Leah with Santa

I took Leah over to play group one morning to see Santa because I wasn't sure if we would get another chance (turns out we didn't). So thought I would share pics of Leah with Santa:

She wanted to go first, but then once she got on Santa's lap she was a bit shy. She couldn't think of anything to ask for, so Santa said he would check his list for her.


I think she finally asked for a new camera for her brother, but really didn't think of anything for herself until about a day or two before Christmas when she asked for a new baby doll.

Catherine

Ian's School Christmas Show

Ian's school did a Christmas Show before their break and each grade sang a couple of songs. Leah & I got there early to grab a front row seat. Here is how they had the stage decorated (above).

Here is a quick shot I grabbed of Ian before the show started:


The kindergarten classes sang "We wish you a merry Christmas" & "Rudolph the red nosed Reindeer":


Ian is on the second row from the top towards the middle. His shirt was a little bit darker red than the other kids, so it made it easy to pick him out.



One more shot, I think from when they were getting ready to start:

Wish I had a couple of better shots, but my camera batteries died shortly after the show started. Here are a couple of small video clips I managed to get:






I hope everyone enjoys it. Wish I could have gotten more. I did get the video from the teacher who was standing front row center filming, but the quality really wasn't great & she was moving around a lot.

Catherine

A Couple of Pictures from our Trip

While we were headed from Andorra through the Pyranees to France, Marc took the time to stop & take a couple of pictures by the side of the road, as well as try to get us with a snowball. Thought I would share a couple of pictures I took basically through the window of the car.


Here he is working on getting the snow together while keeping his camera protected at the same time.




Here is a quick picture of the boarder between Andorra & France.


A quick picture of the mountains...


And finally, here is Marc with his snowball. He really did throw it at us, but the windshield kept us safe. :)

Catherine

Happy Boxing Day!

Happy Boxing Day everybody!

After a late breakfast and watching some movies, I decided to take Ian and Leah out for a walk to burn off some energy. We went down to the Nahe River, by the local castle ruins. There is a nice path that runs by the river, and we weren't the only ones that had the same idea. It was a wonderful winter day to go for a walk, with most of the snow unfortunately gone.

So, just a quick photo of the kids from our walk.

We hope you have a wonderful Boxing Day! Cheers,

Marc

Merry Christmas!!!!

Merry Christmas everybody!

We've already opened gifts, had a wonderful lunch, and played with toys. I thought I'd share a couple of photos of the kids.

This first one is of both Ian and Leah, taken when we first began to unwrap gifts. The kids had a great time tearing through the gifts, practically faster than they could conceivably enjoy them!

And Ian got this great "Captain Rex" helmet and blaster rifle set. He loves the stormtroopers (from The Clone Wars - they aren't the bad guys yet in those movies). He LOVES this set, maybe more than his lightsaber.

We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas, filled with good cheer, happiness, health, and good memories. If I don't chime in before the New Years, have a blessed New Years too!

Marc

Fun at home

We originally were going to go out to either Rothenberg ob der Tauber or to Valkenberg for some Christmas Markets, but we decided to not do that last night. Good thing, because it was 9 degrees this morning with several inches of new snow. AND it didn't really warm up all that much.

So we stayed home and planned our Italian vacation this upcoming spring/summer! Now I can't wait for May to get here!! Anyways, I played with the kids for a while and thought I'd get some photos of Ian and Leah. But I wanted something a bit different from the usual smiling photos.

So Voila! Here are the kids mugging it up for the camera. Didn't take any arm-twisting or other forms of coercion to get them to do this either. Weird. First Ian.

Then Leah.

Have a wonderful day.

Marc

Christmas Crafts

The kids had some craft time at the library, or with a play group - or some such thing while I was at work. I just got to come home and enjoy what they had made!

I grabbed Ian's photo in the evening after work.

And I took Leah's while I was home for lunch. Both kids had a nice time making and playing with their Christmas crafts.

I meant to post some photos from our trip to Heidelberg this past weekend. Oops. Right now we are planning on driving to either Rothenberg ob der Tauber (Germany) or up to Valkenberg (in Holland) for a special Christmas Market in some caves! So many choices . . .

I hope everyone out there is in good Holiday health and cheer,

Marc