I got a new camera for Christmas. It's a Canon and waaaay better than that piece of crap Nikon I had. I thought I would be a super- awesome- fantastic photographer with my new, fancy camera, but it turns out I suck. Luckily the camera compensates somewhat, so I managed to get a few good shots of Christmas and New Years.
We went to the mountains this year for Christmas, which was nice, except for the fact that I barely slept the entire time, and we were there for 4 nights. I'm the kind of person that needs complete darkness and white noise to get a solid night's sleep. Unfortunately, there was nothing to provide the white noise, and the house creaked like a mofo with every step everyone took. We were on the bottom floor, so I heard EVERYTHING, especially the OCD pacing of my husband every night checking every door in the joint. It was chilly on that bottom floor, so we slept with the gas fireplace on. It sounds romantic and soothing, but keep in mind there was a 2yo (soon to be 3) in our bed. Also, I don't know if you've ever tried to sleep with a fire going, but the soothing flicker of the flames creates a sort of strobelight effect when your eyes are closed. Luckily, no seizures were induced, and I did manage to overcome this by throwing a pillowcase over my face. Suffice it to say, when we returned home, I played catch up on my sleep for days.
The kids got a ridiculous amount of toys, so everyone was happy, except Wesley and me, who proceeded to spend the 3 days after our trip organizing everything. The house is finally in order after months and months of disarray, so we did accomplish something. Now I'm just trying to stay on top of it all and prevent it from happening again.
We rung in the New Year with Wesley's family, and the kids had a blast. I have a lot of good memories of growing up with my cousins, so I'm glad the kids are able to do the same. They really love being with everyone, so I'm trying to take advantage of that before they hit puberty and can't stand being around any of us.
Oh, and I'm going to publicly declare a truce with Wesley's cousin, Dana. You see, ever since her little girl, Caylin, and Trevor were born within months of one another, we have had an ongoing gift war in which we give the other kids some horrible thing that will be messy or destroy things. It started with noisy baby toys and progressed to messy art supplies. For Caylin's birthday, we gave her a paintball gun. For Christmas, they gave Trevor a bb gun ala Ralphie in A Christmas Story. They also gave moon sand and markers to my girls. It dawned on me that they will ultimately win, because Caylin already knows how to shoot real guns, and there's nothing I can really give her at this point that will cause them any annoyance. The paintball gun was it. They, however, have 2 more chances to create chaos with my girls. I did let them open the moon sand at their house, so Dana could get a little taste of her own medicine, but she handled it gracefully, just shaking out the rug. They have wood floors, which also helps prevent permanent damage. So, I'm waving the white flag. Dana has won. Please stop trying to destroy my house vicariously through my children. The poor house can't take much more. Also, if we can get it fixed up and sold, we may be able to move closer, so the kids can play more often. Win win.
Here are the pics of the holidays, so I can clear my camera before my baby's 3rd birthday party this weekend (*sniff sniff). I can't believe she's going to be 3...
***Side note- I forgot we went to the zoo with our neighbors during this time. Nikki and her son Trey graciously allowed us to join them, and they probably regretted that later, but we had a good time. Also, it took me FOOOOOORRRRRREVER to resize and upload these pictures, so you'd better look at each one over and over again and ooh and ahh, because I almost put my foot through the computer 3 times, and I ignored the incessant requests of a toddler, which led to her whining and screaming at me, which almost led to me putting my foot through her.
