No Camera = Photo Rewind

The camera broke and the new one is on its way! In the meantime, here are some of my favorite pictures from the summer of 2008! Dads are brilliant. They really are. It was the dad in our family who thought of this fun outdoor activity one summer afternoon. We were getting rid of several cardboard boxes and he decided they should become our Barbie three-wheeler's demolition tower!

Ainsley, about to take out the leaning tower! She was so little back then!

Good thing Dad remembered the importance of bike helmets for this activity.

The front view. Notice the determination of the tiny demo girl. Ah, these photos make me antsy for warm, sunny weather!

Fujifilm FinePix...R.I.P.

Well, after a few months of dwindling photo quality, the beloved Fujifilm FinePix has kicked the bucket. I could handle a bit of blur on one edge of my photos, but the blur is spreading and the camera is making strange noises. Time to bid it farewell. Unfortunately (for Grandma D, our biggest blog fan) this means a delay in photo posts. The plan is to do a bit of research and make a purchase before the sun sets today. As soon as I get a new camera in hand, I promise to resume posting, Grandma! Maybe you better loan me your camera for a few days, you know, to avoid blog withdrawal on your end! Just kidding...but more serious, if anyone has any camera recommendations, send them my way TODAY!!!

No Ordinary Notebook

Bennett has many a notebook. She writes and draws and stickers them up all the time. Every now and then, Grant and I enjoy browsing through one of her notebooks, just to see what's been going on in that little mind of hers. Ninety-eight percent of the time, it seems that the contents of her mind and her notebook are complete and random craziness. The above scene, found in a notebook from about a year ago, illustrate my point. Grant and I ran across this last night and got a good chuckle out of it. CATS ARE INVADING THE NATIVITY!!!! We especially like the little gray/tan kitty who is sitting with Baby Jesus in the manger, pawing at his head. This must have been what it was really like on that very first Christmas night. What a silly, silly girl we live with!

Christmas, Finally! (A.K.A. The Longest Picture Post Of All Time!)

For those who have been patiently waiting (my Mom) here are SEVERAL photos from Christmas! We started celebrating with Dad's side of the family. The theme, chosen by Uncle B. this year was "An 80's Christmas." Here we are in our 80's attire. I personally love Bennett's glasses, which were mine back in 1987 or so. Nice!

I just had to post a couple of pictures of other family members in their attire as well. Uncle B...so regal!

And Chaps...hilarious! Nice tapered, gathered slicky pants and matching wind breaker. He also had a nice sweat band on his head most of the night.

Here is the gang in all of our throw back glory!

Here are some gift highlights from our Christmas with Dad's fam. Bennett LOVED her horse sweater from Grandpa and Grandma!

She also loved these crazy interchangeable figurines. Who wouldn't want a lion-robot or a frog-raccoon in their collection of play things???

It was Ains' year to receive something special from American Girl. She chose the Bitty Twins! Meet Evelyn and Elliott!

We had a fun extended family Christmas with Grandpa L's side of the family. The girls enjoyed time with cousins.

Christmas morning at home was not picture perfect. Instead it was all about puking. Both girls woke up not feeling well, and both tossed their cookies mid-gift opening. Here they are up and ready to roll with puke buckets nearby.

We did manage to make it through the morning. No illness could wipe the smile off of Cardboard Brian's face. He was thrilled with the new set of cardboard tools he received!

After puking had ceased, Grandpa C/Santa stopped over for his annual visit. He brought the girls each a can of soda, as always! This year...Coca-Cola Classic! Yes!

The next day, when all were well, we headed to Mom's side of the family for Christmas partying. Here are the girls in their ugly Christmas sweater t-shirts!

Cousin A. and Ainsley are two peas in a pod, with very similar interests. They both love to dress up, and Grandma D. got them matching play dresses.

Dad got a very cool gift this year...a 1979 Vespa! He is more than a little excited about this!

The girls had playhouse Christmas with the cousins again this year. It was very fun, but the only bummer was that Cousin S. missed it, as he went home early with a terrible cough. I don't think I have one picture of him with the girls this holiday. Boo! The girls still had a fun time.

Ainsley got...you guessed it...more dress-up clothes at the playhouse party!

On New Year's Eve, we wrapped up Chrismas celebrations with some Minute To Win It games, also in honor of Uncle J's birthday. Here are Aunt L. and Grandpa C. looking crazy, trying to swing a banana to hit oranges into a hula hoop.

