Picture Post: Perfect

There were more silly pictures than not. That said, the darling duo looked pretty snazzy. That's not really what caught my eye, though. I love their silliness, and their sweetness. They are both rone to occasional nervousness that strikes when one or both of them find a situation where he/she is suddenly uncertain of what to do. One such moment arrived when, in the midst of the picture-taking, Middle Child and Perfect exchanged flowers. The corsage was on an elastic band that fit around our girl's wrist. (Thank God. One can imagine how easily pinning a corsage on a strapless dress might go awry.) Unfortunately, Perfect's boutenierre came with no such thing. The mister stepped in to help the kids figure out how to pin the rose on Perfect's shirt rather than on his person. Middle Child and Perfect had no trouble imagining the results had she forged ahead to Do It Herself.

Picture Post: Tested

Middle Child and Perfect submitted to a half hour of wandering around the Village Friday night in search of locations for their Winter Formal photos. We unanimously agreed that pictures would be taken a half hour earlier the following evening to capture more daylight. They were silly, and it was fun to just watch them goofing around.

Picture Post: Sample

Just one little picture tonight, but more to follow with the silliness of the test shots and the sweetness of the darling duo heading off for their big night out.

Middle Child and Perfect at the Village

The Picture Project

Despite the bad run with photos over the past week, I'm jumping on board with Green Girl to participate in Jen on the edge's photo challenge. The idea is to post unapologetic photos of oneself. My challenge is to avoid photoshopping the things I see first and like least. It's also proven surprisingly difficult to find pictures of just me. So, without further fuss, here we go:




Holiday Party with the Mister

  

With Spitfire in Honduras

   

  







Taking pictures at the rink

     








Relaxing Christmas morning

       











Shooting still more pictures

    



Hair Stylist is in my job description

      






I'm scared of heights. This was a major leap of faith.


     





Snow Day!

  







Picture Post: Solved

Ah. Perfect may actually be, well, perfect. He left Middle Child with a gift tonight after coming over to watch a movie. She opened the gift bag to find a glass jar tied with a ribbon. She was momentarily puzzled by the contents. Until she realized the appropriateness of that feeling.

2011 Holiday Home Tour

Time for the 2011 Holiday Home Tour coordinated by Jen on the edge. The spiffy, collectible Hallmark ornaments probably made the move, but there's no telling just where the box came to rest in the attic of New House. The important kid-made ornaments are all on the tree. This is a vast improvement over last year's sad, mostly naked branches. (At least the lights, star, and garland made it on before the 2010 Holiday Home Tour. That was definitely not a given.) Not that there's a tremendous difference in the look of the Christmas decor around here aside from the less indifferent application.



There was a vast difference between last year's apathetic (at best) decorating and this year's day-after-the-day-after Thanksgiving festivities. Still reeling from the Boy's sudden departure from our midst, it was a challenge to find desire for anything remotely festive. This year, that circumstance remains, but we worked around it. Rather than a family affair, Middle Child's two BFF's helped fluff the wish-I-was-pine tree, draped themselves and, eventually, the tree in garland and ornaments, and generally made the whole chore genuinely merry with their antics.

 

Middle Child and the Best Kind of Friends



Skater Girl and Middle Child

 

Picture Post: Steps

Six months ago... Intro to Skating

Three months ago... working one on one with Alyssa

Learning her final Beginner Skills...Three-turns

Mohawks

More three-turns

Practicing her Waltz and Half Flip Jumps

Spirals

Her first skating dress

Picture Post: Progress

In five months of steady practice and lessons, Erin has worked to build a growing repertoire of skills. It's a joy to watch her step onto the ice because she really loves the sport, and what Mama doesn't enjoy seeing their lovey excell? So, today's picture post is a bit of maternal pride in my sweet girl's progress.

Coach Alyssa teaching backward crossovers

Getting the hang of the new skill

Lunges

Big Sister taking close up photos of Erin practicing spirals

Working on increasing the height of that back leg

Picture Post: Still

Day Four: It is still cold. The roads are still icy. The ice is now covered in 5" or so of snow. Little Bit is perfectly happy to stay home from school another day even if the rest of North Texas is getting a little stir crazy and wondering what sort of meals one can make out of whatever is left in the pantry. Please, oh, please let the coffee hold out longer than the winter weather.

Picture Post: Merry

The tree never did get so much as a single ornament on the branches.

Christmas Eve worship rocked. The bass player is hot.

Christmas Eve lunch with my parents, brother, and sister-in-law was yummy.

Bored with waiting for teenagers to wake up on Christmas morning, I started taking pictures with full flash. Middle Child's first waking words were, "Oh, this can not be good..."

Little Bit was very, very Nice this year.

The blanket and the coffee were both entirely necessary to ward off the chill despite last week's 80+ degree heat. It was feeling a lot like Christmas around here today.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night!