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Sunday, December 28, 2008

Christmas 2008 and Photos

I'm a few days late in this post, but it seems that I caught the "bug" the girls had at the beginning of the week and have spent the past couple of days writhing around in bed right on the cusp of throwing up... nice eh? Well, I didn't, but it wasn't fun, and I certainly wasn't in the mood to be posting the happy fun Christmas post - so I waited.

The few days leading up to Christmas were good (except for the kids having the flu), we had the Daycare Christmas party on Monday the 22nd, which is always fun, I took the kids to work on the 24th, which they thought was pretty cool, wrapped presents for two days in a row (I promise less gifts next year!!), and getting ready for the big day.

Here are my photos of the past few days: And some of my favourite shots for the challenge of capturing favourite Christmas memories.

The kids patiently waiting for Santa

Abby is glued to her "boy" Max

Santa arrives with Candy Canes
(Abby got 4, you know, when you're not shy to ask...)


She actually sat on his knee, Gillian wasn't so willing...

Dec 24th reading of The Night Before Christmas

The girls see Santa was her and ate the cookies,

and dropped off some gifts.

Gillian got the hang of this this year.

My parents came over to help open.
The girls were burnt out by this time.


Christmas Dinner was at Eric's parents place
Very yummy!
Here Holly pretends to blow out the battery candle - Gillian loved this!


Partington Family

We spent the remainder of the weekend quietly playing at home, the girls were pretty wound up after all the excitement (which translates to NO SLEEP!) so we figured quiet time was needed around here.

Here are a few of my favourite quiet time shots:



Today was so warm everything was melting - even the river

Abby enjoying some hot chocolate


Cute ornament my parents gave the girls - they each got a shoe.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas also! Off to take the tree down...

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Friday Challenege - Winter

Last week Jen gave us the challenge to photograph what winter meant to you. Here are mine:


our house, early morning

Lamppost after a light snowfall

Christmas decor

It was a tough week to take photos because I was never home when the sun was up, and when it was up it was dark and gray and snowing. I hope we get to see the sun today!

It's Beth's turn to tell us what the challenge of the week is now, can't wait to see what she comes up with!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Tree Trimming...

We decorated our very dead tree this weekend. I say dead, because I think it was cut a couple of months ago, and isn't drinking any water. It was the first time we've actually bought a tree. In the past Eric and his dad would "acquire" a tree in the depths of darkness from an undisclosed location near here, but this year they didn't do it. That is the last time we buy a tree on a lot, we'll cut them from now on! It sheds like crazy! But it doesn't matter, its a beautiful tree and it will be down by boxing day's end! Here are some pics of the girls decorating it this year:








Much of our time was spent
taking Gillian off the furniture.


And the final product:

I have to take a better shot - without the stool!


It's so fun to see Abby get so into Christmas this year. She is singing Christmas songs, knows all about Frosty the Snowman and Rudolf, and even sings "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Batman smells and Robin laid an egg...." nice.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Friday Photo Challenge

My friend Jen and I decided to start a Friday photo Challenge. She is attempting a photo a day, for a whole 365 days! Very brave of her, I'd never be able to keep up to that. So we had an idea to come up with a topic challenge each week, in part to help her with ideas in capturing those photos everyday. I started and made the first challenge to capture details that show who your kids are at this age. Since they change so quickly at this age, I thought it would be fun to document this. Here is what I came up with.

There are a details about this photo of Abby that show her at this age:
Her feet (the focus of the photo) and how they are big yet still tiny!
She loves to read picture books still,
And the fact that she is in her PJs...a daily struggle for us all!



This one of Gillian captures the details of what she likes to play with -
the My Little Ponys, taking each one out of the bag and trying to stand them up.


And what better way of capturing
who kids are at 3 than this?
No more explanation required!


I look forward to seeing what Jen comes up with for this week!

