Chihuahua Dreams....

Claire loves all small dogs, especially her Auntie Em's chihuahua Star. She desparately wants us to get a small dog so she can carry it around the house, dress it up and feed it food out of her tea set. The only problem is, most small dogs don't like Claire. Despite her best efforts, she is a big dog girl at the moment and most of her running, grabbing and speaking is too fast, big and loud for such tiny animals. This picture is one of the rare moments Star allowed Claire to hold her without clawing her way out of her arms.

A picture is worth at least a hundred words, right?!

My children do not know the meaning of "company manners". They use the time spent in "company" to show off their latest karate moves, fake burps, knock-knock jokes, cartwheels and, of course, fighting. Whenever we travel to visit family or friends, the amount of time Collin and Claire spend teasing, tattle-telling, hitting and sticking their tongues out is, at the very least, tripled. This Christmas vacation was no exception. My niece Brittany captured this moment at the park in my in-laws neighborhood. Sure, it looks like they are being silly and enjoying each other. Give it ten more seconds and one of them will burst into tears while the other chants "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" to hopefully not get "busted"....

Ornament Traditions

A favorite tradition I have continued from my childhood is the addition of a new ornament every year for each of my children. When they are big and grown and creating traditions of their own, they will have a couple dozen ornaments from their youth to start them off. My mother borrowed the idea from her dear friend Sue Ford, though I am fairly confident Sue has never relinquished the ornaments to any of her children, having grown too fond of them over the years! Of all the adorable ornaments I have collected, my childrens' favorite ornaments are the two I let them pick: Barbie Princess and the Pauper and Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. I know their future spouses will thank me....

Christmas came and went....

So much hustle and bustle, wrapping and decorating, caroling and baking, shopping and shipping...it is the funnest and most exhausting time of year. This year I purchased a "grove" of trees and arranged them in place of one tall tree. I made a tunnel for our train through the trees and the kids had a blast creating their mountain city and GI Joe base. Garrett complained so much about this great idea that we will not be repeating it next year. So as I was downloading my photos, I thought I would include the Christmas arrangement that will, sadly, never be repeated.