Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Ten Months Old



Ten Months of sweetness right here. From the fluff on the top of her head to the lint between her little snackable toes - Betsy is a cute, sweet baby.  She is so easy going and happy.  Most of the time at least! The girl hates getting her diaper changed and getting dressed. This requires feats of strength on our part to keep her for squirming away from us.
 
She is ever demanding to be a part of the conversation around here. She has a lot to say and is very anxious to get her language down. She is anxious to do everything that the rest of us can do. She wants to stand, walk, and dance like her brother. She thinks he is the funniest, most amazing, most interesting person around. Of course she is correct.
 
 









Andy and I have been heartbroken and speechless about the shootings in Connecticut. Like every other person, I'm sure. Luckily we have been able to keep it away from Curtis and as far as we can tell he has no idea what happened. We have been in contact with his teachers at school and daycare and they will let us know if it comes up. I'm not worried about their safety at school or daycare. I know they are well cared for and this kind of thing is extremely rare. I just am afraid of what to say when they are old enough to learn about such evil. How do we explain this kind of thing to them? How do we convince them they are safe? Until them we keep squeezing them extra tight, loving on them, and hiding our tears and heartbreak. Ug.

We are so lucky to have this sweet little family. We are so lucky that Betsy and Curtis chose us to be their mommy and daddy. There is so much to celebrate!  We have been busy little elves getting ready for Christmas and checking in with Santa from time to time. Word has it that these kiddos are on the good list this year! Thank goodness. Also, he told us he wants chocolate chip cookies on Christmas eve, so it looks like we have some baking to do.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

So we needed a picture for a christmas card...

 
But getting a good picture of both kids being still and looking at the camera is pretty much impossible. 
I have a DSLR camera. It's not the super fanciest by far, but it's nice and it can do lots of things. And I utilize probably 10% of the functions that it is capable of. I wish I knew more about photography and that is one of my goals for the next year - to learn how to use my camera!  I just point and shoot. And for the most part, the pictures come out pretty good!
So I was reading some blog, that led me into an Internet rabbit hole, that led me to an article about using the manual functions of the camera. They made it sound really cool.  Just move the dial to 'M' and experiment - so simple! They showed various examples of pictures with different light levels and shutter speeds and stuff I won't even pretend that I retained.
 
Bright idea number1:
So I piled these two on the bed. I guess when you are experimenting with the manual settings, it's best to use a still life.

Sweet boy who was promised a marshmallow in exchange for taking a few pictures.
 When you are five you are able to sit still long enough for your picture to be taken.

 
But any movement gets blurred in the picture.
 
 
Add this one to the mix and you are just asking for trouble. 


Although they are cute as can be, someone was always blurry and these two were clearly not ready to grace the front of a Christmas card.


 
Bright idea #2:
Again, I read too much on the Internet. I'm looking at you Pinterest!
I saw something somewhere about hanging a sheet behind the bed, and using christmas lights - the kids will love to play with them and they will make some cute pictures, right? I'm sure there was something about lighting, but clearly I don't know what I'm doing.  Add to that two very grumpy kids and again, we have a fail. The lighting is horrible, not all soft and dreamy like I was hoping.

we should have just let them take a nap or watch cartoons. 


forced smile from curtis, frightened betsy




 

all good parents let their babies put lights in their mouths, right? 


However, I couldn't give up completely. I mean I hung a sheet on the wall!  I wanted to make that count for something! I tried again when the sun was down and the kids were in better moods.  I don't think these are great holiday card-worthy pictures, but I think there is some thing really sweet about them and I keep going back to look at this last batch especially. 


 
After bath time all cozy in their jammies:









 
I just love these two.  

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Injured

We fell on some hard times at the Tester house last weekend. It involved hot lava. LOTS of hot lava.
It all started when Orcey the Orca broke his right flipper because he go too close to the edge and immersed it in the hot lava! Ouch! We worked quickly and diligently and were able to save and wrap his flipper in a cast (black of course).  We think he will be fine in about a week or two.


I thought we had it under control and went back to my work making some salt dough in the kitchen. But before I knew it, the other animals were not paying attention and they too found themselves victim of that lava!

Cheetey the Cheeta got his tail AND bottom in the lava.
 
Ouch! That's gotta hurt!


 

Poor Kitty landed in the lava on her side and needed to be wrapped up on one side.
Lionel may have gotten is worst of all as he did a BELLY FLOP into the lava!  Poor guy - he required multiple bandages arranged very strategically to help him.


 

 
Lionel will have to lay off the belly flops for awhile. 

 
the stuffed animal wing of the hospital was at full capacity

Oh what a day. Thank goodness we were able to open the hospital and get them all bandaged up.  And their best friend Curtis has been very sweet nursing them back to health. He feels really bad for them and is making sure they get lots of rest.  Maybe the saddest part of all is that it was Orcey and Cheetey's birthday and they couldn't have any cake because the Doctor said they couldn't have any food for a week.  All they wanted was to eat some sugar! Life is so unfair.

I am happy to report that Kitty seems to have made a full recovery and all her bandages have been removed.  And Orcey is almost healed as his cast has started to come off.

And don't worry, they all are now equipped with hot lava proof clothes and shouldn't have this problem again. Whew!