Double Happiness

Hands

Family FotoFun Friday Challenge #22 
Post your pictures on your blog and leave a link and a comment here before 3/16/07. 

This week's photo challenge is "Hands". 

We have a surprisingly large number of photographs of our children's hands.  Maybe because we point the camera at them and they ignore it and run to us to show us something they're holding.... or a boo-boo.... or they point at something and try to explain in Baby-babble what the heck they're pointing at. Whatever the reason, it usually means that the only thing in focus is their tiny fingers -- or, sometimes, a booger. Or, maybe, like Gwen (in the picture on the left) they're trying to tell us that camera time is over and they don't want any more photos, Please! The two smaller photos are Gwen's hands lovin' her Lovey in 2005 and Maddy's hands a year later with a similar Lovey.  It's sorta weird (and sad) that our girls get such comfort from a simple washcloth. In the case of Gwen, we know for a fact that her SWI wrapped the crib board (not a matress) in a towel and, subsequently, most of the kids from her SWI get lots of comfort from fingering the corner of a towel or washcloth.  Gwen couldn't go a day without her "Lovey".  We're not sure about Maddy's crib conditions at her SWI but, interestingly, she was also attracted to the corner of the washcloth.  We don't know if it's because Gwen showed her this trick or if she figured it out on her own but Maddy loved washclothes from almost the first day we met her.  In the photo, above, Maddy's tiny hands work their way to the corner -- just like Gwenny.  This picture was taken  in China (at The Majestic Hotel in Nanning) on the 2nd day we had her. If you have photos of hands to share, please join our photo challenge this week.

These are (our) adult hands. 

The largest image is from our wedding in 2001 and the inset images are more recent. 

It's funny how often our kids see our hands.  We use our hands to caress them or clean them or feed them or play with them.   

Next to our eyes, our hands might be the part of our body that our children bond most quickly with. 

When we're cruisin' down the road, both of my girls want me to reach back and let them hold my hand.  I, obviously, can't do this from the front seat but we take turns letting them hold my hand.  They LOVE mommy's hand!

This week's FFFF participants:

1. Just Keep Swimming 2. GoGo 3. waiting4news99 4. Cannon Fishbowl 5. Nobody said there\'d be days like 6. Random Thoughts 7. MississippiZen 8. Waala Family Adventures 9. Mommy Spice 10. Twins! 11. And They Lived Happily Everafter... 12. season star 13. Motherhood and Other Ramblings

14. Journey with AnnaClaire 15. Now We Are Six 16. The View from Elk Mountain 17. Journey to Sarah Lu 18. Raising Cami Rose 19. Lily\'s Pad 20. Lily 21. Sophi and Sage 22. Hiking Through Life with Ian and LiLi 23. Chopsticks & Tabolli 24. Allison & Quinn 25. Stinky Mouse 26. Destination... Anywhere

27. Destination... Anywhere (the correct link) 28. mexican chopsticks 29. The Princess and the Pea 30. Our Three Daughters 31. Potter Family Happenings 32. Heather 33. LadyBug Journals 34. Chronicles of a lackadaisical Mind 35. Wee Sit Baby 36. A Mei Mei for Avery

In 16 years...

... maybe our two girls will be walking these beautiful corridors as students of Stanford University?

In the top photo, Gwen and Maddy set off in opposite directions (something they seem to always do which creates an extra challenge for their parents!)

In the bottom right photo, Maddy is standing inside a bronze statue created by Henry Moore.

Play-set

The play-set arrived today at 3 pm.  It came off the truck as three really huge boxes secured atop a wooden pallet.  The delivery guy said he couldn't take any of the packing materials away with him but offered to do it after we sweetened the offer with "a little something for his trouble".  It was WELL worth it! Putting this thing together is a pretty big task but Andrew came home from work a few hours early and the weather was incredible and it made the challenge look much more 'doable'.  Otherwise, we'd be waiting for reinforcements for sure!

He worked on it while I chased the girls around and tried to keep them from walking off with critical nuts and bolts -- or any of Daddy's super exciting looking tools.  Before the screws were even in place, they were climbing and sliding (and generally underfoot) but it's really fun to see them enjoying this in our very own beautiful backyard!

You'll all be seeing MUCH more of this play-set in the future since we're hosting our travel group's 18 month reunion at our home this year. Something tells me this super fun thing is going to see LOTS of action in the coming months!

After two hours, Daddy needed to go back to work to attend a dinner for a candidate. It'll be dark when he returns so we'll have to finish this up tomorrow. When it's all done, hopefully it'll look something like <this>.

Gimme (part 2)

Family FotoFun Friday Challenge #21 
Post your pictures on your blog and leave a link and a comment here before 3/9/07.

This week's photo challenge is based on last week's FFFF challenge.  The twist is that this week you get to list 10 things you DON'T like that start with the letter you were already given -- in my case, an A. 

Last week's challenge was the most popular ever (surprising since it wasn't one of my favorites) so I hope everyone has fun with this one too!   

. . . . . . . . . . 1.  Ants - these are eating a ladybug!!  How horrible is that!?!? 2.  Anger - what's the point.  It's such a huge waste of time. 3.  Alien Abduction - especially when probes are involved. 4.  Ashtrays - ewww! 5.  Arguments - especially when I'm not winning. 6.  Abstract Art - unless it's the brilliant work of a preschooler! 7. Acetaminophen - I much prefer Ibuprofen.  Works better, lasts longer. 8.  Airheads. 9.  Allergens - makes my eyes itch just thinking about it.  10. Arson.

Family FotoFun Friday Participants

1. Twins! 2. She\'s a-DORI-ble!!! 3. MississippiZen 4. Why do these kids keep calling me mom? 5. Sophie and Sage 6. Our Three Daughters

7. Just Keep Swimming 8. Journey with AnnaClaire 9. season star 10. Waala Family Adventures-H 11. Julie 12. Bringing Maura Home

13. Mission To Macie 14. And Babies Make Four 15. The Kid and I 16. And Chloe Makes 6 17. Karen