new blog for me..

bookmark it!

www.michelleevansphotography.blogspot.com

its still exactly the same but i ran out of space on this blog.
so i'll be blogging from there from now on.
(or until that one runs out of space!!!)

out on the town...

thursday we were "out" more than "in."


we went to burger king for lunch with jacks friend luke from school.
luke has a sister julie and her and miranda are the same age.
miranda hasnt stopped asking for "ju-leeeee" since we got home thursday.
this is the 2nd time we got togehter for a playdate and both times we had a ton of fun.

then thursday night we went to texas roadhouse for dinner with amy, kyle and kieran.

3 hours...

was how long he painted today.
(sorry amy, i had to)
we made a few christmas gifts...
some ornaments and some pictures.

needed daddys help a bit

paint on his arms, hands, the cusion of the chair, his cheeks, lips and mouth...
but 3 hours of fun, without the tv on, and lots of quiet time together..
totally worth it.

christmas traditions

i love the holiday season.
nothing about it annoys me
the traffic, crowds, the hustle and bustle..
for the most part, i love it all.
all of the holidays wee always big in my house growing up.
what i love most .. is traditions.

we have a few traditions we do around here,
some old, some new, & some passed down from when i was younger.
this year we have a few new traditions.

tonight, we started the kids favorite so far, i think.
i read about it online somewhere awhile ago.
i wanted to start this on december 1st and completely forgot.
so i said .. ahhhh i'll start next year.
i have to much going on right now.
and then i thought. why? why cant i start mid december,
and next year aim for the 1st as planned?
so thats what we did.

i wrapped 12 christmas books.
(4 of which we had, the rest i bought)
and put them in a basket under the tree.

each night the kids will pick a book out TOGETHER
and we will all read it TOGETHER.
(which tends to be a problem for miranda,
who never wants to sit and hear a story)

i saved "the night before christmas" for christmas eve..
the last night they will pick their book...

like i said, i didnt come up with this myself,
found it online but loved the idea..
especially because i absolutely love reading, and my kids don't.
surprisingly, they loved this idea.
i think its because the books are wrapped but in my mind,
i'm pretending its because they want to read a book TOGETHER.
ha!

J.A.C.K

he is so proud.
and so are we.
almost 5.
where have the years gone????

dec 12, 2005

too lazy to upload pics on the computer from my crappy old point and shoot.
so these are from exactly 2 years ago. what a difference!

"grammy"

i have no idea what i would do without her.
and although they are too young to realize,
my kids feel the same way that i do.

these are 2 of my favorite pictures from yesterday.
...because my mom HATES having her picture taken,
and because these pictures.. are "soooo them" ....

train ride with santa..

new hope/ivyland railroad...

(thanks amy for lending me your camera!!!) blurry,
but i absolutely love it.

looking at the reindeer outside.


waiting to see santa while jack sips his hot chocolate!

as usual,

jacks wanting to hug miranda, and she could care less

after the train ride,

and after lunch

we went to aq place to paint pottery.

we all had a blast.

letter from santa.

the kids love getting mail.
imagine their surprise when they got mail from SANTA!

love love love loev i LOVE the faces!

they were excited at this point, just about the stickers.

look at this stinkin face

do u not want to kiss it right now??

look how happy he was!!

jack had to write santa a letter immediately.

double click to read his letter.

then the kids took turns "playing santa"