holiday picture

i have been feeling rather behind not posting christmas pictures for days. it is mostly b/c i havent felt like it. we have had such a relaxing week and holiday that not much has promted me for action. so here, are just a few pictures from our christmas. more details to come once the new  year roles around and my laziness rolls along.




opening presents, what fun

 


re-decorating the buche de noel, notice she did not miss an opportunity to wear her party hat




with our christmas tree





fun with daddy

 

lots of time for fun and laughs

Solstice 12.21.2010

The moon continues to emerge from a total eclipse at 4
http://helenair.com/news/national/article_3ed99a24-81e8-5fc3-aadf-d77df724fb23.html

Skywatchers got an early holiday present this year: A total eclipse of the moon.
Hanging high in the sky, the moon slowly turned from bright silver into a red disk early Tuesday.
A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth casts its shadow on the full moon, blocking the sun's rays that otherwise reflect off the moon's surface. Some indirect sunlight still pierces through to give the moon its eerie hue.
The 3 1/2 hour celestial spectacle was visible from North and Central America where skies were clear. Portions of Europe and Asia only caught part of the show.
The totality phase _ when the moon was completely immersed in Earth's shadow _ lasted 72 minutes.
Since the year's only total lunar eclipse coincided with winter solstice, the moon glowed high in the sky.
The last time this occurred was more than three centuries ago on Dec. 21, 1638. It will happen again on Dec. 21, 2094, according to U.S. Naval Observatory spokesman Geoff Chester.

The longest day of the year has passed and now, we are welcoming all the light we receive. Francesca keeps saying, "mama, its dark outside again". all I can say is yes, it is winter time. She replys, "why?" I guess she is holding on to the long days of summer filled with walks and farmer markets (saturdays still receive the good morning, "its farmers market day!") and fun outside. we have been trying to have fun inside but all i seem to do these days is lay around a hack and cough...frannie is a little too. we have filled in the time enjoying the moonlight. with the BIG countdown to christmas this week, we have been distracted from the darkness by the thought of opening the presents under the tree and having some precious moments with our two year old. the christmas pageant for freya will also be a highlight for frannie.

today, the children at jacobs ladder preschool will be celebrating too. the little angels and shepards are about to celebrate the season together and enjoy some silly fun and singing (Lea will be bringing treats to aid in this). next week frannie will be at home with us and taking a break from all her school friends. she hasnt gone that long without them-it will interesting how many playdates will result from the time away. her friends are everything to her. we are so lucky to have landed with a peaceful and joyful place to learn. thank you teacher Jan!

we hope everyone is filled with the spirit of christmas and the joy of the season and the return of the light. Happy Solstice!

SKI GD

Frannie took her first shot at skiing this weekend. We took her up to Great Divide Ski resort http://www.skigd.com/ and she had a great time. When we tried a boot on her, she replied, "I want the other one!". The hardest part was convincing her that she was not ready for the lift-ski (ski lift) and going fast like all the other skiers. Now we just need to find some little skis for her to use around town and to practice, practice, practice.

One...

...two...

...three!

Last run-awesome day!!

Lou and I finished up with the holiday preparations: tree-up, shopping and packaging done, christmas cookies finished. We are having some warm weather and figuring out what small amounts of house work we can do to help the house in the winter. We seem to have a few uninvited earwigs taking roost in our house and we are on a mission-destroy the invaders. They creep me out more than anything else possibly could http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earwig/. Now we are enjoying the few days left of December before the holiday takes hold and work ramps up for me. Once the Legislative sesison starts http://leg.mt.gov/css/default.asp, Lou will be Mr. Mom (sorry Frannie). We should be able to sqeeze in some fun if I have any energy left.

Tree Cutting

Lou and I have always gone out to find the perfect tree for christmas not in a lot, but in the forest.  We found this great place a few years ago and found this year, they are logging it. They are logging to remove the dead trees affected by the pine bark beetle but it is still hard to grasp. Frannie noticed all the dead trees and would not stop asking why they were cutting them down. I guess she has a lot to learn about forest ecology.  We trudged through the snow and found the perfect tree for Francesca's third christmas. She is excited to have one in our house and put decorations on it. It was a beautiful outing and another memorable Christmas tree cutting.


Our tree




Forest View




Big Sky Frost




Crawling in the Tree





Forest Ecology: This is how a tree grows

 

Festivus

This weekend was exhausting. There were so many activities going on in Helena that I felt like the holiday season. We bounced Frannie around and were able to fit in a lot of fun. One thing that I really came to grips with is that I have a truely great kid. I didnt need a book or website to shine this light on me or a mommys group. Everything that we have worked on with her has paid off-we had a great time with her and, from all her singing I believe she liked doing it all with us. She was okay with Santa this year and we forgot to grab a photo with our camera. We did take some pictures while she was Rudolph and with a tree. We got into the moment and didnt feel like we had to document it all. Frannie thinks that everywhere we go there will be Santa and that he should just come to our house today, and not at Christmas. It will be a hard wait this year.



Rudolph




Cookie Decorating




Festival of Trees