Christmas!

So, I should probably be posting about Valentine’s Day and something mushy about my husband, but instead, here I am writing a very late post about Christmas, since I was waiting to get some pictures from my mom, as I had virtually none of my own. The season of celebrating started with a family gathering with my mom’s family in mid December - here are a couple highlights of Rayah trying to steal my cousin’s purse, Rayah examining some tissue paper, my sweet twin niece & nephew & my sister-in-law being a lovely Auntie.

 
 

Then we didn’t have any gatherings scheduled until December 29th and Joe and I both had about 10 days off from work, so we were anticipating a lovely holiday with our family, until Justice threw up for the first time in his life, followed shortly after by Rayah. Joe was puking the next day & then I followed suit the day after that! All four of us caught the stomach flu and most of us had liquid coming out of both ends – it was quite unpleasant! While Joe and I were both over it in a day or two, the kids took longer to get back to normal and poor Justice took the longest – we kept thinking he was better and then all of a sudden he would puke again. So, needless to say, we just hunkered down at home for about a week and it was good we didn’t have any gatherings to go to. We still tried to make the best of it though & we gave the kids their presents on Christmas Eve…

 
Justice gets his very own drum kit!

Rayah gets a play kitchen

Justice shows off his drumming skills & Rayah dances along

 
 

Then we went to my parents for a couple days to celebrate Christmas with them & my siblings. It was pretty low-key and we simply enjoyed spending time together – playing games, opening presents, eating food, eating more food, and playing on our cell phones – lol.

 
       Coloring with the kids                                               Having a text-speed contest!
 
Texting contest – Derek won, Nick was in 2nd and I lost – lol – but we were all very close!
 
Nicole & I playing Blokus (my favorite) & Rayah trying to feed her cousin
Ainsley a snack (doesn’t Rayah look HUGE next to Ainsley??)
 
Justice loves watching & playing with his little cousins!
 
No idea what we’re laughing about, but it sure looks like we’re having fun!
 
           Auntie Erin & Justice              Mommy & Rayah doing puzzles
 
Rayah gets a ride in her doll stroller & now that’s all she wants to do!
Justice & Auntie Erin play with the Makit toys.
 
Gift cards and a romantic getaway for all the couples!!

When we got home from my parents, we had packages at our door from Joe’s parents!! The fun never stops!

 
 
 

Lastly, in the beginning of January we had a family gathering with my dad’s family – this is always a big group, as he has 11 siblings and there are many cousins and second-cousins! Not nearly everyone was there, but it’s still a good crowd and Justice enjoyed playing hockey with some of my cousins & his second-cousins. Rayah just loved having the large open space to run around with her walker!

 
 

So, that was pretty much our Christmas - Joe and I are pretty laid-back when it comes to gifts, so we just each got to buy ourselves whatever we wanted, which ended up being some new clothes for both of us - but I do love my new jeans & boots!

 

Fall Family Foto Shoot

Sorry, I couldn’t resist the opportunity for some alliteration in the title of my post. I realize that this is REALLY belated, but now that I finally posted my updated review of my Christmas cards, now I feel like I can share the pictures from that photo shoot, taken by my friend Alyssa Rempel.  I already gave you a sneak peek with the post full of pictures of Justice, so I won’t include those again, but here are a few of my favorites from that day…

 

My parents with all their grandkids!

My whole family – Joe & I and our kiddos, my brother Derek & his wife Erin, my parents, and my sister Nicole & her husband Nick with their sweet & beautiful twins.

Shutterfly Review Update

Since posting my review of Shutterfly’s Christmas cards, I figured I should update you on how mine turned out!  I have mixed feelings about the entire experience, mostly because I was really disappointed that my Christmas cards didn’t arrive when I expected them to.  The projected date of arrival was December 13-17, which would have gotten them to me in plenty of time for all of our Christmas gatherings, however I didn’t get them until December 30th!  Now, I cannot really blame Shutterfly for this, as I’m sure they sent them out when they promised, but with the craziness of trying to mail things around Christmas time, it was something I didn’t take into account when ordering my Christmas cards online.

Secondly, I loved the layout and design of my card, but I can’t say that I’m sold on the card stock for the paper option. While it is perhaps more durable, I don’t find that the picture clarity is as sharp or the colors quite as brilliant as they would be with photo paper, so I would choose differently next time.

Lastly, since I received my cards for free due to a promotion, it was still cheaper for me to order them online even considering the pricey shipping and handling, but for us Canadians, that extra cost of nearly $20 is a definite downside to ordering online.

Overall, I am still very happy with my Christmas cards and how they turned out, but I may just take the extra time to design my own next year and try to have them printed locally.

365 Project – January

Well, I completed my first month of my 365 Photography Project and so far, so good! I enjoy the challenge and find it fun to wonder each day what my photo of the day will be? A couple days I couldn’t choose just one and on some days I was scraping the bottom of the barrel to try and come up with something. 95% of the photos were taken with my iPhone this month, with only a few taken with my point-and-shoot camera, but I’ve been enjoying using some of the fun photography iPhone apps like Instagram, Hipstamatic, Camera+, and PS Express.

Breakdown of topics:
Rayah – 9 pics
Justice – 5 pics
Joe - 5 pics
Me – 5 pics
Objects - 9 pics
Friends – 3 pics
Food & Drink - 4 pics
Prayer – 4 pics
Winter – 4 pics

To view larger images of my photos, you can visit my 365 Project blog at echoinghim.tumblr.com.

Do you have a favorite??