More Minute To Win It action...Uncle C. getting ready to swing the panty hose on his head around. He looks so serious with his Christmas mustache and all. We had a great couple of weeks celebrating!

Christmas Teaser

So, I am a bit overdue with a blog update. Christmas came and went and was great fun. It was spread out over the course of a couple weeks and I've been busy trying to stay on top of the post Christmas mess, getting new toys and clothes put away, keeping the house clean, etc. I have not taken the time to upload and organize the Christmas pictures yet, but I'm about to! Here is one little teaser photo from the holidays, mostly to hold my mom over. (She sees us the most often, yet I think she also checks this blog most often, so here you go, Mom!) Dad and Uncle C, with bananas dangling from their waists while Uncle J. takes measurements alongside some oranges. Hmmmm...what could this possible have to do with Chirstmas??? Stay tuned!

Candle-Kazam Wraps Up With Challenge #8!

For our final Candle-Kazam challenge, public humiliation was the ticket: Wear a fake mustache in a public place for at least 15 minutes. Dad was as good of a sport as ever! The public place we chose was a local drug store/gift shop. Dad did a super job of wearing the 'stache, the "gangster" model, so the packaging said. He looks so somber in the photos, but he really was cooperative and in good spirits. This experience proved a theory that I have...mustaches make people look more serious than they really are. 'Tis true!

Dad and his gangster 'stache, looking at greeting cards. He has the gangster eyes in this shot, I think!

To make this challenge a bit better, I mean worse than it already was, Dad ran into a coworker while we were there. Awesome! Thanks for letting us take your picture with Gangster Mustache Man, Jill! I hope it wasn't too creepy or awkward for you!

Dad was awarded a small prize for his Candle-Kazam efforts. The prize this year was a Swatch sticker. To most, this will not seem like a desired item or prize at all. But for Dad, a Swatch owner and avid fan and a sticker collector, this was something he's been wanting literally for years!

After the challenge was over, we quickly put the 'stache to good use. It now has a proud new owner...Cardboard Brian! Well, Brian sported it for a little while. When Ainsley saw him wearing it, she quickly tore it off of his face. I guess she did not find it very becoming. Again, thank you so, so much to Dad for being a wonderful sport during the 2010 Candle-Kazam! This was his best year yet, and we are thankful to have such a wonderful man and wonderful memories this Christmas!

Candle-Kazam #7 Caught On Tape!

Candle-Kazam #7 was quite entertaining. "Call Uncle B. (Dad's brother) and talk to him using your Jack Frost voice for the entire conversation." A little background....Dad has a silly voice he frequently uses when pretend playing with the girls. He pretends he is Jack Frost, and he spews threats about the weather when in the character of Jack Frost. Uncle B. was forwarned that this bizarre phone call would be coming, and he did a great job maintaining the dialogue so we could enjoy it. Dad did a great job completing this embarrasing task, doing it with an audience of extended family and allowing it to be video taped. Excellent job, once again! Stay tuned for one more Candle-Kazam challange to come on Wednesday night!

A Cold Candle-Kazam #6

Candle-Kazam #6 was a chilly one this evening: Make a snow angel in the yard, wearing only shorts and a t-shirt! Dad said, "Oh, this will be pretty fun." Apparently he did not know what he was getting himself in to. Here he is, just before going outdoors. He is smiling (kind of) and upright.
This is the only picture I was able to get of him actually making the snow angel. It was so cold and he worked very quickly. I've not seen a snow angel produced at this speed before. It was quick!

Beautiful job, Dad!

This challenge was hard on the old boy. When he burst through the door to come inside, he was yelling/screaming and he fell to the ground. Laying in the snow in shorts and a t-shirt nearly did the man in! It was quite funny and alarming all at the same time. Two challenges remain, and don't you worry, Dad. They will not be as bad as this one...at least I don't think they will be. We shall see!

Candle-Kazam #5

Candle-Kazam challenge #5 has been met! "Let the girls gift wrap you for Christmas!" Now for the record, the red bows are supposed to be buttons on Dad's paper shirt. I just wanted to clarify!
I think that the girls had more fun ripping the package open than they had wrapping. Good job, yet again, Dad!

A Tasty Candle-Kazam #4

Candle-Kazam challenge #4 was met last night! "Eat a slice of pizza with everyone's favorite Christmas topping: crushed candy cane!"
Mmmm, mmmm, good!

Ainsley watched with anticipation.

And the first bite goes down. And to quote Dad, "The peppermint crunch and mintiness really overtook the sausage and pepperoni." I think that means he liked it????