If you don't know this song by Dexy's Midnight Runners from the 80's, well, you just weren't paying attention. The video features a rag-tag bunch of musicians in overalls without shirts. Today Noah was feeling a little nostalgic (I'm not sure how) and he threw on his Dexy outfit.
Toora loora, indeed.
What was my 2005 New Years resolution? To lose weight. Isn't that everybody's?
I promised myself I would lose about 40 pounds. In January, I thought I was off to a great start. Hannah joined Noah and Myra making it nearly impossible for me to snack. I lost 5 pounds during the first week! Unfortunately, I quickly learned to juggle the three and found myself back in the kitchen ... often. In April, Josh convinced me to try a low carb diet. I lost a whopping 30 pounds by the beginning of July. That to, however, came to an end when we went to Colorado and splurged for two weeks. It made it very difficult to go back. Those carbs were just too good! In August I decided I was going to get serious about this whole weight lose thing and figure out a plan.
I don't think I ever settled on one particular diet. I simply cut back on how much I ate. Eventually, I found myself getting full on less food. Yes, I "yo-yoed" for quite sometime. After all, Myra was getting invited to all these birthday parties. How could I say no to cake and ice cream? That would be rude, wouldn't it?
Well, after a long four [remaining] months and a couple visits from a "little bug", I finally made it to goal. Just look at me now!
I think that's all Josh and I have heard since we told Myra we were going to put up the Christmas tree. I had looked everywhere for a reusable advent calendar that didn't cost $40 and never found one. (Note to self: Look after Christmas in clearance.) I never thought about THE PAPER CHAIN. How could I forget? Doesn't everyone make one of these things at some point in their childhood? Lucky for us, Myra's teachers remembered.
Myra's been itching to take more than one off a day. What she doesn't realize is that (1) tearing more than one ring off DOES NOT make Christmas come any faster and (2) like most families that travel for the holidays, Santa will be visiting our house early. Shhhh...
THAT is the face of a little girl just dying to tear that chain apart.
Most of you know that I help Ricky produce wedding videos. I help shoot them and then do most of the editing while Ricky does all that other stuff involved in putting one together--not to minimize, he does a LOT, too. Anyway, since he deals with the brides, all of the praise--and complaints--get heaped on him while most of them have no idea who I am. That doesn't really bother me because I tend to take all of the compliments as belonging to both of us.
Last night, we shot a wedding in downtown Fort Worth and at the reception a couple approached me and asked if I was Ricky. I said no, but that I worked for Cake Video and they told me how Ricky had done their daughter's wedding over the summer and told me where it was and all. It just so happened that I had edited that video and I proceeded to describe it to them. Their faces lit up when they saw that I remembered it. I told them that I had edited it, and they proceeded to heap all that praise that Ricky normally gets onto me! The dad even told me that he almost broke down crying the first time he watched it. Needless to say, I nearly burst my buttons as my chest swelled with pride.
If you'd like to see the video in question, you can watch it here. It just happens to be Christina's favorite wedding that I've done, so I think you'll enjoy it, too.
Noah has finally made it to the "They Said It" page! Not to be outdone,
Myra adds in a couple of quotes of her own. Check out our latest entries here.
Yesterday, I smelled something toxic coming from Noah's hind end. So I asked "Noah need a new diaper?" He looked up at me, turned around and headed straight for his room as fast as his little legs would take him. When he got there, he went to the dresser and tried pulling his top drawer open (that's where we keep his diapers). I grabbed a clean diaper and waited to see what Noah would do next. He closed the drawer (with a little help), took the clean diaper from me, headed back towards the living room and plopped himself down on the floor in front on the tv (that's where I change him). Is it a sign?
We finally got around to posting the Thanksgiving pics from this year. We took quite a few on the trip up there, at Granny and Papa's house, and out with the boys while we were doing some Geocaching. The boys really had a good time and I'm looking forward to taking them out again at Christmas. You can check them out by clicking here or going to the photos section of the site.
Chris and I decided to brighten up the place a bit. We started putting lights up and it was soooo much fun, we just couldn't stop. Then we decided the only thing missing was some music. We were so happy with the results that we made a small video to show everyone. Nevermind the extra story on our suddenly bigger house. I promise it's OURS!
It might take a while, but it's worth the wait! The music is broadcast through an FM modulator which makes it possible for passers by to tune in and hear the music that goes with the light show.
I had a tough time picking just one ornament. My first pick was the kids' "Baby's First Christmas" ornaments. The first time we put them on the tree ... what memories. Alas, Josh said I had to pick one of MY ornaments. After several long minutes of thought, I finally decided that it had to be my "Santa's Workshop".
Santa's Workshop isn't just your average Christmas ornament. When you hang it on the tree, you have to plug it into one of the lights. As soon as you do, it lights up and Santa and his little helper begin working on making toys for all the good girls and boys. I admit, the clicking of the tiny hammer really drives (drove *cry*) me INSANE. No, it doesn't work anymore. It's showing it's age. However, every year I plug it in hoping that Santa and his helper will start building. I guess it is just your average ornament, but for me ... "Click Click Click."
I'm not sure why, but I'm really pumped about Christmas this year. Myra and Noah are making it a lot of fun, of course, but for some reason, I'm just really looking forward to the Holidays. To continue on with our little Christmas tree theme, Chris and I are going to show you our favorite ornaments on the tree.
Mine is this beautiful little white, beaded, sequined baby picture-thingy. It's very special to me because a: it's my favorite baby pic, b: the whole family has one, and c: Big Granny made it. Years ago, she made one of these for all of us in the family and from the very start, I knew these things were special. I remember getting out the ornaments every year and I really loved looking at all of them side by side. Mine, of course, was the best, but Sarah's cute chubby cheeks and dad's confident (very Noah-like) smile on his ornament are two others that really stick out in my mind.
It's starting to show its age and every year another pin filled with sequins falls off, so I treat it like a 1000 year old relic. I'm sad to think of the day that the whole thing just gives up and collapses into a ball of dust. That'll be a SAD Christmas. This year I thought I got it out of Noah range, but he's already pulled it off once, so now it resides in the upper branches of our tree. That's cool, though, because Josha-Big-Eyes likes the view.
Here I am again with another "Mommy's-been-playing-in-PhotoShop-again" Picture. This time, it's Myra's turn. Look carefully at Erika (in blue).
Here's the original picture of Myra. What a smile!
You know I'll be playing some more later. Right now, the babies are waking up. Time for lunch!
Our friends, Brenda and Leon, have several pictures of their son, Alex, with several different backgrounds; places you know Alex has not been nor could possibly go. For example, they have one of Alex sitting inside a rose (one of my favorites). I, personally, think they're great. They have an Anne Geddes feel to them. I love Anne Geddes! What woman doesn't? Anyway, the point to all of this is just to give you a little background as to why I have posted these pictures. I think I'm getting pretty good at it. What do you think?
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...
Later, I'll be posting some of Myra. Hence, the "Part 1" title.
