Project 365: Week Fifty

Just two weeks remain in the year; tonight, we are busily preparing to spend those two weeks at home in the good ol' U.S. of A.  Travel arrangements have been made, and our bags are {almost} packed.  Having learned our lesson on the trip here, we are definitely *trying* to pack lighter this time around.  Although our flight does not take off until Wednesday morning, we will be leaving our Little Dutch House tomorrow afternoon to spend an evening at a hotel in the airport just to ensure that we check-in on time.  We can't chance that we would miss our flight, now can we?

In addition to our luggage, we will also be traveling with runny noses, coughs, and sinus pressure.  Unfortunately, the fiftieth week of Project 365 brought us all colds.  On the plus side, though, Week 50 took us to another Christmas Market and brought me some beautiful lighting for indoor photography!

We know that they will pass quickly, but we are hoping to make the most of the final two weeks of 2013!  

344/365:  Tunnel Time

I caught this shot of Will playing in our tunnel with all of his stuffed animal friends on Tuesday afternoon.   As you'll read below, both Will and Maddie are getting a lot of use - and a lot of fun- out of the tunnel these days!  

345/365:  O Christmas Tree

It's been difficult for me to see pictures of beautifully decorated Christmas trees on Facebook and Instagram while our tree is still packed in a bag in our garage at home.  We'll put it up and decorate it soon after we get home, but I've been getting a little impatient.  So, on Wednesday afternoon, Maddie  painted a Christmas tree to decorate and hang in our Little Dutch House.  Will didn't want anything to do with the painting of his tree, so I had to step in and do it for him.

346/365:  Trimming the Tree

Will may have had no interest in painting the Christmas trees the day before, but he was willing to help decorate the trees on Thursday...until his hands became sticky with glue.  I had to take over from there.  

347/365:  Tractor Push

On Friday afternoon, we were graced with the gorgeous sunlight that every photographer hopes for.  For once, I was actually happy that Maddie woke up early from her nap so that I could take pictures of her at play in the sunlight streaming into our Little Dutch House.  I took about about a hundred pictures of her playing that afternoon, but this one was one of my favorites.  

348/365:  Kerstmarkt

On Saturday, we checked out the Kerstmarkt (Christmas Market) that had come to our town.  We visited it briefly as a family before I returned to shop and take pictures later in the evening.   

349/365:  Can't Get Enough

Maddie and Will have gotten more use out of their tunnel in the last two weeks than they have since receiving the tunnel from Great Grandma Joan last Christmas!  Remarkably, they have bonded over it!  It is fairly typical to see them fighting over toys; it is a common occurrence that I must take a toy away because they cannot seem to share it.  Yet, they have found a way to play cooperatively with the tunnel.  Maddie fills it with stuffed animals and blankets while Will crawls inside and rolls around. Maddie may occasionally join Will in the tunnel, too.  I have heard a lot of twin giggles coming from the tunnel in the last two weeks!

350/365:  Bee Bo

This may sound really nerdy, but this is a picture that I have "dreamed" of taking.  It's a shot that I have wanted to get for a long time, but have never managed to pin it down...until today.  Maddie and Will like to show off their belly buttons to anyone interested in looking at them, and when they're not displaying their belly buttons for others, they often like to examine their "bee bos" for themselves!  Up early from her nap again this afternoon, Maddie was proud to show me her belly button when I asked her if I could see it, and then she went about poking and prodding her tummy long enough for me to get the picture that I have long sought after.