Schwartz Family

Happy 2008!
We had a very tame New Year's Eve- Anna was in bed by 8, Chris and I watched three episodes of Band of Brothers, went to bed, heard firecrackers before completely asleep and one of us mumbled happy new year. Envious? Unlikely.

So, we have been traveling about for the holidays. Before we left town, we had a little Christmas here one morning.
Anna had just woken up. She stares blankly:






Realization:





Stroller joy:



The day before we left PA, Chris parents, Uncle Bill and Aunt Gloria came up on their way out to Germany. Bill and Gloria gave Anna and baby doll and it was a huge hit. As she pulled back the tissue paper, she started squeeling "Bee-be! Bee-be!"



Friday night we drove to Baltimore. Saturday morning we flew into Atlanta and Anna met her cousin Will for the first time. Here they are in their pjs.



Out on the trampoline with Grandpa.






Woohoo static.



Then it was Christmas morning. Aunt Hannah was the first one up by far. Then Anna and a very reluctant mama. When all fourteen of us (that's the immediate family nowadays! My parents, siblings, two spouses and two babies) were awake we started opening presents. Anna and William were soon overwhelmed and started down the path of meltdown. Anna went down for a nap with a pile of presents still unopened. Here she is with her teaset.



This year, I definitely felt out of the young crowd. I hadn't really heard of half the gifts my siblings received. DS, docking station, PALM? I just said 'oh wow', and I remember my grandpa doing the same thing when I showed him my Sony discman 15 years ago. Guess I'm out of the technological loop.

In other news, I about to embark into the world of sewing. I am completely intimidated by my new machine. I haven't turned it on yet, even. She's a Viking and I'm too novice to unleash her without reading the instruction manual a couple more times. It's a new world to me and I'm excited.
Another new world- scrapbooking. Chris' mom gave me a gift cert to a scrapbooking site more than a month ago and I've spent hours and hours reading forums and trying to understand what all those tools are for. Those scrapbookers have their own lingo I tell you. Cuttlebug, wishwand, cricut, cropodile? I need to make a book up for Anna before this baby is born, and I want to get some of these fancy tools, but I don't know which things go with which and what all you have to buy to get started.
I'm finished working at Lands'End though so I have much more time to wrap my head around these new hobbies.

More to come...I lost my train of thought and I think I need lunch.