Working Backwards

Ella's new princess scooter and helmet

sleepy after a morning of opening presents
Noah trying our his new camera

My pictures are a crazy mess at the moment. I found a memory stick with some Christmas photos on, so I thought I would put a few on here.

Speaking of pictures. I feel SICK about what I did to poor Noah. He was sooooooo excited about his new camera he got for Christmas and took six HUNDRED pictures! 200 were of Chief, many of them were from Christmas, some from New Year's Eve, some from our zoo trip today, and many were of my rear end, which Noah thought was pretty darn funny.

Today he ran out of room on his camera for any more pictures so we decided to put his pictures on the computer. I made a folder, put all the pictures in it, and then deleted them off his camera. Yep, you guessed it, somehow I also deleted the entire folder and now all 600 pictures are gone. Poor Noah cried and said he could never forgive me as long as he lives. About 2 and 1/2 minutes later he decided to forgive me. Thank goodness! I don't know if I can forgive myself, though- I feel terrible!! Luckily, Noah has the most fun taking the pictures, so now he can retake some of the ones I deleted. Which means dozens of photos of my backside are yet to come.

snow fun

We decided that we needed to put all that snow in our yard to good use, so we headed outside last Wednesday when the sun came out. Noah and I could stay out in the snow all day. Princess Ella, on the other hand, lasts about 5.5 seconds before she starts screaming about being cold and wanting to go inside. Which is so frustrating when we spend 10 minutes per kid getting all the snow gear on.

On Wedneday I sent Ella in the house with a snack when she started her screaming and turned on Dora while Noah and I stayed out and made a snow man. He looks so cute out in the yard. I have a feeling he'll be around until at least the middle of May.

Ringing (and blowing and shaking and screaming and running) in the New Year!!

We had a very fun, very last minute New Year's Eve party with some friends and their kids. We had a parade around the house with noisemakers, horns, hats, and leis. Then we counted down to around 7:36 (it was supposed to be 7:00, but we lost track of time with all the parade fun). We had a big balloon drop and the kids had poppers and some sparkling grape juice. It was crazy, loud, and a lot of fun. We decided to do it again next year, but next time with a little more notice. ☺

Snowed in Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009 was a crazy holiday in Omaha. We got somewhere around 15 inches of snow starting on Christmas Eve and ending Christmas Day. Our original plans were to go to Seth's parents' house on Christmas day at noon and then go to my parents' house around 5:00. Instead, we were unable to get out of our neighborhood and into Seth's parents by noon, so we ended up staying home and having time to put together and play with all the new gifts.

Noah was very excited to receive the one thing he really wanted this year- a Nintendo DSI.

Ella was excited to get a Dora bigwheel. She was Seth's big "helper" as he was trying to put it together.

I was very excited and surprised to receive a new laptop for my photography stuff. I LOVE that I can sit on my duff on the couch and watch Modern Family, or something as equally entertaining, while working on pictures, checking Facebook, or working on my blog.

We did end up going to my parents on Christmas evening and had a fun time playing games, opening presents, and eating a ham dinner.

We went to Seth's parents on Sunday instead, and it was nice to have the whole day to relax with family and not have to rush around. The kids had fun playing with their cousins and their new toys. Ella was excited that Grandma Jolene gave her the princess scooter and princess helmet that she wanted.

The one complaint I have with Christmas is trying to open and assemble the kids' toys. I don't understand why opening a package of Transformers is more difficult than getting into Fort Knox. And what is with directions being in pictures that are impossible to follow? Can't most people read? Really, a few written directions would go a long way.

Other than cutting my fingers on all the stupid plastic and feeling like a contestant on Survivor trying to untie 50 million twist ties, we had a very enjoyable and relaxing Christmas.