December musings

Nothing much new to report, at least not in photos. The girls' school pictures arrived and I'm happy to report that we won't be needing them redone! Last year, whoever took Luci's picture must have been in a real hurry as her picture looked nothing short of horrible! Luci appeared to be sucking on a lemon! We had them redone, however, and with ME standing there, she smiled as cute as can be and we got the shot on the first try. This year, they turned out well as evidenced below.

I took the girls down to our local Santa's Mailbox where they happily deposited their wishlists to the big guy himself.

As usual, when the house gets quiet while the girls are in attendance, it can mean only one thing...napping! The only switch this time is that they fell asleep together! Ahhh...sisterly love! (At least until they wake up! Ha ha!)

Today, the girls were invited to Julie's house (or as the girls call her, Juju) to decorate Xmas cookies. I left my camera to home, which I immediately regretted upon our arrival as Julie had set up little tables with bowls of different colored icings. She baked dozens of cookies and they waited to be decorated on trays on her new countertops. Sonja and Max were there along with a couple of Hannah's friends, Hannah R. and Jordyn. Ben, Brittany and Nicki's daughter, Marina were on hand to help out the little ones. Even Brit's son, Jackson was there to try his 1 year old hand at decorating...though he was much more interested in eating the cookies than icing them! I had to leave shortly thereafter as I had a photoshoot back home to do. After the shoot, I headed back to Julie's to pick the girls up. Upon my arrival, the girls greeted me with shiny, happy faces that showed evidence of a makeover! They both had applied mascara, and though Drew did a tolerably good job on her first solo attempt, Luci had managed to leave a few black streaks underneath her eyes, giving her a really cool gothic look! As always, Julie loaded them down with their own decorative boxes of their cookies and away we went back home. They had lots of fun and it has turned into an annual event as this is the 3rd or 4th year she has had the girls over for cookie decorating at Xmas-time.

Today's quote:

Many people believe that you truly cannot appreciate what you have until you nearly lose it. This is true for many, but in my experience, it is the direct and permanent "loss" of a most damaging, controlling, needy, using, lying and absolutely mentally messed-up person in my life that has made me appreciate what I have! I put the word "loss" in quotes as, ironically, the "loss" is actually a total win for me! Liberation from crazy people is indeed a sweet victory! ~Me