As for the rest of the week, it was long. With two days of Dr's appointments (Gillian's eyes are still strong), a huge snowstorm and a bus strike, if felt like I spent A LOT of time in my car, and that made for a tiring week! The one highlight is that I got to go see Twilight with my colleague Christine, and I loved it! I really loved the book as well, so it was fun to see all the characters come to life on screen. I also think I'm getting back into the idea of going to the theater more often. Really, before Eric and I saw Quantum of Solace a couple of weeks ago, I think it had been 3 or 4 years since we stepped foot in a theatre! Crazy isn't it. So now it's like a novelty!


Tuesday, December 9, 2008

The Dentist and Tuesday Scraps

The snow was crazy today!! And thus the traffic was even more crazy! I had to take both girls to the dentist this morning, and it was to be Abby's first time. I was pretty nervous about taking her because I thought she would be scared and not want to open her mouth, being 3 and all that isn't uncommon. Eric's Dad joined me to help take care of Abby when Gillian was being checked and vice versa. We left around 9:00 am and got there at 10:25 - almost an hour and half for a normally 40 min drive. I was actually quite shocked that we got there on time, as were the dentist's office, so they put us through right away to try and stay on schedule.

We are lucky to be able to go to a Paediatric Dentist specialist, because of Gillian's wonky teeth, and lucky because he was willing to see both girls. Gillian is doing well, her teeth are progressing as to be expected, the front teeth haven't come down much but things go pretty slowly in her mouth. So all was good on her side. As for Abby - she was amazing! And that had a lot to do with the fabulous staff and the way they handled a new, 3 year old, patient! The hygienist brought her in and she slowly showed her how the chair moves around, giving her "rides", then she got to choose a funky pair of sunglasses to wear to keep the bright light out of her eyes, then showed her the little tiny mirror and let her play with it and stick it in her mouth, let her feel the pointy "teeth counter", gave her a cute pink (of course!!) mirror to hold while she opened her mouth, and had her teeth counted. I have been talking up the dentist for a long time now, practicing with Abby to open her mouth when asked and say AH! So when it came to doing it, she practically had her mouth before she even sat down! It was so cute. I could tell she was a little nervous, but was being really brave, so the hygienist decided to show her the polishing stuff. She let Abby choose a flavour (cherry), then let her feel the polishing brush while spinning with her finger, then best part of it all, let her play with the water squirting thing and the suction instrument. She would squirt a bit in a little cup, then let Abby suck it up. When she was ok with that she let Abby put it in her mouth to try. Then she polished up her teeth and actually got to do each one.

After she was done the Dentist came over to check her out, measured her Dyastima (3), and then told Abby he was going to put the tiny mirror in her mouth to check things out. Abby was so cool, calm and collected that she actually said to him, "Oh, give it to me, I can do that". Too funny! So, all in all, her teeth are healthy, he noted the space between her teeth (dyastima) and the large freneum ligament, which Gillian also has, and when they are both around 5 they will determine if it needs cutting. I see braces in our future.... better start saving.

Did a couple quick pages tonight:





What's in store for tomorrow you ask: Transit strike in Ottawa (fingers crossed they don't), more snow and freezing rain, and a trip to CHEO for Gillian's Ambliopia check up.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Sunday Recap

The kids are still sick, runny noses and coughing. I'm still coughing and it's driving me insane!! It snowed last night so we took the kids out and did some sledding in the backyard. Gillian basically cried the whole time, because she is still too short to walk through the snow and was getting mad. Then of course she wanted to slide with Abby, but the sled is too small for everyone! Let's hope Santa bring us a big toboggan for Christmas! It was my Mom's birthday last week, so I invited them for dinner. I made her this card:

I used Mindy T.'s new kit at DD.

I hope you all had a good weekend!

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Looking for a photographer?

For anyone one out there with kids, you've come to the right place because I'm specializing in children's photography. If you are looking for someone with a knack for working with kids, a special "child-whisperer" type aura, and the ability to ALWAYS make a kid smile... I'm the one for you!! Just take a peek at my work:

Just imagine your child in this beautiful shot.

capturing the love between siblings...


These memories are FOR LIFE... so you've found the right person for your next shoot!


