Christmas in February

Let's be honest: In January, don't you get tired of looking through everyone's photos of Christmas? Bet you won't be so tired of it in February! I totally planned it this way on purpose. No, really. I didn't completely forget to post them. I swear.

What the pictures don't show...

The lovely service we all attended as a family on Christmas Eve.
The photos of The Boy opening his Big Brother shirt in front of my family.
Our tasty Christmas dinner, of which the highlight was lazy cabbage rolls (who knew?).
The majority of the group sacked out on the couch watching "A Christmas Story."
Three of us escaping to the movies late at night to see "The Tourist."

Merry Christmas!
http://gallery.me.com/hannahrae#100640

A Fun Game of "Simon Says"

Remember this game? Feel free to play along.

Simon says, put your hands in the air!

Simon says, put your hands on your nose!

Simon says, put your hands on your belly!

Simon says, put your hands on the baby!

Simon says, "I'm gonna be a...

!!!"

(Due date: August 25)

"Disney Woolad!"

We had A BLAST on our Disney trip in mid-December. It was a little nutty to take a vacation in between Hanukkah and Christmas, but we did it. The slideshow (with captions) tells a fairly decent story. Happy viewing!

http://gallery.me.com/hannahrae#100625

First Snow: December 1

I love when things are tidy and symmetrical, like the first snow arriving on December 1. And arrive it did. We were sacked with no less than five inches in one fell, six hour swoop. Now that we live close to the lake, we get all the snow everyone else gets, plus an extra inch or so, for good measure.

(By the way, as I'm writing this we are in the midst of Storm Two. It looks just as ferocious as the first.)

One thing I love about raising kids (kid) is that their memories take a loooooong time to develop. So as far as The Boy was concerned, this was his first snow! Again! He immediately wanted to get his snow garb on and go play, where we quickly learned the inadequacy of toddler mittens. (I swear that I once saw mittens and gloves for kids that go up to their elbows (you put them on before the coat), but now I can't find them anywhere. Genius idea.) But he LOVED it and frequently yelled, "Mom! I runneen in da SNOW!"

Little Avery (the Havanese pup) loved her first snow, too! But hey! Wanna know what's not so much fun? A long-haired dog after a run in the snow. The poor thing had to be crated until her snowballs melted.

Happy (Belated) Hanukkah!

Click here for more photos!

Photo Shoot

If you were a Holiday Card Recipient, you've already seen a few of these. Click here for the rest!

(And if, by some chance, you need a copy of one, let me know and I'll email you a high-res version that you can print.)

Thanksgiving--I know

It's late. Get over it.

I hosted TG this year, and had fond(ish) memories of the last (first) time I hosted....you know, when I had a two month old INFANT. Seriously, who's idea was that?! Anyway, because I was in a crazy Postpartum State of Mind in 2008, in 2010 I had little to no memory of how to cook the turkey/get the sides ready at the same time/make the #$%& gravy, etc. But it all worked out in the end--even if I spent all of Wednesday AND Thursday in the kitchen. Hence, there are no pictures of the pretty table (my photographer is a man and men don't usually take pictures of tables with no people sitting at them).

Whatever. The food was yummy and I'm not hosting next year. Who's turn is it? ;o)


Click here for photos.