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We had an unusually warm day in January so we took the opportunity to visit the beach! We started with a visit to Gary's Deli in Corona Del Mar. We've been coming here since just before Emma was born, though...
You've never seen happier children than Emma and Henry at Christmas this year. Emma, in particular, was thrilled as she received a new baby doll, replacing one that she'd inexplicably lost while playing in our yard. The joy on her...
Marla used to have caroling parties when she was in high school so when we got an invite from a friend to go this year with the kids, she jumped at the chance to introduce Emma and Henry.
We stayed home this year for Thanksgiving. It was a bit smaller than I'm used to from childhood (no "kids table" filled with cousins) but it was nice not having to travel.
Our menu was excellent, as usual.
The weekend before Halloween I agreed to help Emma and Henry carve their pumpkins. Whatever face they drew on the pumpkin I would do my best to carve. Emma, as you might guess, drew a pug. I created a cute...
Emma's always looking for an excuse to "dress fancy," so while Grandma and Grandpa Mandel were visiting us in October we had Cora's baby naming. Emma and Henry were little angels and behaved the whole way through the service. (See...
Children pick up your bad habits quickly. I'm glad they also seem to pick up the good ones. Emma and Henry ran their first "race" this 4th of July after I finished the Freedom Run 10K in Ladera Ranch.
Emma is getting to the age where we just can't hide Easter eggs well enough. She blazed through the yard intent on her mission of beating Henry and finding as many eggs as possible. Poor Henry was no match.
We tried hard this year to have a very small-scale Christmas. Henry and Emma, who have no shortage of "stuff" already, don't necessarily need a whole bunch more so we limited our gift giving and tried to focus a bit more on the "spirit" than the "stuff."
Emma and Marla went to see The Nutcracker at the lovely Orange County Performing Arts Center in December. It was the first time Emma had been to see ballet and she was absolutely ecstatic. The show didn't disappoint her one...
These photos are from the "Christmas Festival" the city held this year. The kids were able to entertain themselves with some cookie decorating, a few craft projects, face painting and other standard festival fare.
In years past we would regularly have over a dozen folks over for an extra large lunch. As family members aged and passed or moved away the crowd on Thanksgiving day steadily shrank. This year Thanksgiving felt a bit more like old times.
Halloween yesterday was interesting. I said in last year's Halloween write-up that both kids were aware and anticipating the holiday. Oh, how wrong I was. Last year was merely some excitement about it. This year was full-blown, wiggle-inducing anticipation.
I'm getting so close to being caught up! Who knows, one day I might actually post timely photos. This batch covers most of December 2006, again all from Marla's camera.
Oh. My. I'm ashamed to admit what month these are from. I'll let you guess. There are some great shots of Emma and Henry playing in the pumpkin patch, petting animals at a petting zoo, a busted lip and driving trains on Granpa Northcutt's head.
My brother volunteered his new house for Thanksgiving dinner this year. It was to be a huge feast, with both our immediate family and his wife Jessica's family present. They were expecting, all told, about 20 grandchildren, children, parents, grandparents...
Henry was fully aware of Halloween this year and participated with gusto! Henry insisted on carrying his "crumpkin" around by himself. By the end of the night it looked like the crumpkin was hauling him around.
We took our summer vacation this year in sunny Seattle with Grandma and Grandpa Mandel. The weather was glorious throughout the entire trip so Emma and Henry had a great time in Grandpa's huge backyard. We went to Kirkland for the 4th of July, first playing at the lake and later watching the parade.
Christmas this year was quite different than last year. If you recall we'd been home with Henry for, oh, 2 days or so. He was sound asleep in his science fiction outfit and Mommy was sound asleep in the chair...
In the weeks leading up to Christmas Grandma Northcutt and Marla were snap-happy, capturing our two children playing together. It is a treat to come home and see these pictures because all to often when I get home from work...
Results tagged “holidays”
leading up to christmas