(no subject)
For the past month or more - since Blaine has been out of town for his crazy November schedule - Tariah has been unable to go to ballet class due to the fact that I don't have time to take her. Between watching Tyler and my kids during the day, getting the kids to mom's house, and going to work, there is no time to take her and pick her up. It sucks a lot especially because I am paying for it, but hopefully I will be able to take her this week since I don't have to work Tuesday. Anyway, I can see it paying off whenever I see Tariah dancing along to music in the living room. For a three-year-old, she is often extremely graceful. Today she was dancing to the Trans Siberian Orchestra. It's so cute - she's gorgeous. I can tell the ballet is really paying off, and I know it's also good for her to be in a classroom-type atmosphere on a regular basis to prepare her for school. I personally don't think that she needs preschool. I never had preschool, and I turned out rather well, I think. :-) I believe that if I prepare her to the best of my ability, then she will do just fine. I am not worried. I mean, if my three-year-old can write her name, I think she is going to do ok.
Today we took family portraits. I think next year I am going to try and swap services with a professional photographer because this is just too hard. Ton and David are really good at helping out, especially when the camera is on a tripod, but a professional just really knows how to get the best shot. I want gorgeous portraits to put up in my house, and I am sure there is another photographer out there who would like to get the same for their family for free. We'll see. I will post some of the shots we got soon, but Blaine is on the computer in the office and I am hesitant to uproot him. I like to let him do his own thing so that he doesn't feel like I always expect a lot of his time when he is here. He has been really great about spending quality time with us and helping out this week. Anyway, I will post pics when he gets away from the computer.
Thanksgiving was nice. We had a lot of people here - 22. We set up an additional long table in the formal dining/living room area so that we could accommodate all of the adults. It turned out that the four kids ate at the table in the kitchen, and Lindy and Scott sat at the couch next to the tables in the dining area. We set the tables for a nice sit-down dinner, and I think it turned out just beautiful. My centerpieces turned out awesome. I will post pics of that too. Also, we got to use mom's china, and I really love that stuff. It looked great, and it wasn't all flowery or anything. I called dibs on it, as bad as it sounds. :-) Hey, I want some china to pass down! So as far as who was all there, it was Josh and Natalie's family, Ton and David, Ty and David, Mom and Larry, Aunt Renee and Uncle Tod and family, and their nephew, niece, and her boyfriend. I have taken a lot of portraits of Melissa and some of her boyfriend Robert too, so it was nice to see them for the holidays.
I didn't go shopping early Friday. I didn't think we could afford it, so I skipped it this year. Instead I slept and slept and slept. I finally decided to get up for the day around 4pm. Then Blaine and I tried to figure out where to eat for a couple of hours, and finally ended up at The Dancing Tomato. We had pasta and then headed to Wal-Mart to see if the place was sold out yet. Lucky for me, I found the digital camera that I wanted to get for Tariah. It was sold out all over online, and on Amazon it was going for almost $100 from private sellers. It cost half of what I want to spend on her for Christmas, but I know she will love it. We also stopped to get some decorations for the outside of the house since Blaine has been wanting to decorate forever. I am just not into it unless I know I can do exactly what I want. Well, Blaine wanted icicles (which I think are played out), but we couldn't find anything more original to go with. We also got net lights to go over the bushes and some pretty garland lights to go around the windows. Blaine wanted to get more, but I told him that it was enough. That man must get his decorating skills from his mama. A lot of decorating and all over! The only thing that I really picked out was a gold star to go on our front door. Can't wait to see it all up!
I have a really busy day tomorrow - I always plan my weekends to the very last minute. I have to meet a client downtown for a few minutes and then we have to take Nikita home. Then I have to be back in Yuba City to work at 5:15.
Today we took family portraits. I think next year I am going to try and swap services with a professional photographer because this is just too hard. Ton and David are really good at helping out, especially when the camera is on a tripod, but a professional just really knows how to get the best shot. I want gorgeous portraits to put up in my house, and I am sure there is another photographer out there who would like to get the same for their family for free. We'll see. I will post some of the shots we got soon, but Blaine is on the computer in the office and I am hesitant to uproot him. I like to let him do his own thing so that he doesn't feel like I always expect a lot of his time when he is here. He has been really great about spending quality time with us and helping out this week. Anyway, I will post pics when he gets away from the computer.
Thanksgiving was nice. We had a lot of people here - 22. We set up an additional long table in the formal dining/living room area so that we could accommodate all of the adults. It turned out that the four kids ate at the table in the kitchen, and Lindy and Scott sat at the couch next to the tables in the dining area. We set the tables for a nice sit-down dinner, and I think it turned out just beautiful. My centerpieces turned out awesome. I will post pics of that too. Also, we got to use mom's china, and I really love that stuff. It looked great, and it wasn't all flowery or anything. I called dibs on it, as bad as it sounds. :-) Hey, I want some china to pass down! So as far as who was all there, it was Josh and Natalie's family, Ton and David, Ty and David, Mom and Larry, Aunt Renee and Uncle Tod and family, and their nephew, niece, and her boyfriend. I have taken a lot of portraits of Melissa and some of her boyfriend Robert too, so it was nice to see them for the holidays.
I didn't go shopping early Friday. I didn't think we could afford it, so I skipped it this year. Instead I slept and slept and slept. I finally decided to get up for the day around 4pm. Then Blaine and I tried to figure out where to eat for a couple of hours, and finally ended up at The Dancing Tomato. We had pasta and then headed to Wal-Mart to see if the place was sold out yet. Lucky for me, I found the digital camera that I wanted to get for Tariah. It was sold out all over online, and on Amazon it was going for almost $100 from private sellers. It cost half of what I want to spend on her for Christmas, but I know she will love it. We also stopped to get some decorations for the outside of the house since Blaine has been wanting to decorate forever. I am just not into it unless I know I can do exactly what I want. Well, Blaine wanted icicles (which I think are played out), but we couldn't find anything more original to go with. We also got net lights to go over the bushes and some pretty garland lights to go around the windows. Blaine wanted to get more, but I told him that it was enough. That man must get his decorating skills from his mama. A lot of decorating and all over! The only thing that I really picked out was a gold star to go on our front door. Can't wait to see it all up!
I have a really busy day tomorrow - I always plan my weekends to the very last minute. I have to meet a client downtown for a few minutes and then we have to take Nikita home. Then I have to be back in Yuba City to work at 5:15.