Christmas 2010

 Thanks to my buddy Mike, I made marshmallows. Homemade marshmallows. This is how they looked in the mixing bowl. STICKY!!!

 And here they are spread out in the pan.

 Here I've cut them up and shaken them in their coating of cornstarch and powdered sugar. They were delicious! Especially melting in homemade hot cocoa, which I also made on Christmas.

 Sam and Chelsea and I got together before Christmas to take some pictures of them for Bill. They came out really good. I made them black and white and framed them for Bill and he really seemed to like them a lot.

 Twas the night before Christmas.....

 Here's Bill with his Timberlake print that Kathryn sent him. He dropped it off to get it framed and it will go in his new room.

 Sam gave him this robe, which he also seemed to love. In fact, it's New Year's eve as I'm typing this and he's still wearing it :)

 This is one of the pics mentioned above...

 Sam got this scarf and gloves from Aunt Kathryn. Loves them! There were naturally many more gifts but I didn't photograph them all. And no one photographed me opening anything. That afternoon it began to snow.

 It snowed all night and this is what the front yard looked like in the morning. It was really beautiful. A perfect snow.

 Ace checked it out from his perch.

Samantha Turns 25

And absolutely refused to let me photograph the event.
I was able to sneak just two pictures.
I know! One minute she's in everyone else's birthday pictures, the next minute allows no photographs. Fickle little thing.
Happy Birthday, baby!!

Vardemis sure does love the Christmas tree!

Jimmy Turns 21

Jimmy is 21! Wow. Makes me feel old. On the day before his actual birthday, after a day of Christmas shopping, Bill and Samantha and I decided to make him dinner. He wanted spaghetti and I was happy to oblige. It's a shame that he and Samantha are so shy. :) Jimmy likes to don a hat before eating so his hair doesn't get in the way. Unfortunately, the only hat that would fit on his noggin was Bill's Crocodile Dundee hat.

My little Sam.

They are two peas in a pod. They were acting up and being silly.

Here comes the train!!!  Who's on it???  

Slurp slurp.Look at those ears! Thank God he says that's as large as he's going with that.

Pose up, kids!

Props are handy, too.

Sultry.

Jimmy is peeking out from behind Sam and his hair.

We bought a little cheesecake and put 21 candles on it.

Sam: "It looks like Jimmy's scared, Bill's at a soccer game and I'm posing for a school picture."

Make a wish!

The card was one of those musical ones. This one played "Cuz it makes me wanna shout! Throw you hands up and shout! Kick your heels up and shout!" They're dancing to the card.

Trying to steal the spotlight from the birthday boy, Samantha strikes a pose.

There she goes again. We got Jimmy a blue tooth headset for his phone. Not just any headset! He can stream music through this one. He seemed to like it. 

Told her to stop. Now she pouts :) 

This, by the way, is a Jawbone style blue tooth. Sweet.