Gettin' Ready for the New Year

Here are some sweet photos of Nora that I took before I put her to bed last night. Playing while Daddy talks on the phone. (Do you like Willi's Snuggie? Haha! Have you seen those commercials? I love the ones where there are people in groups wearing those things. They look like they're about to all have some Kool-Aid or something. And no, Willi's not really wearing a Snuggie. He's just wearing the huge Colts robe I just bought him for his birthday.) She likes the doggy. Ready for nigh-nights. Smiles before bed time. She loves this laptop that she got from Uncle Josh. She's such a good little poser. Hah! HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYBODY! It's so hard to believe that 2008 is practically already over. 2009 will prove to be an interesting year, I think. I just hope it'll be nice to us. Dilly out—until next year! (Muahaha!)

Christmas at Marlene and Jerm's

I completely forgot to upload these awesome videos from my phone. They're from our Dill Christmas at Marlene and Jerm's house. Serious good times were had.

Reshape and Lay Flat to Dry

In light of my most recent post, I couldn't resist this one.

Nora Bean

Here are a few things that Nora is doing lately that are making me chuckle regularly:

• She barks when the dog barks. It doesn't really sound like a dog, but she does it every single time the dog barks (and howls).
• She says "kitty," now, and she chases him. He doesn't like that.
• She sways side to side while dancing instead of just bouncing.
• She still makes an "oooh" face when I ask her if she's all done, but no sound comes out when she does it.
• She waves "hi" to the kitty and the doggy. 
• She actually says, "Hi."
• When I ask her where things are (her nose, the cat, etc.), she always pats her belly.
• She throws things when she gets mad. It's starting to not be quite so funny, but it's funny for now.
• She gives hugs and kisses almost on command. She still does it in her own time, but it's usually a few moments after you ask.

And now for a couple of hilarious cat-chasing videos from this morning:

Annoying

Here are a few annoying phrases that I've learned to despise since Nora was born. These are in no particular order as I despise them all equally.

• Surface wash only.
• Hand wash.
• Lay flat to dry.
• Dry clean only. (I usually try to avoid this one at all costs, but sometimes it is impossible.)
• Some assembly required. (It should say, "Some ridiculously maddening, soul-sucking assembly required.")
• Requires three (not two or four) AAA or AA batteries (not included). 
• Phillips screwdriver needed for battery replacement.

Post-Christmas Lazies

Well, I suppose it's time to face it. Christmas Day has come and gone already. So has the weekend. Sure, we still have a few hours left, but I always get a little sad when it starts to get dark on a Sunday afternoon.

I could be on the road right now. Some good girl pals of mine are getting together in Greenwood for dinner, and Nora and I were invited to come. However, I realized how irresponsible it would be for me to plop Nora in a car seat for six hours in order for me to have about two hours of good times. So, I must pine for the next time I might get to see my good lady friends. (Sigh.)

Since I'm hanging about the house with Willis and Nora (we did go to church this morning), I had time to go through Christmas items and put them away. I put some batteries in one of Nora's new toys (many of her awesome new toys require batteries—and typically threebatteries at a time). I also started doing some laundry. Soon, I plan to take the other portion of our screen door to Ace to get repaired because it definitely blew off of the door and shattered all over the place last night. (We had some serious winds here.) I've also been playing a bit with the new camera. I am really liking it. Check out what I captured today:

 

By the way, Nora is taking a glorious nap this afternoon. She's been asleep for about two hours already. This is how I've been able to get so much accomplished today (besides having Willis here to help corral her). She's a good little rascal.

We've got a lot to be thankful for, and I always love this time of year because it always comes rushing back to me. I try to remember it always, of course, but there's nothing like Christmas to get me all warm, fuzzy, and reflective on how ridiculously blessed I've been in life. It really is a magical time of year.

And now, it's time to go be some more lazy. Happy Post-Christmas, everyone!

More Fun!

Her face is hilarious here. I think she likes this new rider/push toy. She's always so sweet just as she wakes from a nap. Nice hair, kiddo. See? So sweet. I will probably always remember moments like this one. And here are two more videos I took from this morning. Can you tell I'm having fun with this new camera? I'm not terribly pleased with how those two videos came out. I turned my camera on its side to take the video, and while my camera is awesome and knows when I turn the camera sideways, apparently Photobucket does not. So, now I have two squished videos (that I can't adjust in any way). I guess I won't be doing it like this again (unless I find a new place that will allow me to upload tall videos). Boo.

New Camera! (Plus Some Other Nonsense)

Willi was a sneak this Christmas. We had planned to do a joint gift again this year (we decided we should get some golf lessons, and that was going to be our gift to each other this year), but the little rascal planted a gift under the tree all secret-like. We got home from being with family yesterday, and I found a sweet, little gift wrapped in newspaper with a bow on it under the tree. I saw the words, "For Jenny" on it in Willi's handwriting. I kept asking him where it came from, and he was like, "I don't know! Maybe Santa brought it."

He's funny.

Anyway, I opened it, and it's a sweet, new digital camera! It's a Kodak EasyShare Z8612 IS. So, it works with all of the EasyShare stuff I already had for the older camera. I love all the features this thing has. (It even has optical zoom!) It's pretty stinkin' sweet. It's everything I would ever need in a camera.

So, without further ado, I'll post some photos and videos from our little holiday. Some of these photos are actually from the old camera, and believe it or not, the old photos look a little better than the new ones. I'm still getting used to the features on the new camera. I'm pretty stoked that the video feature on this camera does sound, too!

Here are the videos:

And here are the photos:

 

 

 

This one is my favorite, though (this was taken with the old camera):

In other news, Nora and I are still sick. I guess that's not really "news."

Willi had to turn around on his way to work this morning. The ice on the roads forced some closures, so he came home to wait about an hour before he tried to go to work again. I just talked to him a moment ago, and he said that he is there now after an hour and a half of driving. Geez. I guess there are nine people at work right now, and there are typically, like, somewhere between 50 and 60.

Nora got lots of awesome toys for Christmas. She still prefers our remote controls, though. I'm not sure what's up with that, but I can occasionally distract her for a few moments at a time with her awesome new toys. I do need to get some batteries. Again, I cannot get out to go get batteries. (Sigh.)

Oh, and the contractors are not here. I'm not surprised, though, since roads were closed and whatnot. I am really longing for the day that those bathrooms are done. I do hope it comes.

I've got stuff to do. Must go now.