20/25 Posts: Christmas Day

Here's a quick post from that morning. Charlie and Jeremy-- looking at the tree. I think we actually woke him up (completely NOT the norm!) and I went down to capture his face.
And here's Charlie's face. When he's nervous, or unsure, he's just very still. Granted, he was probably tired but....
And then I forgot to take pictures. But as he opened gifts, and played with the toys and wrapping paper, he had great time!

My family came over for brunch, I burned most everything, but it was a nice morning. We played Guitar Hero for the longest time, and then they went to watch Invictus while Charlie slept and I did dishes (there were a gazillion!).

19/25 Posts: Christmas Eve

We spend Christmas Eve at my parent's house. They always have a nice fire going in the wood stove, and my mom made Kifta (an Armenian soup but here's a Lebanese recipe) for dinner -- so yummy !

Charlie loved tearing ornaments off their tree...
Here's this face he's been making lately. Sort of smiling, laughing...
Loved tearing into the presents...
Wearing bows..


There's that funny face again !
Not sure what my brother Michael is doing ....
These aren't really in order, oops...


My dad in his Christmas outfit.... :)
Michael and Lulu
Jeremy
Moi
My mom... and Callie and Lulu

Not sure what's going on here...
We never can all smile for a family photo!!!

13/25 Posts: Papercutting

So Christmas was wonderful this year, and I need to finish up all my 25 posts. I hope to finish before '10!

Here's one gift I was so excited to give: a papercutting of my parents house. I really enjoyed doing this one, the largest one yet. I can't wait to do more.

The finished product:
The house on "The Land" (we always called it that because my parents owned the land years before they built on it):

1/25 Posts: Family Get-Togethers

I have had camera issues, and I finally was able to take care of that today, so I'm going to play catch up! I don't think it would be possible for me to post every single day of the 25 days before Christmas, but I do think I could pull together 25 posts about holiday-stuff. Here goes...

So the day after Thanksgiving, we met up with Jeremy's family in Christiansburg. It may have been Blacksburg. I don't know, I can never tell what town you're in up there because it's all just one big Hokieville. Either way, we were originally going to take the kids to a park so they'd get good and worn out, but it was freezing cold and flurrying. It was also Black Friday and we weren't nuts enough to be shopping that day... so that left us bowling!

Seems like every single year bowling is something we end up doing. Might be my immediate family, or my family in PA, but it always happens. I am honestly horrible at bowling (but try playing me on the Wii! I'm really good a that!), but I try. But seriously, no one wants to bowl the rest of the year, it seems, and I wonder why the holidays inspire people to go!

*On the drive up, we passed this family van. Nothing too strange from far away, but then you get a little closer...
*They have a full-on bike rack, with the kid's bikes attached-- wheels removed. Was it necessary? Don't you think it would have been just as easy to put them in the trunk? There was something funny about this to us!
*Is there anything sweeter than a sleeping baby?
*Charlie loved watching his cousins play, and helped his young cousin Zai sort through the balls as they arrived.

*Cousin Maura

*Cousin Zai

*With Aunt Kim

Who's a better driver?

Carolyn... or John? :)

And then here are some cute Puppy & John photos from 2 very different times in his life...

Cutie Pies!

Check out these cute kids! I'm hoping our boy will be as cute!
First, here's my cousin Matt's son, Matt Jr.:
Want him to be on the cover of Parents magazine? vote here!

And here's another cutie-- Ezra, my godson! Such a sweet little boy! I wish I could've made it to California this summer again, but with our little one on the way... plus Autumn's got a little GIRL on the way (due about a week after us!)
Awwww!!! I can't wait to meet our boy! :)

Hitched!

Yesterday Leslie and Paul got married!
We're so happy for them-- they've been engaged for a few months now, and I'm glad they tied the knot! It was a beautiful day and they make the cutest couple! She let me take some photos of them beforehand in Hopkins Green, and I also wanted to make her a bouquet. This was fun!

Here's a few more of my favorites:















Ok, maybe it's more than just a few! You can see all of the photos together (view as a slideshow)- click here.
and, Send congrats here!