We Need a Little Christmas

We had a great Christmas.  Santa and Dad have been very good to us.  We also got to spend time with family eating lots of junk and playing games.  I got Miguel (and I) a camera after many anguished hours reading reviews because I really don't know much about them.  Now at least I know how to BUY a camera, which is good.  Today we finally broke it out and I realized that what I really want is a friend's skills in a box.  (see: http://www.bphotogenic.com/ )  Great camera, but now I'm going to have to start a new hobby if I really want to get the most out of it.  These are a few of my first "test" shots-- the kids were watching TV and I was dying to see what kind of pictures it would take.  Now I've had to get a bunch of books from the library to learn a few things about taking pictures.  I mainly want to be ready before the baby comes, so we can take nice pictures and not pay someone else an arm and a leg.

One of my favorite nights we went to visit my nearly 90 year-old grandma with my parents.  We had an impromptu dinner and then sat around the table playing a new digital Scrabble game of my mom's, when my grandma said "now we need to play something with the kids."  (they had been banished to another room to watch Little Einsteins...a little too familiar these holidays)  We all got up and went in the living room and played three games - one with a simple yardstick and two with some forks and knives from the kitchen drawer.  They were all figure-it-out games, and I felt pretty no-so-smart 20  minutes into the first game when I still didn't get it.  We sure had a good laugh.   I just loved that my grandma wanted to involve the kids, taught us some simple games that didn't require anything expensive, and I laughed harder than I have in a long time.  We've also had a wonderful time introducing these games to friends and learn a fun new charades-type game to boot!  We then enjoyed teaching the charades game to our family. :)

We had a birthday party for Miguel's dad and we got together with some friends we haven't seen for a while.  They always make me laugh and make me want to be a better person.  It was sad to see Colorado friends leave again, but I'm trying to be grateful that I do still get to see them once in a while-- what a treat.

Maia has said some things that have made us laugh recently. 

She came home from church one day and told Miguel that Jesus doesn't have blood, so his heart "doesn't plump blood, it plumps love."  She also had a dream I got killed by a gummi bear (sugary things have about killed me the last couple of weeks-- maybe it was a premonition!).

Ava has been saying cute things now that she can talk so much better. The other day she had barely woken up when she sighed and said "Kaedon...[sigh]....likes me."


Miguel took the kids sledding.  I wasn't going to go because I was feeling pregnant and tired but I was glad I got to watch them have fun.