But really I did manage to capture a few nice ones today:








ps: Jen, we should have gone with "conflict"...

Letter to Santa

I thought it would be fun for Abby to write a letter to Santa this year. So I created this:


I'm just not sure if she will get it, but hey worth a try eh?

Friday, December 5, 2008

Mommy, I want a Gingerbread House...

Uh, oh! Abby uttered those terrifying words to me yesterday. My heart stopped, I started to panic, breaking out into a cold sweat. "Maddie (her friend at daycare) has one... I want one like her..". I had flashes of my "gingerbread house" a la Martha last year - burnt, overdone rock like figures that sort of resembled gingerbread men; Gingerbread house parts, three walls and only one roof piece (of course I didn't make the right parts to actually put the house together); Lots of sticky royal icing, which hardened into granite before I even got it on the house. I could go on and on.... And I wasn't even working at the time, so presumably I had more time to do this! Now I'm officially on a mission to find a Gingerbread House Kit. Please if any of you out there, living in Ottawa, see a Gingerbread House Kit, let me know. I need it! Or, Mom, if you want to make one and bring it over, I'll pay you!! :) We could all decorate it together, just imagine the fun we would have.... please!! (can you tell I'm begging now?)

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Pioneer Woman had a short tutorial on how to quickly fame a photo, and I liked it! this will probably be my new frame for photos now:

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Is it Wed?

It's my Mom's Birthday today! Happy Birthday MOM!!! Here she is with Abby looking at photos.



It's been a busy week... taught/took 5 spinning classes, working all week and we have Eric's Christmas party tomorrow night.. wow will I ever be tired on Saturday. 3 of us are sick also, started with me, coughing, went to Gillian, now Abby came down with it today... I hope she doesn't break out into a fever. I guess it's the start of cold and flu season.

I took this photo last week, but never posted it.

Off to bed.. blog more on Friday, since tomorrow we are out.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

"Studio" Set up

I'm off to bed so I'll save the weekend recap for later... but I just wanted to share these from the weekend. The short of it is, that I set up my make shift "studio" in my living room.. basically a black bed sheet and dark brown curtains (which the girls though was a tent/stage and proceeded to play in it instead of sitting down quietly like any toddler model would... I mean really who raised these kids????) Anyway, it was about 2:30 Sunday by the time I got everything set up to my liking and of course had to get Eric to model for me first: (yes that is a smirk...)



Eric gives me his best "Blue Steel" look

I love how this turned out!! The catch lights were perfect!
Now if I could just get her to smile...

This was the best of the 3 I got of Abby
before she proceeded to chase, Gillian
around the backdrop! I love it!

Can't wait to set it up next weekend and try to bribe them into sitting for me... should be fun! Maybe I need to take photos of other people's kids... Anyone game to sit for me??

Monday, November 24, 2008

Organizing and Backing Up

I have been falling behind on organizing my digi supplies and backing up my photos, so I'm going to spend this evening doing that... fun! Knowing me, I'll probably get distracted by the photos and end up posting some or scrapping some, but hey it's all part of the process isn't it! I'm not even sure where I am on my DVD backups. I have a feeling I haven't done any since the beginning of the year! Yikes. Luckily I back up to my EHD and to Carbonite, so I hope that is good enough for now. But it's on my to do list to back up to DVD and give copies to my parents for safe keeping! Yes, I'm rather paranoid....

Off to burn!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Some photos to share.

I'm too tired to write about the weekend, so I'll just share a few nice photos I took with my new camera (which I love soooo much!!)

Uncle Art was up for a visit
I just love the expressions on everyone's face in this one.


We tried to get the two of them together, unfortunately
the cheering crowd was not standing beside me! So they
are looking the wrong way!

Gillian

Almost looks like a mug shot??...but I thought it was a neat one.


Employing the "Close your eyes, then OPEN" technique.
you would have thought it was the "close your mouth, then OPEN" technique!
Cute none the less!

I have more, but I'm going to bed...

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