Monday, December 26, 2011

Happy holidays!

Whew - can I rest yet?? Between Chloe's birthday, Hanukkah and Christmas, our December is always crazy!! It's been a wonderful week, though, full of Hanukkah presents and Christmas trees. Our Christmas Eve tradition is to go to my brother and SIL's to spend with the fam, and then we hung out at home all day Christmas day and relaxed (and the kids played with lots of new toys!). We ended the day with a lovely Jewish tradition of Chinese food on Christmas (hey - I have to bring some of my childhood traditions to our home, right? ;-)

Oh! And did I mention that Tony totally spoiled me?? He got me a new DSLR! I can't tell you how excited I am about this! My Canon Rebel XT just turned 6 years old, and it was definitely dying a slow death after years of abuse. So my honey surprised me with the Canon Rebel T2i - it is amazing!! It has way more features and capabilities than my old one did, and some of my favorites are the 18 megapixels and 6400 ISO (my old one went to 1600!). I'm having SO much fun playing with it, but I still have lots to learn! So, without further ado, here are some of the very first pics taken with my new camera, depicting our holiday week:

My Chloe bear, on Xmas Eve (wearing fake earrings that I made out of faux pearls and glue dots LOL!):

Me and my mama:
Weeeee!:
My beautiful niece with Chloe:
Me and my man:
Love this shot of Tony and Chloe:
And me and my girl:
Me and my bro lighting the menorah with our kids:
Having fun messing around with the new cam on Xmas day ;-)








And, just because it's cold and I feel like remembering the warmth lol, here is a LO I made awhile back that I forgot to post about the annual outdoor concert that my girlfriends and I go to every summer:
Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, no matter what you celebrate!! :-)

Sunday, December 18, 2011

A letter to my girl...

Today this sweet girl turned five (picture of Chloe and daddy taken at dinner out tonight). Five! I remember when Noah turned five, and it hit me hard. Five seems, well, so old. Yes, I know that may sound a bit dramatic, as I am well aware that five really isn't old (now 36 like me, that's another story ;-), but it's definitely "big girl" status. In celebration of my Chloe's birthday, I wanted to write her a letter, which I hope you don't mind that I share here.

My dearest Chloe,
It's so very hard to believe that you are five years old now. It seemed that for so long, we were stuck in the phase of you being my little shadow, attached to my hip, never wanting me to leave you for one second. Though that phase lasted for several years, it now seems a faded memory. You are now so independent. Sure, you get a little wary in new situations, but for the most part, you jump right in. You work hard to keep up with your older brother (I have a feeling the motivation for you to get your training wheels off several months ago was to be like Noah!), and you definitely work hard to take care of your little brother. You are SO kind hearted. You are constantly making gifts for people, always wanting to share a little piece of yourself. You are a helper, always wanting to do things around the house for me. You are artistic. You love to paint, draw and create. You have made some of the most creative, unique things all on your own - I love to see how your brain works. You love to bake. I try to have regular baking projects with you because it makes you so happy, and I enjoy that time spent together, too. You have a thirst for learning. You are such a good girl at pre-school (your teachers rave about you!), and you ask a lot of questions, regularly trying to figure out how the world works. Now, because i'm keeping this real (here it comes! ;-), I have to mention that you can also be, um, how should I say this.... difficult at times. You are very strong willed and stubborn. These are qualities that I have no doubt will serve you well later in life. You will not be the child who lets herself get pushed around by others. However, at home, that can also lead to a lot of butting heads and frustration. We are working on it, and it's a learning process for both of us. No matter what, though, I love every single bit of you, strong willed-ness and all! As you and I always say, we are the only girls in this house full of boys, so we have to stick together! I love you with all of my heart, Chlo-Chlo, and you will ALWAYS be my girl Happy fifth birthday to my "big" girl.

Love,
Mommy