thelennards.com

Prompted by the snowfall about 3 weeks ago, I’ve put up several sets of recent photos. I haven’t seen snow like this since I was about 10 years old and living in Wichita Falls. And, frankly, I’m not sure how much of that is exaggerated by the span of time. Needless to say, the kids were excited and had a great time playing in the rare Texas snow.

This set also includes all of the photo sets from the holidays until now.  As always, it has been several months since my last update, so there are many new photos.  And, since I’ve acquired the DSLR, I tend to take too many photos anyway.  If I were paying to develop film, I’d have to hold down a second job to support my habit.  Instead, you are subjected to an endless stream of pictures.  And, most of those are ones of a gushing parent no less!

If you are feeling particularly adventurous and want to take it to the next level of family video, you can find a link at the bottom of the photo gallery section on the main page.  As part of a rewards program, I just received a free bloggie. Since that will make transfer even easier, I’m sure you will be able to subject yourself to new sleep-inducing family videos more often. Aren’t you lucky?

Photo Updates:
• Thanksgiving 2009
• Trip to the Fort Worth Zoo with the kids
• Skip’s Birthday Party
• Jason’s 40th Birthday
• Supply Chain Systems Holiday Party
• Hanukkah 2009
• Christmas 2009
• The kids are involved in preschool gymnastics as their daycare. They held a “Mini-Olympics” toward the end of January.
• Playing in the snow during the record breaking snow on February 11th. This set also includes a few photos from following morning showing the final result.

Mother Goose had it right again. “Snips and Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails” Compared to Rachel, Ben is the proverbial bull in the china closet. The poor kid has already beat Rachel hands down in the cuts and bruises department. The little guy has trouble letting a week go by without a knot on his head or a new cut or scrape. Rachel has her legs much better than Ben does currently. He still wobbles when he walks complete with the occasional unexplained fall.

Photo Sets Since Last Update:
Thanksgiving with the Brenners
Some just random photos of Ben and Rachel from November 2007
Becky’s trip to NYC in December
Typical Ben – Stuck in a chair
Christmas in Wichita Falls with the Lennards and Thompsons
Hanukkah with the Brenners
Christmas Eve and Day with the McCoys and Lennards

Photos from January 2008
Photos from February and March 2008
Rachel and Ben loved the egg hunt at Children’s Courtyard
Can you believe Rachel is three? We can’t!

Rachel is still very rough and tumble herself. But right now, more noticeable is the fact her cognitive ability is growing by leaps and bounds. It is amazing to watch her 3 year old imagination at work. She constantly creates imaginary worlds for us to explore. Typically the setting consists of her everyday experiences at daycare and here. Like going to the grocery store (aka the living room) to buy dinner with her friend Sarah (who is nowhere to be seen.) It is the best thing in the world. I’m trying to be fully present every moment of it. I realize it is a temporal thing and don’t want to miss a thing. Plus, I need these memories when she is tired and cranky and pushing every one of my buttons!

You’ll often hear yourself when she talks. Which she does constantly. For instance, when she asked our friend Eduardo, “Do you understand my words?” Or will question her brother. “Do you have your listening ears on?”

Remember galley kitchens? We recently learned that one of our cousins, Shana Gadarian was in the local paper discussing hers.

As long as it has been since a real post, I should really make this one longer. But, it is late, and I must prepare for a vacation coming Tuesday. Hallelujah! Perhaps my batteries will be recharged in a week, and I’ll post more often. <wink>

The holiday season has officially begun for the Lennard family. For the first time in my memory, we actually celebrated Hanukkah with Becky’s family during the holiday. Since Becky starts back to work from maternity leave the week after Christmas, I also took a week’s vacation this week to be home with her and Ben. We took advantage of my being home to travel to Wichita Falls and visit Aunt Geneva, Uncle James, Mark, Diane, and the Thompson wild bunch.

New Photos:
Hanukkah Celebration with Becky’s Family
Our Visit to Wichita Falls for Christmas

We got together on the 16th of December, the second night of Hanukkah, to celebrate with Becky’s family. Sharon brought in barbecue from Rudy’s. As always, we sat down to some great food, and then enjoyed exchanging gifts. Rachel was old enough to really enjoy the holiday this year. Next year, she and Ben both should get a kick out of the evening.

We typically head up to Wichita Falls for Christmas Eve. It is always a mad dash back home for Christmas morning with my Mom. Since I was off this week, we took the extra time and traveled into Wichita Falls on the 19th instead. We were able to spend a couple of hours with Aunt Geneva, Uncle James, and Mark in the afternoon. It had been a year since we’d been able to see them, and they were amazed by how much Rachel had grown. Unfortunately, we Uncle Bill and Aunt Janice were not able to make it. Uncle Bill was suffering from a virus and wisely decided not to expose Ben. It was so nice to get to catch up. We hope we’ll see them again after the first of the year.

After spending the afternoon with the Turnbows and Butchers, we headed out to Randlett, Oklahoma to spend our Christmas with my stepbrothers, Brent and Heath, their wives, Cory and Trudi, my stepmom, Diane, and all the nieces and nephews. Cory laid out quite a spread of finger foods; so much I never even managed to get to the cherry cheesecake. You know that means I was *full*! Just like earlier in the afternoon, it was really great to get to see everyone. We only seem to manage to get together at the holidays, so there is always so much to catch up on and not nearly enough time. Poor Rachel was coming down with a bad cold and after the long day, she was fading fast. You can see in the last few photos of the set that she was not her normal energetic and jovial self.

All in all, the holiday season has really started well for us this year. It really reminds us how thankful we are to have such a big and great family!