Magical Christmas lights

My sister took Popper and one of her cousins for an all girl sleepover. Peanut was invited, but as she hates sleeping anywhere other than her own bed, I thought it best if she stayed home for now. Since the husband and I had only one child to contend with, we took advantage of that and went out to dinner. If you haven't been to the Electric Palm in Woodbridge, I highly recommend it. After all, my brother is the most excellent sous chef there. :D

When we got home, I decided to let Peanut run around our little section of the neighborhood and look at the Christmas lights. Her favorite was this little deer that moved. She even gave it a hug.



I hope everyone had a very joyous Christmas, and that the peace and blessings of the Christ child warm your hearts.

One more of my ballerina

My Little Ballerina

More Great Smoky Mountains

I know, it's taking me a while, but this pregnant lady is tired. Yes, I'm pregnant. My girls keep telling me they want another baby sister (Popper even said she wants two baby sisters, to which I replied that I'd rather we got one and at time), and I keep trying to explain that I have no control over whether they get a new baby brother or a sister. Anyway, the baby and my girls are taking all my energy, and I have a part-time job in the evenings, so my time to do photography is very limited. That being said, I had time to work on some pictures, and here they are.

This is a place we stopped along Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. I had really wanted to do the trail that led to a waterfall, but my morning sickness got the best of me. We drove a bit and I finally started to feel a bit better, so I begged my husband to pull over and let me take some pictures. He is wonderful, and he pulled over.


While he stayed up near the road with the girls, I wandered down into the creek. As my husband was looking at these pictures he remarked, "Oh right, that's where I had to keep one eye on the girls, one eye on the bees' nest, one eye on the road, and one eye on my pregnant wife who was climbing over rocks in a creek."






Popper insisted on bringing her doll, Cherry, on our camping trip. I had no problem with it; I'm glad she likes her doll so much.

Laurel Falls and Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg

I had fun hiking to Laurel Falls. It had been way too long since I've walked a trail, and I'm sorry that this one was paved, although that made it a little easier for my four year old to hike. Laurel Falls in Great Smoky Mountains National Park was not as impressive as I had hoped, but it was still pretty. I was told that if they had just had rain, the falls would have been wider. Still, we had a fun family picnic before the hike, the girls loved the pools of water up by the waterfall, and I got to take pictures.











Later during our vacation we headed to the Ripley Aquarium in Gatlinburg. Although the girls did zoom from one thing to the next, the Aquarium was all they talked about for days later. We went to Gatlinburg a couple more times during the week, and each time the girls begged to go back to "see the animals."



The picture above and the picture below are sea dragons. So cool, right?





We had lunch at the little cafe inside the aquarium, and while the rest of us were finishing up, Popper asked if she could go watch the rays. Of course I had to snap a picture. While we were eating, we actually got to watch a diver go into the tank and feed the rays (and the few young sharks that were also in the tank). The girls were pretty excited about that.

Back

My family took a vacation last week. It was the first vacation, just for us, that we've ever taken as a family. My husband and I decided to journey to Tennessee to see the Great Smoky Mountains. I had dreams of hiking the mountains, seeing waterfalls, and taking amazing pictures that I'd want to frame and put up all over the house. Then we got there, did one hike, and reality set in. Right, I have a 4 year old and a 2.5 year old. They don't like to walk for a few miles at a time, they get tired. They can't be carried the whole way, we get tired and the little ones then don't get any energy out and our crazed by the time we get back to camp. So, the whole trip ended up being a lesson in how to compromise with our wee little ones.

Here are pictures from our first big stop along the way. We all needed to stretch out legs, so we headed for Claytor Lake park. It was chilly, but there was a beach, lots of deer, water, rocks, and shells to collect. What more could my children ask for?

We had a much later start time than we wanted, but it made for pretty dusk pictures, like this one.










Some might find this next picture boring, but I love the simplicity and peacefulness of it.


Popper really wanted me to take a picture of her shell, and she was quite thrilled when we got home and looked through the pictures and got to see the picture. I love her!


Did I mention it was chilly?

A peaceful picture to take the mind off all the flooding

I'm glad Popper likes to read. We had a neighborhood cook-out a few weekends ago, and at one point, Popper decided that she wanted to spend some time alone. She does this every once in a while, and I think it's healthy. I couldn't resist snapping a picture of her lounging against a chair, enjoying a book.

Oh, and she's wearing pants because she was climbing trees and found it too painful in shorts.

A Sweet Family Moment

Not my family, but they are friends of mine. It's nice to witness sweet family moments, to see a family that truly loves one another. I only wish I could have someone capture the ones of my family for me, but I'm kind of used to not being in pictures. I do worry, though, that my children will grow up and wonder where all the pictures of Mommy are.

Visit with friends and my oh-so-cute Godson

We had the pleasure of visiting our very good friends last weekend. My girls were over-the-moon happy that our friends had two cats that would tolerate being held and carried around. Popper even asked if we could "take Princess back where she came from and get a kitty." I think the girls just liked having an animal that could be held in their arms and would cuddle in their laps. True, it is an amazing feeling. Even my husband held the kitten and was quite enamored with it when the kitten started purring in his arms.

Father and Son

We had a great time at a bbq this weekend. A neighbor's son was being incredibly cute with his daddy, so I had to take a picture.

A silly girl

Love

I love the golden light at the end of the day, blowing bubbles and watching my girls chase them, and seeing my family all sitting together.





Yes, that handsome man is mine. Not only is he handsome, but he is my best friend and an amazing father. I don't know how I was lucky enough to be blessed so profusely, but I thank God for him every night.

A Visitor to the Woods

Technically I suppose we were the visitors, but we had never seen a snapping turtle in these woods before, so he is the visitor.





It would have been nice to have a person in the picture, just to give a sense of proportion. This turtle was BIG. So big, in fact, that there was no way I was going to risk my girls getting bitten by it while I took a picture. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it, it was big.

Fireworks!

Peanut saw her first fireworks display this year. She LOVED it, even though she put her hands over her ears. Popper wanted to take pictures of the fireworks, just like Mommy was. Since she was so intent on taking pictures, it was hard to tell if she was actually impressed by the fireworks. That's just Popper, though.

There are the pictures that I took.



I started finding heart shaped clouds in a bunch of my firework pictures. The picture below is just one of the heart clouds I found.