Some Pictures (Part 2)

Olivia playing "act like a princess".  This is not daddy's favorite game.

Carmen has remained a snuggly kid, much to her parents' delight.

Olivia has remained a wiggly kid, much to her parents' amusement.

Carmen enjoying the backyard swing.

I over-Photoshopped it a little to hide a poor original, but I like this picture because I think it shows well what Olivia will look like when she's grown.

Some Pictures (Part 1)

This post and the next are some candid shots that didn't warrant individual posts, but are still worth sharing.

Olivia and Carmen liked to warm their bellies by the fire during our cold spells.

Carmen inherited a chapstick addiction from her mother.

Olivia is positively enamored with princesses ever since Christmas.

Carmen looks awfully cute in pigtails.

This is about par for family night.

Happy Birthdays

On Tuesday we celebrated the birth of Amber and Carmen.  It was a momentous occasion for both, as Carmen is now officially a 2-year-old and Amber is now officially old (15 times as old as Carmen!).

Amber's big present this year was an extendable, foldable, tiltable, super-duper quilting frame, as you can see in the picture above.  I felt bad getting her just one thing, so I also got her some fun things like a dumpling press and a Snuggie^®.  I assure you the look of disbelief she has on her face and her initial reaction of "Did you really get me a Snuggie^®?" are just masking her real excitement of being warm while keeping her arms free.

Carmen got several things she was very fond of.  The first is her own Elmo doll.  She's never seen Sesame Street as far as I know, but she likes Elmo, as you can see.



She also got a retro record player, which she loves to load up with records and carry around, then play each record for about a half second before tearing it off to play another.

And her big present was a scooter.  We weren't sure if she would like it, or even be able to use it, but we figured worst case Olivia could ride it and Carmen could inherit her tricycle.  Well I'll let you decide how she felt about it.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

And for those of you who may not have love in your life, just remember, sometimes it's not meant to be, as evidenced by these news reports.

Teenage girl collapses and dies after first kiss

Jemma Benjamin, 18, was kissed by fellow university student Daniel Ross, 21, at his home after a night out together.

But Miss Benjamin suddenly slumped onto the sofa - and died in front of Mr Ross's eyes.

Tenn. woman killed by lightning as boyfriend prepares to propose

Butler, who suffered second-degree burns in the ordeal, says he remembers seeing three lightning flashes.

"I was spun 180 degrees and thrown several feet back," he says. "My legs turned to Jell-O, my shoes were smoking and the bottom of my feet felt like they were on fire."

He then crawled to Bethany, who was lying motionless only a few feet away.

Iced in

We've had some unusually cold temperatures (below freezing) in the last few days due the huge cold front attacking the nation, and this morning I woke up to this:

We got freezing rain last night and all the highways are covered in black ice. So until something changes, I'll be "working" from home today.