Finally... Christmas pics.

I know, I know... it's not Christmas anymore... it's not even the Christmas season any more. However, I know you all still would like to see the Christmas pictures, so here they are. I'll be trying to get more pics up later today, and maybe a real post or something. I'm always optimistic that today will be the day that I figure out how to bend the laws of space and time to accomplish all the things on my to-do list. :)

Oh, and these are in backwards order... starting with Epiphany.

..."we two kings"...

Mmm... cookies!

Christmas aprons... thanks Grammy!

At Mom-mom and Pop's Christmas day!

Christmas morning 2 am.... thanks to Jim for the picture, and the cleanup!

"Why'd we get these unassembled again?"

Christmas morning, 12:30 am. Still wrapping gifts, and putting things together.

Christmas Eve - Cute dresses courtesy of GreatAunt Rita!

Wreath making - When did Maria get so grown up?

Aunt Becky and her wreath.

Outakes from the Christmas pictures.

Say, "CHEESE!"

This makes me laugh everyn time I see it...

The Mom Song from Northland Video on Vimeo.

Snow...sort of...

Here's some pictures of the girls playing around in our recent "wintery mix." It did contain some snow, but mostly ended up being little ice pellets. This did not deter the girls from wanting to go outside and play in the "snow." They enjoyed it, but we slightly disappointed that we couldn't make a snow man. Maybe soon we'll get some real snow... I think it's on Maria's Christmas list. ;-)

Poking at the "snow" on the bush with sticks. This kept them busy for about 10 minutes.

Ya, that swing set shouldn't really be out there...but there's no room in the garage.

Maria had to improvise a sled since we still don't have one.

Amelia very much enjoyed eating the snow, even thought I told her not to about 75 times.

Hot cocoa is the best way to warm up.

Yum!

Feast of St. Nicholas

Maybe next year, the kids will get more appropriate St. Nicholas day gifts, but for this year there was a princess theme. And instead of putting out their shoes to get gifts, they got slippers from St. Nick.

Then we baked Specuulas cookies. (Scroll down on the linked page for the recipe.)

It was fun, but exhausting, since I caught the annual "trip to Centre county cold." Wee!

The kids really got into it... they especially liked "trying" their new rolling pins. If I'd let Amelia roll the cookies would have looked like a mountain range - all peaks and valleys. Maria did pretty well, after a little instruction.


All in all, a fun feast day, and good start to the Christmas countdown.

Maybe next year we'll get one of those fancy St. Nicholas cookies boards, or at least a cookie cutter...but for now this one hand shaped St. Nick will have to do.

First Look.

Here's a small preview of what's to come.... Baby Volpe Number 3.

Baby is facing the "camera", with the head at the left, then two little dots for hands, then the body on the right. Baby looks just fine and was moving around a lot during the ultrasound. Baby is ten weeks young. :)

Praying for Life!

Join in the fun, and pledge to pray for our country here. You can still join in. I think that this is a great way to handle any post-election depression, and you might finally be able to make praying the rosary every day a permanent part of your spiritual life!

Now more than ever... support Pro-Life Causes.

A Baby's Breath Crisis Pregnancy Center
will host it's annual Silent Auction
on Friday November 14th
from 7:00 - 11:00pm
at the Sheraton Park Ridge
480 N. Gulph Road, King of Prussia PA 19406

Tickets can still be purchased
Call Maria Diesel for tickets/donations
610.430.0271 or email help@ababysbreath.org

Ugh... Obama Babies???

I find it terribly ironic that the followers of the most Pro-Abortion politician, now president-elect Obama, are actually celebrating his victory by having babies. It would be more fitting, if those who in a fit of revelry over his win tossed the contraception out the window only to regret the decision, days, weeks or even months later would then take advantage of the liberal, abortion on demand that Obama promises. That would seem more in line with his ideals and agenda.

Not that I'm suggesting this course of action however. Hopefully, if anyone does have regrets about going for an "Obama-baby" they will seek out help at the nearest pro-life crisis pregnancy center.

Please watch...

... a choice for Obama is a choice for more stories like these.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com


Ht: American Papist

Happy Birthday Amelia!

I can't believe she's two already. Maria was very happy for her, but also wanted to keep her in her place. She kept telling Amelia, "I'm three and on my next birthday, I'll be four! I'm a big girl. You're one, but you'll be two on your birthday. You're a BIG baby! And I know what big babies are called! They're called Toddlers!" This was pretty much the breakfast/lunch/snack conversation for the whole week preceding Amelia's big day, with a few other comparisons worked in for good measure. "I'm a big girl, I don't need a bib, but Amelia is a big baby so she still needs a bib!" and "I'm a big girl, so I get to sit in a big girl seat, but Amelia is a big baby so she needs to sit in the booster seat."

