Mischievous Play

You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance.
~Franklin P. Jones

While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about.
~Angela Schwindt

The other night Matt and I were finally relaxing after cleaning up the dishes from dinner and giving the girls a bath. The girls were out of sight but we could hear them giggling and having fun together. No harm done, so we thought, until Gabrielle came running into the living room yelling and laughing at the same time, telling us to look at Holly. When we went back to Holly's room we found out what our "little Angels" were giggling about. Gabrielle decided to dress up Holly and put a little powder on her. I took some pictures of this mischievous play, probably one of many to come.

Get Togethers and Pizza

This past Friday night was the first chance we had to get together with our new neighbors, Mark, Colleen, Ryan and Faith Small. Actually, we're their new neighbors. They've been living in the area for about 8 years or longer, on a farm they purchased from Mark's Grandparents. We became acquainted about 1 1/2 years ago after we moved into our new home. It was so exciting to learn they had twins the same age as Gabrielle.

Colleen and I have had a few play dates for the kids but Friday night was the first time we combined our families to enjoy what most families eat on Friday...PIZZA! We also had a delicious salad prepared by Colleen and she provided 24 cold cans of Miller Lite which was given to Matt as a Christmas present. We also exchanged Christmas gifts with each other. It was a lot of fun watching Christmas paper flying everywhere as the kids ripped open their gifts. The kids were full of energy as they already had some bouncing fun on the bounce house trampoline that Santa brought to our house.

Next month we are planning another get together. That will give us something fun to look forward to during these long winter months. Here are a few pictures from Friday night.

Faith, Gabby, Ryan, and Holly

Faith helping Colleen open her present

Mark showing off his new scissor/knife/blade gadget

Amateur Shooting

Yesterday, I awoke to amazing sights right outside my window. The sparkly sights of ice encased trees, grass, and shrubs and immediately, I thought about capturing these winter scenes with my camera.

My ever so energetic cousin, Tracey, has been teaching an online photography class for beginners at Nine Acres Photography blog called Get Off The Green Square. I was disappointed that I wasn't able to sign up because I am guilty of keeping my camera on the auto focus mode but, I'm determined to utilize my camera to it's fullest whether I have to learn on my own or one day enroll in one of Tracey's classes. Anyway, I decided yesterday was a good day to try out the different settings on my camera. I didn't have my manual handy (bad girl!) and I really didn't know how the pictures would turn out but here are a few samples of what I captured.

I know these are very amateur but hey, give me credit for at least trying to use the different settings. I can handle constructive criticism if anyone has anything to offer.

Come On Spring

Now that the holidays are over and we really don't have much to look forward to except the Superbowl (Come on Ravens), I find myself looking at the calendar and wishing the weather tomorrow would be sunny and in the 80's. Unfortunately, living in the Northeast, I have a while to wait until those warm sunny days are here again.

I started browsing the web and stumbled onto WebMD where I began researching SAD. I'm convinced I struggle with this disorder because every year at the same time, the same feelings overwhelm me. I feel like I lose interest in activities I normally enjoy, I'm ready for bed as soon as the sun goes down, I'm always cold so I tend to stay indoors. All of the symptoms are there but, I know in order to help myself, I need to engage in a regular exercise regiment. It seems with any type of disorder, physical or mental related, exercising is the utmost important treatment. So, I guess I should get off my soapbox and start helping myself get over these winter blues. Alcohol does help but, too much of that might lead to losing interest in exercising which then will lead to weight gain. That's a whole different topic. Is anyone with me? How do you cope with winter time blues?