town. They took the kids to the local pumpkin patch where Clare picked out some dandies. Looks like there might be a little carving on our weekend agenda as well.

Edited to add: Mom, as you might be the only one who reads this blog, if you want to make the pictures bigger, just click on them and they should open up in a new window!