First time ice skating...

All suited up and ready to go! No double bladed skates for this kid! (But Mommy insisted on the helmet and pads... PPE is never a bad idea)

At first, Camille thought the ice skids looked like a good idea...

But it wasn't long before she decided she didn't need it.

Hey, she's really got the hang of this!
Ta-da! Kristi Yamaguchi, eat your hear out!
I guess I'll need to go find another part-time job to help pay for her ice time! LOL!

Fun with Christmas gifts

Amongst other things, Camille received a Cinderella dress (which she has tried to wear to school everyday) from her Aunt Rhonda and Uncle Chris and some make-up from her Godmother, Amy. (I did ask our other family members and friends not to buy make-up for Camille, but this make-up is really just purple and pink lip gloss and some nail polish)

So, this afternoon, I gave in to allowing Camille to get into the make-up. What a pretty princess!

Baby Stuff

"Baby stuff" has fallen out of fashion in our little girl's eyes...

She prefers a "big girl" look. Don't grow up too fast little one!

She who loves to dance!

If a picture is worth a thousand words, here's 9,000 without saying one...

Matchy - matchy!

One of the cool things Mommy received for Christmas this year was a camera tripod. Now I can actually BE IN some the pictures!

Friday Family FotoFun Challange - Presents!

Santa sure left plenty of things to open on Christmas morning!

Camille's favorite gifts, by far, were the toy violin... and the digital camera!

These were the gifts I received from Camille. She made all of them at school and wrapped them in tissue paper... I love every one of them!In addition, my husband got me the perfect gift. It is something I have alway wanted, but would never buy for myself. He bought me this Coach handbag... no the knock off, but the real deal! Thank you, dear! I love you!

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours... Merry Christmas!

This is the cover photo of our Catholic Church's Missal. Is it just me, or do Mary and Baby Jesus look surprizing Asian? Well... maybe, just maybe...

Peace be with you all this Christmas season!

Santa Breakthrough!

I'll admit, I am one of "those parents" that love to have the kids photos with Santa every year. But I also have a kid who is or was afraid of Santa. Here's our Santa photo from 2005, Camille's first Christmas. She is the tiny one on the verge of bursting into tears:

And so it went in 2006... Do you want to see Santa and sit on his lap? NO!!!
And 2007... Do you want to see Santa and sit on his lap? No, thank you.

I just figured 2008 would be another year of the same. Two previous attempts this year failed, but while we were at the mall yesterday, we had a breakthrough. "Mommy, I want to see Santa." My reply, looking at the line, "Are you sure? Are you really going to do it this time?" And here is the result:

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

First Blog Award

Diana at Diana's Daily Ramblings awarded us our first ever blog award; The Christmas Spirit Award! Tell me Diana, was it the hermit crab post? :) Merry Christmas!

T'was...

... the night before, the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was sturring except for a...

Hermit Crab???

Merry Christmas from our grouch, I mean crab, Carmine!

The "King" of all Crabs...

Camille and Mommy LOVE Alaskan King Crab legs. Daddy knows this, so when he saw them on sale at the supermarket, he bought one for Mommy and Camille to share (afterall, it weighs almost 2 pounds!) Looking at the size of ONE leg, can you imagine how big this crab must have been?

Enough with the photos... let's get to eating!

FFFF - Pets!

My first pets were other people's pets. I have wanted a dog for as long as I can rememeber. But my parents were not (and still are not) "pet people". As a child I wasn't allowed to have a dog. So I adopted the dogs in my neighborhood. A large old English Sheepdog named Winston. A beautiful lab mix named Minnie. A german shepherd named Freedom. A husky named Nika and a sheltie named Jazz... he was my favorite. There were other's but those are ones I can think of off the top of my head. When I was 10 my parent's caved in and bought me a guinea pig. Not quite a dog, but I was thrilled anyway. I named him Buster after my grandparent's little scottie mix (Buster was "mine" when we would visit my grandparents in the summer.) Buster's death a few years later was traumatic. Fortunately, up to that point, I had not lost a "loved one". Buster was the first. Over the next several years I had other guinea pigs and a rabbit named Cadbury. Then, in January of 1993, my life changed forever. I had worked for a few years for a veterinarian. From time to time, an animal would get 'dumped' at the clinic. Dumping met a person would bring in a sick dog or cat that needed hospitalization. They would leave a cash deposit, bogus name, address and phone number and we would never see or hear from them again. The animal would get well and the clinic would be stuck with a healthy animal and a bill. I fell in love in with Rockie the day she was "dumped". She was a 10 month old dalmatian. When I found out she had been been dumped, I took the matter home to my parents. I still lived with them while I was going to college. I don't know what made them say "yes" that particular day, but they did. So I brought home my first dog. I really loved that dog and in some ways, I still do. On July 26, 2006 my husband took Rockie for a walk around the block. When they came home, Rockie had a stroke and died. She was 14. I really can't write any more than that.

Admittedly, it took me quite some time to work though losing Rockie. In some ways it's an on-going issue for me. But, the house seemed a bit too empty so decided to get another dog. This time I wanted a puppy, from a breeder so we could meet the parents (so to speak) and get a dog that didn't have "issues" like Rockie did. So, one thing led to another and we found Riley, our shih-tzu. Riley was born on December 29, 2006 and we brought her home on February 16, 2007. She's been a good dog and, as you can see from the pictures above, she's definitely Camille's dog. Camille also has a hermit crab named Carmine. He came home with us from our vacation in Ocean City. Camille takes really good care of him... he's still alive and thriving.

Here is my all time favorite photo of Rockie...

God, I miss her so much!

Beautiful Girl...

Can't wait to see the catalog!

Our 2008 Christmas Card

Camille brought this drawing home from Pre-K. I convinced her to add a Christmas tree so we could use the drawing for the cover of our annual card. I just LOVE how it turned out!

* Original art by Camille, age 4

Our Holiday Home

By request, here are some of our holiday decorations...

FFFF - Party Time!

Last weekend we attended the Little Rock Foundation Annual Children's Holiday Party. Well, Camille attended while I worked registration, so I didn't get the chance to take a lot of photos. And, unfortunately, most of the photos I took did not come out too well. Oh well, There is always next year.

Camille "helped" Frank the doorman greet the guests

(for about 15 minutes before she headed into the game room!)

Camille was picked to participate in the magic show.

Here she is on stage getting a rainbow balloon hat.

The magician John, is on stage inside the giant red balloon.

Bet you can't find Camille in this photo... Ha ha!

We met a family through the foundation who has twin boys (one is blind, the other is VI) The boys have a 4 year old sister named Alison. Alison and Camille get along royally!

Camille's rainbow balloon hat!

It was a really fun day! This coming weekend there are more parties planned. A princess party tonight (mostly for mommies, called "Drop & Shop" - you get the picture!), a 5th birthday party for Dakota and the Chinese School Holiday party. I am sure that by Monday, we'll all be pooped!