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Still not completely happy about tummy time.

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Last night Patrick and I drove out to Ikea to buy this adorable play gym for Oliver. I had seen it on another blog and just had to have it. I think Oliver likes it too.

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I am off work this week so Oliver and I are hanging out at home with Grandpa, Aunt Kate and Uncle Matt. This means we also have access to our toys. Although he is only three and a half months old I decided to try Oliver in the exersaucer. As you can see from the photos it is a hit.




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Sadly I did not have my camera in my hand as much as I would have liked the past two days. I too only a few shots Christmas Eve and fewer Christmas Day. As you can see in the photo above we live in an old house that has small rooms. Add fifteen people and a very large tree and there isn't much room to move about and take pictures. We had a lovely Christmas Eve with family and a quiet Christmas day.


( I had to stand in the corner almost behind the woodstove to grab this snapshot.)

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I have not looked to see what the official snow fall amount for our area was but in our yard it is about two feet deep. Patrick, with just a little help from me, shoveled the driveway today. That's one hundred sixty five feet from the street to the back door. Then he shoveled all the snow in front of all four cars and completely dug my car out. I am pretty sure a snow blower or a plow for the front of the lawn tractor is in our future.

Patrick also shovel from our back door to his mother's back door so that we can visit with her and get the dogs out to the back yard.

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My first attempts at bokeh . I used a snowflake whole punch and got this effect. I think it would be striking with white lights and snowman.

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Matt help Patrick clear the driveway and Kate pushed the snow off of our cars.
I took pictures from the window.

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Patrick shoveled the driveway around noon and it was already this deep. It has not stopped snowing since then.

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Most of the Christmas lights in the front of our home are covered with snow.

This bush is half buried in the snow. The lights look so cheery on the white background.

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The dogs are having a great time in the snow. Sophie even looks like she is catching snowflakes.

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When I woke this morning there were already several inches of snow on the ground.

By late afternoon the back yard looked like this...

and it is still snowing! We do not normally get a lot of snow before Christmas but this year we are having a blizzard. It is falling fast, too fast to even try to keep up with shoveling. I am glad I have no where to go.

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Connie gave me these adorable measuring cups (and a beautiful table runner) for Christmas. What is it that they say? Something like three or more makes a collection.Is that it? If it is then I have a problem because I now have 4 sets of measuring cups. Well, five if you include the one scoop that is an adjustable measuring cup, which is suppose to take the place of the other measuring cups. Do I have to count liquid measuring cups? They are not a set of measuring cups and I store them in a different place. If they do count then add five more. Does this count as a collection? Or is is just a well stocked kitchen? Either way I love the newest additions.

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I have cards to write, gifts to wrap, and a kitchen to clean before cookie day and I sit with my camera playing with slow shutter speeds and the lights on the tree...

These were all taken in a room lit only by the lights on the Christmas tree. I sat in the same position and moved the camera or the camera lens. Playing with lights has been fun. Maybe this week I will find time to play with bokeh and the tree lights.

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I mentioned in an earlier post that our first Christmas tree had only three ornaments. This was one of them, two doves and a heart made of blown glass. The first ornament we purchased is now traditionally the first ornament to be place, by both of us, on the tree.

Not all of our ornaments were purchased by us. Some were gifts, some were handmade and others were inherited from our families. This belonged to my parent's. It was one of my Mom's favorites. If it is placed in the right spot on the tree the heat from the lights will make the pinwheel inside spin. It was once red and has now faded to pink and the clear plastic has yellowed but I smile every time I see it. We also have tinsel balls that belonged to my grandparents. The kids all love these because you literally throw them at the tree and they stick. There is a lopsided large red ornament on our tree too. It belonged to Patrick's parents and was on their first Christmas tree. Every branch of our Christmas tree holds a treasured memory.

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Oliver is now twelve weeks old.

Christy had to return to work this week. Oliver is spending his day with me and the girls. For Lilly it was love at first site. She adores him. Chloe doesn't pay too much attention to him but since she is offering him her prized possession she too must like him an awful lot. I am enjoying every minute, not every Grammy gets to spend so much time with her grandbaby.

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Our tree is up and decorated.

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I spent this snowy afternoon putting the lights on the tree. I am not sure how many I managed to squeeze on the tree this year since I think that some of the strings may have been one hundred fifty count strings and others one hundred but I used three strings of white lights and six strings of multi colored. Tomorrow Kate, Matt, Patrick and I will put on the ornaments.

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Snow!

Since I started working outside of the house snow is not my favorite thing. But on a Saturday afternoon with both fires roaring and no place to go it is not so bad.

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Oliver's Baptism

The good Father kept standing right in front of Christy and I was not in the position to move right as others were trying to get photos too.

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Tonight we went to buy our Christmas tree(s). Ian, Christy and Oliver, Kate and Matt and Patrick and I went to the tree lot that we have been buying our tree from for about eighteen years. I thought we would be buying a tree from our home and that Ian and Christy would be getting one for theirs. We left the lot with three trees. Kate and Matt decided to purchase their first tree together and put it in our basement.

Ian, Christy and Oliver looking for their tree.

Kate and Matt with their tree and stand.
This photo is a bit out of focus but you can see how happy they are.

The tree Patrick and I chose.
This weekend I will put the lights on the tree and Sunday evening Kate and Matt will help us decorate it.

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More photos from our second Christmas shoot.

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Christmas photos take two.

The girls are definitely not interested in posing for photos lately. Today's attempt at Christmas photos was better than last time but I still think we can do better. The problem is that we are running out of time since the photos are suppose to be for their Christmas cards. Instead of trying to get the girls to pose today I just set up the little tree and rocking chair put them in their dresses and clicked while they did their own thing. I can not imagine doing this all day with kids I do not know in a department store. The pictures above are the ones I liked with the book in them. If I could just get them to make eye contact with the camera. I need a second person to get their attention. They are way too use to seeing me with the camera in their faces.

© Michelle Hines