I.O.U.

I owe you a post. It feels like it's been forever. I actually wrote a couple other posts but opted not to post them simply because they were written by a girl in a HUGE life funk. So while I'm trying to get past it here are some pictures to catch you up on the past week.

A Saturday walk @ the women's retreat during my photography lesson.

My view Mondays-Fridays

My "fr-enemy". The custard machine and I have a
love-hate relationship. It's learning that I'm in charge.

Saturday we left @ 4am to drive to New Jersey for
a half marathon. [more on this to come]

Me and niece #2
**dreaming & wandering when God will grant me
one of these**

The beginning of my Prayer Journal

Love, Love, Love

I LOVE my nieces. I spent Thursday afternoon with them. Well it was really more with my 3 yr old niece, since a newborn really requires more care from a mother than an aunt. The majority of our time together was running in circles. hahah. Who would have thought that just running around and around would be not just entertaining, but worth thousands of laughs and giggles. Sometimes we were running to the Disney party (as I think she called it) or playing hide and seek, or chasing [or being chased by] a dragon, or simply running into things...hahah. Imagination is boat loads of fun.

 Every time I'm with her, I try to snap some pictures. She however usually has something else in mind--like hiding her face. UNTIL I gave her a camera. She became the photographer and took TONS of pictures. Granted many were blurry because she moved the camera while pushing the button...but hey, even I do that now and then! Her favorite camera? an iphone..or as she calls it "the game camera" because she was also interested the other buttons she saw.

My niece + an iphone=adorableness

[note the death grip she has on it--no way she was going to give that up easily ;)]

and a photoshoot!

[I wasn't usually allowed to smile--had to make funny faces]

This was the first picture she took!

She's Here!

Since Friday/Saturday I had high hopes..grand expectations if you will for this blog post.  I thought I could show you this way cool video of my brother-in-law playing his bagpipes in honor of his last day in PA. But I didn't have my camera (can't believe that!) and I can't even seem to track down a single video of him. So I will keep working on that....


BUT in other very exciting family news, our family welcomed my new niece into the world at 1:29pm on December 28, 2009...Danica Ruth. And simply because I am not totally sold on plastering pictures of children all over the internet, I shall give you just 1...or 2 because I'm in love with this little lady.

[Top: The Proud Papa, Grandpa, Nana & baby Danica)

[Bottom: Nana holding her 2nd granddaughter]

[Below: The hubs and I getting some practice in :) ...and lovin on our new niece]

Okay, Okay...I know it was 4, but what do you expect. Could you only put 1 picture up? 

Yea, I didn't think so. Being an aunt is awesome!

5 Day Christmas Extravaganza--with pictures

We knew very early on that this year was going to be like no other...at least we can hope. I say that because we were BUSY. Everyday, we were going somewhere else. Let me explain.


Day 1: Christmas Eve- 4 out of 5 brother were home today. Which meant lots of catching up and a lunch with Granddad..yum. :) Followed by a Christmas Eve service at church. Once the family was settled after the service (all comfy again) with good food from a late dinner in our bellies, we played a family game of charades. Let's just say the "wedded" team lost even though we had 4 players. A combination of pushing the button at the wrong time and just plain hard words like "gas giant"--try picturing your mother in law doing that one--led to our demise.


Day 2: Christmas! The alarm---ohh yes, alarm--went off at 7:45 so that we could shower, pack, and be on the road by 9 to visit my family in Woolrich (the town where the store started/has the mill where things were made). It's a 2.5-3 hour drive.

We arrived during the present opening. Normally this happens after the food, but they were trying to wait for us to eat. I was very thankful. 

So we opened, we ate, we chatted and of course there was the opportunity to test out some of the gifts.

 This is one of my gram's cats that she saved from a shelter..Miss Daisy.

Day 3: A Clark Christmas Our time there was short lived because on Saturday the alarm sounded at 7:45am again to head back to Shillington for the Clark family Christmas gathering. I'm glad we were able to work it into our schedule because the WHOLE family was there. Even my sister in law who is scheduled for a c-section tomorrow [more on this later]

Here is the Clark Family Run-down. 

4 generations.1 Great-Grandfather who has 3 children w/ 3 spouses.

Those 3 parental units have a combined total of 13 kids--who now have 7 spouses.

And there are 4 great grandchildren (and 2 on the way)

If you lost count there are 30 people in this picture (but 1 spouse & 1 fiance are missing)

[it's a good thing they had stairs big enough]

Day 4: Zelinske Christmas Today ended up rather full as well. Church, V&S lunch [courtesy of Granddad & Pete], Eagles game, & gifts with my parents & grandmother.

Day 5: The finale I've dubbed this day the finale because I have nothing on my mental calendar after this day. Monday is Shady Maple with my Zelinske cousins to stuff more food into my stomach. But even more exciting is the birth of my 2nd niece. This is very exciting to me. The last time a baby came into the Linsky family, I was not even engaged yet. Wow--maybe we'll be next ;).

Now we have unpacking, organizing, and I'm sure some relaxing to do during this final week of vacation. The only present that I'm still hoping to get is a JOB. hahah 

Hopefully I have some awesome news to write about...meeting the next little baby girl. Otherwise, you may just hear some more about this year's extravaganza.

Christmas is here

Really, I can't believe that Christmas is this week. Even though I put up a tree after eating Thanksgiving dinner, and even though I put up our "tree", and even though I've been listening to Christmas music for quite awhile, it still does not feel like Christmas is on Friday!

Why?? I think it's because I have had little to worry about in the way of buying gifts. Because of our current situation, it was pretty obvious that we would not be buying gifts for anyone. I have however, spent a good deal of time making gifts for people. [it's much cheaper that way..usually]


Here is one project...or at least part of a project. [I can't show the final project yet...since it is a Christmas present for someone] I used a cricut machine and it was lots of fun. I experimented with printing numbers, letters, and shapes of all kinds and sizes. (this was taken in the midst of experimentation)

I'm happy to say that all gifts are finished, so I have some wrapping to do. Maybe tomorrow it will feel like Christmas when Greg is done with school.

T-minus 2 days until another brother comes home.
T-minus 4 days until Christmas.

T-mines 7 days until another niece is born!

...now to think of some more projects.

Ohhh, memories

Today I went with my mother in law to watch my 3 year old niece while my sister in law (who is going to have a baby girl in 18 days) had a dr. appt.
3 year olds are:

• full.of.energy
• imaginative
• particular
• opinionated
• and ohh so cute.

Playing with her reminded me of:

• pigtails
• dancing
• watching Blue's Clues with my brother
  
• dress up
• dolls
• playing house