A few favorite moments of the holiday....

(I think any photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.)


Andrea and McKenna helped me put up the tree. I love how they work together to solve problems. They really are a good team.

I got to make presents for ALL of the girl's teachers. Since McKenna is in 1st grade, that included teacher assistants and of course all her special area teachers! Andrea is in 8th grade so that added up to about 11 teachers including any aftercare favorites. These were recycled crystal light containers, covered and filled with holiday mints. They were a hit.

We put together a very special basket of gifts for McKenna's very special 1st grade teacher. I called it a "pamper you favorite teacher" basket. I filled it with all those nice teacher gifts that we teachers never seem to buy ourselves. (Such as dry erase markers with erasers on the tips - have you ever seen those? Cool!)

Since there were so many teachers at the middle school to give to and since money was so little, we put holiday mints in bags but added very nice handmade holiday tags. They seemed to be a hit as well.

This year we baked for two and a half days. Scott took over the operations....he had a primary objective in mind. The Japanese Steakhouse, Kotobuki's is part of many of our family traditions. At Christmas time, over the years we bring a few trays of cookies for the staff to enjoy; this year we brought 11 trays of goodies and containers of fudge. Scott had every hope that the owner would cook for us.

Scott's wish was granted. It truly was an honor to have Ishi cook for us and the dinner was the best ever. He said he was so nervous and that he hadn't cooked at the grill in many years.

The girls helped me bake an apple pie for daddy.

We have this cool apple peeler/slicer. It only gets used once a year!

I loved this photo of Andrea.

And I loved this photo of McKenna! This hat was the cutest thing :o)

Santa brought McKenna her first bike. She couldn't wait to try it out on Christmas day.

It's been a wonderful holiday and the past two days we have all relaxed, watched movies, ate left overs and played on the new Wii. We have visited with good friends, played games with family and stayed in bed way past our usually 5:00am wake up call.

It's days like these we hate to see come to an end. It's days like these that we remember to count our blessings.

Happy Holidays everyone and best wishes for a wonderful New Year!

Here I am! Here I am!

OMG, I do remember how to enter a post :o) I thought it might be awhile before I got to add a new post....guess I was right.

Well, I've posted other photos of family portraits, now I can finally post our holiday family portrait.

(Thank you Michele!)

It was a wonderful holiday with friends and family and we still have more friends visiting tonight for dinner. I always worry so much, before the "big day", but I think I pulled it off this year. I also always go through a post Christmas day depression, but I'm holding up pretty well. The inspiration from Ali Edwards and her advice about enjoying the little things in everyday life really has helped me.

Sorry this entry is so short, but I will be back....much more to share....

a weekend full of rewards...

McKenna celebrates with friends her 7th birthday!

My "photo business" is growing! Thanks Michele for your faith in me and Kurt, the golf course is absolutely amazing!

Kendra, also has a lot of faith in me, and provided me with this chance to photograph another beautiful family today, thanks Nina!

And finally, I couldn't resist this chance for Michele to take a snapshot of me an my sidekick today. (We missed Andrea today. She stayed home to work on, what else, homework.)

My dear, dear friends, thank you :o)