Friday, December 28, 2007

Christmas Gatherings

The pics are rolling in, and I am doing my usual job of procrastinating until there are too many pictures to choose from and then can focus on procrastinating a little more...    Oh well, here goes an attempt to go through some of the pictures at least.  We did get a nice surprise with Christmas this year, as all my sisters and brother came in to town (my parents house) for some Pre-Christmas gathering festivities!  We did not get to see Uncle (Tio) Damian or Aunt (Tia) Karen last Christmas since we were in Ecuador.

Tio Damian

Here we have my baby brother (Tio Damian) corrupting my little angels.  Trying to teach them all the things they can do to torture me during the holidays.

Tia Karen

And here we have Tia Karen trying to correct the chaos that my brother causes.  We all had a great time, and ate too much.  It was nice seeing everyone again.... we don't do it enough, so we have to capture these moments.  And thats where the pics come in.  Click on the pictures, or HERE to go to the first of the Christmas Galleries...

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Three Little Pigs

The season is upon us, the Christmas food is hitting hard.  And nothing says Christmas time like a little poem.... about the three little pigs.   Well, this was a few weeks ago (the poem), and of course here is Princess Megan during one of the family Christmas events...  Megan started singing and rhyming, and Paola heard her and wrote it down... very cute... but then she, of course, she got board with this game... and Paola had to 'help' her finish the last part...

Megan the Poet

Three little piggies and one strong wolf
One picked straw and one picked wood
The older piggy got lots of bricks
And made his house not too quick
The strong wolf said he is going to blow
Let me in or I will blow blow blow
The straw house fell, the wood house fell
The piggies got scared and run away
The wolf was hungry and chased them around
But the brick house never fell down
He got mad and got in the house
Just to find his tail was burned
He ran away, and never came back
The three little piggies were happy and clapped
No bad wolf would be chasing them
He was gone and they could play...

Yesterday, I was playing a little game with Megan and Matthew, and we were about to start. Here is the conversation that took place:

Megan:     "Girls go first!"
Matthew:  "Thats not fair!"
Dad:         "Matthew, be nice and let your sister go first..."
Megan:     "Thats right Matthew, girls should always go first...."
Matthew:  "Oh man!..."
Megan:     "...and when there is no girl... you should pretend that there is one, and let her go first."

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Christmas Approaches

The tree has been up for some time, we had a good old time of putting it off as long as we could, but we finally got it completed last week.  The kids all helped, and for some reason, like to see how many ornaments a single branch can hold.

Christmas Tree

I think it turned out well, once we did a little re-organizing.  Also here is a picture from the company Christmas party a few weekends ago.

Christmas Party

Its an OK picture.  Paola does not really like it... but I think it may be the only proof we have that we went... that the bill I guess...  

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Christmas Magic

Its a Christmas Miracle.... ok, maybe not a miracle... but close enough.  In search for the illusive family picture.  There always seems to be one kid making funny faces (or parent)... or one kid looking the wrong way (or parent) ... or one kid with eyes closed (or parent).

Christmas Magic

Well with a little computer help, I put these two half pictures together.  Ok, well you can tell by the color tones on the coach its two... and not all the kids are looking... and oh well, I guess I do have my eyes closed.  (Like I normally do).  I guess this isn't the Christmas magic that I was looking for... But we do look happy don't we?  At least give me that.  

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Cooking with Sophia

All the worlds greatest chefs probably started out with the love of cooking while young... and impressionable.  Maybe they enjoyed seeing their parents cook... or maybe they just loved the food that they made... who knows, but in Sophia's case... Cooking (baking) is a delicious path that leads to sweet eating.

Add eggs...

Here we have Chef Sophia putting a few eggs in to the mix.  She loves to help... and prefers to help with you out of the room.... just in case you had any intentions of messing with the master piece. 

Add sugar...

Here we have Sophia adding in some sugar.  ...and some more... and some more... 

Add banananananas...

 And now we add the bananas.  Break them up ... smush them down... mix them in.  I guess by now you have some idea of what she is helping to bake.

Blend away...

 And now time to mix mix mix.  The blender is so big to her, I have images of it spinning her over the edge, and making a giant mess ... but luckily that was avoided.  The price of the sweet baked goodness will not be deprived.  I guess the hardest part for her after this is the waiting.... waiting while the banana bread cooks... (and the constant looking in through the little oven window to see if its done.

Megan Gum Hair

On a totally non related note... Megan was a bit distracted... distracted about a lot of things going on, but more importantly about the gum that used to be in her mouth... and later ended up in her hair.  So like a good father, I knew just what I had to do.  CUT CUT CUT.  I wonder if my wife would have suggested a different course of action? ... I guess its a bit late for that... 

Monday, December 03, 2007

Megan's Bday

Ok, so I finally got thought the pictures.  Megan's birthday was Nov 24th (weekend long).  We drove out to visit my sister and her family in TN (Ivana, Tommy, and Nicky).  We stayed for a few days... destroyed everything....ate all their food, and had a great time.  

 Tea Party Gifts

Well, here we have Princess Megan after the deluxe Tea party.  Click on the pic to see much more... Ivana set up a great Tea Party Spread...and even made us all wear little Tiaras.... and I mean EVERYONE!!  Well, in this pic you can see Princess Megan playing with her new makeup set. ...Paola and I have known we would be in trouble since Megan was 2 years old and started asking when she could get some make up... The clock is ticking!

JumpZone

Here we have the two Princess sisters hugging.  Megan is excited because of another party (Jump Zone) with more presents... and Sophia is excited about all the large amounts of sugar that she will be allowed to consume unsupervised!  (We paid for that later...)

Megan BDay Party

We had a great time, both in TN with family and at the Jump Zone party.  Everyone seemed to have a great time.... but when we got home... and the kids were all passed out... Megan opened up half an eye and said to me : "Daddy...how long until my next birthday party?"     Click HERE for more pics....