a budd family christmas

a christmas game of poker - dave lost a few bucks, I won a few :)

ellen's christmas outfit

all the boys got remote control cars, unfortunately dave's met an untimely end about ten minutes into the fun.

ellen helps pack

dave and ellen make faces

hugs for Raggedy-Ann

we won't be home for christmas this year, so we've decided we're all about instant gratification. If a present comes, it must be time to open it.

playing with blocks

ellen's interpretation of "If you're happy and you know it..."

ellen and I read the paper

...some more

Ellen is wearing shoes! this is a major accomplishment as she seems to have had some sort of major aversion to shoes. These are nice too, because although she can walk, ellen does not seem to enjoy it - so she can crawl in these no problem.

she's trying to hold out her foot for the camera and look into the display on the camera at the same time...

the epitome of ellen's camera smile

ellen's first christmas artwork, completed in nursery at church this morning

Ellen's art on the tree

dave and ellen watch video they just recorded...ellen loves to watch herself on camera

me

after a few subtle prods from jill, i'm making an attempt. we'll see how it goes. I suppose since it is the last day of class for the semester tomorrow this could qualify as procrastinating.

Ellen has been working on a special camera smile

another attempt

Dave negotiates for our tree

Success!

ellen allows her new doll to kiss her foot