Happy New Year!

I know my family is wondering about pictures. I always do pictures at Christmas time. This year I did not want to go to the same place, so I waited. The weather has been so uncooperative that my other plan just is not going to work out. So yesterday I took the girls over to Portrait Innovations again. They do a good job. I am just a little tired of the poses and backgrounds. We didn't do the whole family portrait, just the girls. Maybe we will do a family one in the Spring. Usually Bridget is my professional at having her photo taken, but not yesterday. Becca out did her, but that is okay since I need more pictures of Becca to catch up with all the ones of Bridget.

Tonight we are doing our traditional New Year's Eve celebration--stay home and eat snacks all night. We told the girls they could camp out on the sofa all night if they wanted (Bridget is super excited about this).

I wish everyone a Happy New Year in 2009!

Winter Break

I have to say that a perk of working at a school is getting the school break like the kids. Friday was our last day. It was such a fun day! It was pajama day--I don't think I have ever gone to my job in my Pj's, but it was so comfy. The kids and their family's were so generous. I was surprised with the gifts I received--gift cards, lotions, ornaments, and lots of yummy baked goods. One of the teachers told me that the administrators get loaded with gifts, but they didn't say anything about the rest of the staff. We have a lot of thoughtful families.

I have not been very productive the last few weeks. I am still finishing up my shopping. I only have 5 people left and all but one I know what I want to get them. Not too bad. Now things need to start wrapping themselves and take their place under the tree. That would be sweet.

I have been holding off finishing the Twilight series until after Christmas. Those books were consuming me. I was staying up all hours of the night reading and I was exhausted all day. The third book left me in happy place with the characters and I felt I could stop there. I am getting weak though. I have the last book sitting on my shelf that I walk by 539 times a day. I actually picked it up last night and opened it to the first chapter, thinking I could just read a little. Then I closed the book, hit myself in the head with it. I will not be able to stop reading once I start. I must wait until after Christmas. I might have to give the book to my neighbor or Schaun to hide. I'm pathetic. Stupid vampire love story. Why do I like this? I do not like vampire stories!

Natural selection

Today ALL five chicks came out of the nest and I actually got a good shot of them all perched. The second from the right is a parent. You can sort of tell the color differences in this picture. The second from the left was the first hatched (this is Schaun's favorite one). I guess even in a cage, being watched by us, natural selection still goes on. I'm so bummed--one of the chicks, I think the youngest, (the dark one on the left) fell into the water dish and drowned. Poor thing. I have remedied the water situation so that should not happen again.

Baby birds

I went back and checked and I noticed the first chick hatched around November 17 and the other 4 hatched about 1 a day following. So all the babies look a little different each day. These pictures are how they look as they grow, which happens SO fast.

You can see in one picture, which was December 2, that I have 2 babies in my hand. One is feathery and one is not. Today, when I took the most recent pics, three of the babies are out of the nest and trying to fly. Two have not tried to come out yet. It is hard to tell because of the cage, but they all look different too. One is almost all white, one is a blonde color, and the third has a darker stripe down its back. The two in thenest appear to be darker all over, but it is hard to tell for sure.

December already

I cannot believe that Christmas is so close! Wow! Catch up time.

First, I started reading the Twilight series. I was not going to read these. I do not like vampire stories. It was getting to the point where everywhere I went these books seemed to be the topic of discussion. I was feeling left out. I decided to just read the first one, to have a little input and to assure myself that I do not like vampire stories. I am a sucker for great love stories though--and that is what this turned into. I read the first two books this weekend.

It seems like a blur of time since Thanksgiving. I feel like I am busy a lot, but not much has happened. I thought Bridget had pick eye, but turns out she has a sinus infection that I didn't notice any signs to. Becca has developed a hearing problem. It only seems to be related to hearing her parents, but it is getting to be a problem.

We have some Christmas decorations up and things are looking pretty. We put the tree up Saturday. I felt sad when it was done. After getting out the ornaments and realizing how many my Gramma had given us.

Yesterday I had a cookie exchange with some good friends. It was a good time. We do not see each other near enough. Now I have way too many cookies in the house. Yum!

I have some pictures that I have been taking of my baby birds. I'll post them later.