A sneak peek for things to come...

A little treat. Last night I had Andy help me try on the kids Christmas clothes. Harry will be wearing his twice, once for his Christmas program at school and then to Mass.

They were as to be expected. Didn't want anything to do with trying the clothes on much less getting their pictures taken. I have not gotten to drive them nuts with my camera as of the past few weeks, so I figured it was due time.

They were adorable, and provided me with many many 'out-takes'. I showed Harry and Nina all the past Christmas pictures and the, at times painfully frustrating , but now extremely funny, 'out-takes'. They laughed so hard at some and enjoyed seeing all the funny outcomes. I am afraid in Harry's case, I may have just loaded him with ammunition of things to try during this years pictures coming up. We'll see.
I am hoping to get the kids (as well as daddy of course) washed-up, dressed and in front of the fireplace some night soon. That is one of my favorite family memories and times. Sure, there are straining moments of, "Come on guys! Just relax, give a smile and we'd be done by now!!".
But, I love looking back at the pictures. What it took to get there and all of us squeezing in close to try and just get one good picture.

Hope every one else gets to huddle in for some cozy Christmas pictures!

Harry kept jumping back and forth, he got a kick out of this.

Nina joining in. Harry was changing the numbers on the snowman, he tells how many days left till Christmas.

Sweet little Nina.

I promise you, even though it looks like it, there was no pain involved, at least physical. :)

Nice.

Another good one.

There is Toma's tail.

Nina couldn't resist, she had to join Harry on the floor.

There is Toma's paw next to Harry's arm. He crawled up close to me.

Nina's turn to play with the date blocks. Her hair still had the school-day's ribbon in it.

Time to kick back and relax.

What a cozy end to the day. Mieszko has been quite slow as of the past few days. He was so sound asleep in front of the fireplace, I was a bit concerned about him. I had Andy go over and check on him. Poor guy. He was just in a perfect place. He had just had a bath, on his freshly cleaned blanket, and his belly was being warmed by the fireplace. Andy went over and woke him up. He was just so happy and warm, he was sound asleep.

The snow sure is coming down now. The kids have a snow day and couldn't be happier. Today, for Harry, was his first feeling of excitement for a snow day. With going to school full days, he longs for the mornings he gets to sleep in (he's my boy!). And in a true child's fashion, Daddy told him school was closed and he let out a sound of excitement and instead of snuggling in to enjoy sleeping in, he popped up to see the snow and has been running around in his jammies with his sister ever since. :)

I'm off to try and make cookies with them. Not sure how much I can do, but Andy took a vacation day today, so I have a stand-in if I need it!

Happy Snow day!