Day 303

We let Natalie do this while we got the house and food ready for hosting my mom and her new-ish husband, my siblings, their spouses and our adorable nephews for a family Christmas get-together:
 

12/23/2011























In my attempt to have Christmasy crafty things for the kids, I overlooked the fact that babies, beads and jingle bells, not to mention pipe cleaners, are a dangerous combination, which is how Natalie ended up with an assortment of small items in her mouth -- and how her nose wound up looking like this for Christmas:

12/25/2011

Day 302: Portrait Procrastinators

Every year for Christmas, Megan gives her grandmother a portrait of herself. This grandmother has made it clear that it's the only thing she wants. Teenagers, especially thirtween year olds like Megan, can be notoriously difficult to satisfy in terms of whether a photo is good enough.

We tried and failed at portraits in early December and did not try again until December 20. Luckily, we found the perfect place for portrait procrastinators: Picture People. They printed our portraits on matte paper while we waited. And we were lucky enough to have a photographer who did not try to contort my tall, lanky daughter into some weird pretzel pose -- or make her tilt her head and do something cheesy with her hands.

So, yay!

Here are a few from Picture People:


12/21/2011





12/21/2011





Day 301

12/20/2011

Day 300

I am not given to using exclamation points, but I thought about putting one after the 300 in the title. I mean, it's day 300! There, I did it.

12/19/2011



Day 299

12/18/2011

Day 298

12/17/2011

Day 297

Lunch with Megan and a friend on the last day of school before Christmas:

12/16/2011

Day 296

Nothing like a swim meet to totally deplete the whole family on the last night before Christmas break, during a week of exams. Still, Megan did well -- from what I could watch, at least. Aaron was out of town, so I brought Natalie along. Bad idea. Strong, squirmy babies and crowded natatoria do not mix. It'll be Nat's last meet until she knows how to sit for an hour or more on wooden bleachers.

12/15/2011

Day 294

12/13/2011

Day 293

New pajamas (12/12/2011)

Day 291

Still toothless after all these months:

12/10/2011



Day 290

12/9/2011

Day 289

12/8/2011

Day 287

12/6/2011

Day 285

She's smiling at her sister.

12/4/2011

Day 283

Here's one huge thing that makes me really happy: Natalie adores Aaron. At first, she gave him more than his fair share of grief, strictly because he couldn't produce milk. But all that's in the past now. See here? See that look on her face? That's her daddy. She's holding on.

12/2/2011

Day 282

She can crawl under things (but not back out).

12/1/2011

Day 281

Natalie love this. Megan does not, mostly. She has just come home from school with cold, wet hair (swim practice). She's trying to get in some piano practicing before dinner and homework. Natalie just wants some attention from Sister. Sister is Busy. But the little one is hard to resist. So there's this brief compromise, then: "M-om! Can you come get her?"

11/30/2011

Day 280



11/29/11



Day 279: Early evenings

Lately, 5-ish is my favorite time of the weekday.
Megan works hard at this:



Natalie does this nearby:



... or this under my feet:



... while I do this: 

11/28/2011