It's no wonder then that Amelia staged a small revolt the on her birthday and refused to wear a bib to eat her soup. She kept saying, "No, I big! I don't need bib!" and "No t'ank you!"

Of course, we may have set a precedent the night before at her party when we allowed her to fuss her way into sitting at the kids table for dinner. Though it did seem wrong to let a girl cry at her own party.

Here's some pictures from her party.

For Delbert.

I actually have four pics of the Egret eating the Mouse. In these two you can kinda see the mouse.
For all those who are confused see the comments here.

Random Pictures of the Girls and Stuff, in Random order.

Maria can climb very well now... even in a dress.

Maria: Soccer Star

Pillow Pile Playhouse.

What you find around the house when you have girls.
[Note: No, I didn't receive any money from either company who's products/logos appear in this photo. But I wouldn't be opposed to them sending me some. :) ]

Praying Mantis - How'd he get there?

Amelia zonks out on the floor after contemplating Mommy's Wii Fit for too long.

My pumpkinhead.

Maria's room of many colors. (Complete with a Tipsy Tower of Stuff Mommy doesn't want anyone to touch on the headboard of her bed.)

Impromptu Picnic of PB & J's on the Park Bench.

"Ook! I swinging!"

To lighten the mood a bit, some quiz results.

Your result for The Who Would You Be in 1400 AD Test...

The Prioress

You scored 5% Cardinal, 56% Monk, 59% Lady, and 43% Knight!

You are a moral person and are also highly intellectual. You like your solitude but are also kind and helpful to those around you. Guided by a belief in the goodness of mankind you will likely be christened a saint after your life is over.

You scored high as both the Lady and the Monk. You can try again to get a more precise description of either the Monk or the lady, or you can be happy that you're an individual.

Take The Who Would You Be in 1400 AD Test at HelloQuizzy

I like the part about me being a saint.

I suspect, however, that I shouldn't bet on the accurancy of this quiz.

Hate blogger, can't get the underline to go away....grr....

Who's looking out for the little ones?

I don't tend to post on politics, but I saw this picture at Mommy Life and felt I had to post it here.

It's from Milehimama, at Mama Says. Here's a link to her post.

I think that it puts forth in one image what the choice is about this election. Can we vote for someone who voted against the protection of infants born alive after botched abortions, or not?

If he's not willing to protect the "least of these" what reason do we have to believe that he'll protect the rest of us?

Check out Jill Stanek's site for more info on Obama's record.

Funny Fortune for You.

I've been too busy with the Run for Life and other A Baby's Breath things to post, but we got Chinese food today and I had to share this fortune:

Update on Amelia.

Well, I, being quite resourceful and having knowledgeable friends, managed to avoid a trip to CHOP, having discovered that they have a satellite diagnostic center near the KoP Mall.

So Monday morning, Jim took the morning off work, and we took Amelia for her testing. Siblings weren't allowed in the testing rooms, so Maria had fun in the toy filled waiting room, being zombified by the cartoons on tv.

Amelia did very well with the tests, pretty much taking everything in stride.

It turns out that she does have moderate urinary reflux, on both sides, meaning that when her bladder was being filled with the contrast, it traveled part way back up the ureters towards her kidneys. Obviously this is not a good thing if it's happening frequently and if it causing bacteria to infect the kidneys, which can cause permanent damage.

The treatment? Preventative antibiotics. Which may or may not work to prevent kidney infections, or reduce damage to the kidneys if an infection does occur. So even with antibiotic treatment we still have to watch her for signs of infection, so that she can be treated immediately if one should occur.

We don't like giving the kids medicine, unless we know it's needed so preventative antibiotics that aren't necessarily proven kind of rub us the wrong way. Fortunately, they are doing a study, in which some kids will have the standard treatment of preventative antibiotics and some will have a placebo.

We are hoping to take part in this, and of course hoping for a placebo. We already know that we'll be watching her more closely, so adding an antibiotic doesn't seem all that helpful. If we don't get in the study or choose not to do it (once we hear the full protocol) then we'll have to take Amelia to a urologist who will help us decide what treatment to follow and will help us monitor her to see if/when she grows out of the condition. Because most kids do grow out of it. And it seems that they are finding that it's increasingly being linked to the time of potty training.

So all this is a rather long way of saying that Amelia'a ok, and probably will be ok. Which is a nice change after all that excitement.

Another First for Maria.

I almost forgot to post these... Maria's first pictures. I just set up the camera, told her which button to push and let her do it. This is what she came up with. Not bad, huh?

Note: I hate Blogger! Despite the fact that I'm always able to move my text to above my photos after they're added, today's it's not allowing me to do that and it's trying to make everything bold. Grr....