Merry Christmas!

Our first official gift opening is tomorrow. Thus starts the Christmas rush. Guess we'd better finish up that last minute shopping! It's been a wonderful year for our family. Full of changes, but very fulfilling. Our girls bring so much joy to our lives!

For those of you who haven't yet received our card in the mail - don't feel left out! I haven't mailed them yet. This is so unlike me, but this year has been absolutely CRAZY with my photography business, and in the mad holiday rush I didn't have time to devote to hunting down addresses, etc. I'm just considering them "Holiday" cards and hope to have them out by new years!

Until then, here's a peek. Hope all is well with you and yours.

Reading Quiz Results

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Literate Good Citizen You read to inform or entertain yourself, but you're not nerdy about it. You've read most major classics (in school) and you have a favorite genre or two.
Dedicated Reader
Book Snob
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

Tis the Season...

Answers to a Christmas email from a friend... Feel free to copy and paste & send on!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper
2. Real tree or artificial? Love real trees, but ours are artificial & pre-lit!
3. When do you put up the tree? Typically, the day after Thanksgiving, this year I had it up the week of Thanksgiving.
4. When do you take the tree down? the 26th - Mallory's birthday is the 27th, so I want Christmas to be over.
5. Do you like eggnog? No.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I always felt blessed at Christmas - not one thing stands out... maybe a Holiday Barbie.
7. Do you have a nativity scene? No
8. Hardest person to buy for? The men...
9. Easiest person to buy for? Mom :)

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Slippers come to mind...

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? mail
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? White Christmas (hands down!)
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually in November... this year... um... haven't started yet.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Probably
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Mom's millionares.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear

17. Favorite Christmas song? Sleigh Ride

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Depends... we've done both.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? Yes

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel on one, bow on another.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? both

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? shopping traffic/crowds
23. Best think about this time of year? Giving attitues and an increased focus on family.

It was one of those moments...

when I realized Clara was all too quiet...

Meme from Mim. =)

What was your first childhood pet?
A puppy named "Pickles"

What was your favorite comic?
As a child? Not sure really. Probably Peanuts.

What was your favorite childhood book?
Too many to list! A few favorites were "The Troll Music" by Anita Lobel, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig, Mr Pine's Purple House by L. Kessler, Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day by J. Viorst & "Pickles the Fire Cat" by E. Averill

Did you have an imaginary friend as a child?
Yes. Her name was Jenny (I think!)

Did you play an instrument as a child?
No. Played Clarinet in band starting in the 6th grade.

What was the first hit single record you bought?
I don't remember. I wasn't really big into pop music as a child/teen.

What tune sums up teenage summers?
I don't know... "Paperback Writer" comes to mind and I can't get it out of my head now to think of other options. =) I always had my nose in a book.

What was first pop concert you went to?
The first concert I went to was a Chicago concert after I was married.

Fave teenage TV program?
Loved watching Wonder Woman as a child... as a teen, I can't remember a real favorite. In college it was Friends/Seinfeld.

Were you a naughty or a good girl at school?
Good, of course.

Miss Popularity, Artsy Pants, weirdo or geek, which of these groups classify you at secondary[high] school?
Probably geek... I was president of the Math Club. Wasn't "popular" but always had a small group of friends. Didn't ever have an Anne/Diana friendship, though.

Girl most likely to [as in year book]?
Didn't make the most likely to list, but I imagine people would have expected me to be successful with whatever I did.

What color did you paint your bedroom as a teenager?
The walls were mauve - had forest green and burghandy accents.

Very first paid job ever?
Babysitting

first REAL job?
Retail knick-knack store

Have you ever been really drunk?
Nope

Did you smoke dope?
Nope

A stupid thing you did?
I was pretty straight-laced ijn high school.. I'm sure there were things I did that were stupid, but no one thing really sticks out in my mind.

Left handed or right handed?
Right handed.

Board game player?
Occasionally

If you came to visit me what would we do?
Hang out with my kids during the day... go shopping, hang out at Starbucks in the evening after the girls were asleep & the spouses stayed at the house to watch them.

So how about you?What were you like as a child and teen? What would we do if we visited?

Mallory's First Day

For those of you who I haven't talked to in a while, it may come to a surprise that we enrolled Mallory in public school. I still believe that homeschool is probably the best option for her, but it looks like I'm going to be joining the work force soon. After much prayer and consideration, we made the decision to make the move.

Today was her first day, and she LOVED it. She was very excited and it exceeded her expectations. God was taking care of us when he put Mallory in the same class as her friend Cami. They even get to sit next to one another. I hope that doesn't become a bad thing!

Here are some pictures from her first day...

The rest of the story...

Here are the rest of the girls Pumpkin patch pictures:

http://lauraodom.photosite.com/OctoberPictures/

Be sure to click "View Full Screen" to get the full effect of the slideshow!

Curious Clara

Clara is definitely my little monkey. She climbs in and on everything! I find her in the bathtub, in cabinets, on top of chairs & couches, you name it, she can climb on it. She keeps us on our toes, and is cute enough to get away with it. =)

What should I be when I grow up?

Found this on a friend's blog... thought it was interesting...

Your Scholastic Strength Is Evaluating

You are great at looking at many details and putting them all together. You are talented at detecting subtle trends, accuracy, and managing change. You should major in: Statistics Speech Conflict studies Communication Finance Medicine

Statistics - I can see that. Love crunching numbers (I know, I'm odd).
Speech - Well, my real major was communication disorders, so that covers Speech Pathology. Not sure if that's what they mean or not.
Conflict studies - No way! I avoid conflict like the plague. I hate confrontation.
Communication - ?
Finance - Wouldn't hurt, since I do own my own business.
Medicine - nope, too squeemish & unsympathetic.

What Should You Major In?

Pumplin Pickin' Time

We made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch last week.
Here are a few pics of the girls: