5 years ago today...

This dude was born. Can't believe it's been 5 years. Can't believe he's so tall now. Can't believe I am a mom to two big kids. The baby years are all gone now - it's strange and cool and different and crazy all at once. I don't miss the hard parts about having babies (diapers, mess, language issues)... but I do miss their little cuddles. I made Riley take a nap with me today... I loved snuggling next to his (not so little) warm body. I am glad he still likes taking naps with me. I'm not ready to give that one up just yet :)

Merry Christmas...

From Frosty the Snowman. He's jolly and happy and has a blinking red nose. :)

By the Numbers

I know. I need to update.

Here's what's happening since Disneyland:

Number of photo shoots I have had: 7
Number of Christmas cards I have ordered for clients: 725
Number of photos I have taken since buying my camera in May: 22,644
Number of dogs I own: 2
Number of dogs I hate: 1
Number of legs on one of my Christmas village sheep after a 3 year old got a hold of it: 3
Number of legs it should have: 4
Number of times my children have played the Wii since we got it: 36,287,211
Number of Christmas gifts I have bought for friends & family: 30
Number of people I still need to buy for: 12
Number of days I have stayed up past midnight editing photos: 14
Number of hours I got to spend with Jin & Val while they were in town visiting: 72
Number of stamps I have bought this week: 80
Number of empty boxes in my office: 17
Number of lights that are lit on my Christmas tree right now: 0
Number of lights that should be on my tree right now: 1000
Number of dogs that are responsible for chewing THROUGH the plug while the Christmas lights were lit: 1
Number of dogs that died while chewing through the tree plug: 0
Number of rear-view mirrors that I broke off the side of my car while backing out (again): 1
Number of curse words I said after breaking my rear view mirrior (again): 347
Number of miles I had to drive to Violet's drill team performance last night: 38
Number of minutes Violet performed: 6
Number of inches I cut off my hair: 5
Number of colors in my hair: 4
Number of compliments I have received since getting my haircut: 28
Number of boxes that were stolen from my front porch when we got back from Disneyland: 3
Number of client orders that were in those boxes: 8
Number of times I panicked in the 24 hours it took to re-order everything: 397
Number of days till Christmas: 10
Number of movies Rick and I are going to go see tonight, sans children: 2

Enough counting. I need to go check movie listings!

Disneyland 2007

We stayed at the Paradise Pier hotel... and the kids got room service for breakfast the first morning!

When we headed out to the park, we found a visitor in the hotel lobby!

The weather at the park was perfect, so we decided to take advantage of the awesome weather and do a little canoeing :)

And of course I had a chocolate covered Mickey head...

The kids visited Lightning McQueen...

And Riley had an awesome time doing the rope swing at the adventure area in California Adventure... last year he was *just* too short... but this year, watch out! He must have done this swing 50 times.

Then we rode the Ferris Wheel at sunset... awesome!

On Day 2 we had breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen! Goofy was so funny. He stole Riley's autograph book for awhile... haha

Then it was off to more rides... Violet loved the Orange Stinger (she and Riley called it the "Orange Peeler")

Then it was back to Disneyland where we waited for the Jedi Training Academy...

Riley panicked at the last second and decided since he already was a Jedi he didn't need to do the training academy again... so Violet went up there and HAD TO FIGHT DARTH MAUL!!!! She did it, and is now an official Jedi too...

We happened upon Mickey in the afternoon, and got to get a quick autograph without all the craziness and crowds around him...

And Riley convinced Rick to ride the Jellyfish with him!

Riley also loved riding the carousel...

While Violet and I rode California Screaming about six times!

Nothing like a churro after a hard day of playing...

And another chocolate covered Mickey head for good measure!

Meanwhile Matt showed us just.how.much cotton candy he can fit into his mouth at once.

and then we had Fun With Photography!

I love Disneyland at Christmastime!!!


We had a fantastic vacation... and these photos are just a tiny selection from the 300 or so I took! Such great memories... so much fun!

Our tree

We decorated our tree before we left for our Disneyland trip - it was so great to come home and have the tree totally done! Of course, nothing else really got done till just today. I finally unpacked the last of the Christmas decorations and even added some lights outside. I love it now! My house totally feels like Christmas. OH! And best of all... a package arrived today from UPS containing a beautiful wreath from my mom, made from fresh greenery. I couldn't bear to have all that wonderful Christmas smell sit outside my house... so instead I hung it up inside, right in the kitchen. It smells absolutely wonderful.... :)

Coming (very) soon... a whole lot of Disneyland pics!!