Presents!

Ok - since I went on and on about how much I love presents I figured I'd better post some of my favorite presents. Received... and given!

First of all, though, I have to say that I didn't get a lot of great pictures from Christmas since our camera is kind of on the fritz. It's a hand-me-down from Justin's sister that replaced the one Steele dropped on the floor and broke by accident. Neither were very good BUT, we got a nice money gift from Justin's parents so we'll be buying a new camera very soon (which I will then add to my list of favorite gifts received). You can't very well have two cute kids and a crummy camera now can you? We're considering these two cameras. I'd love any opinions you can offer. I'm leaning toward the Sony mainly because the reviews I've read on the Canon say that the flash takes a long time which, as those of you with children know, you cannot be sitting there forever with your children smiling away waiting for the flash to prepare. It just doesn't work.

Anyway, back to the presents. I gave some really good gifts this year, including a tank from Downeast for my mom and gift certificates to a cool book store and cafe that I'm sure she'll use quickly as she is a very avid reader. I also got my grandma this book


I got her the North American one last year. She likes them (I think) - she loves birds and they're really cool books. They include hundreds of pictures of birds and you can hear each of their individual songs. If you haven't seen them you should definitely take a look. Steele also loves them when we go over to her house to visit.

I got my little brother and sister these books. My sister, especially, is eating hers up.

Sorry - you can't actually "search inside."

But the best gift I/We gave was this gift for Steele.


I took him to Pottery Barn Kids before Christmas to see if he would actually play with it. He loves any kind of machine and we were constantly stepping over our vacuum at home since he had it out of the closet all day long playing with it. He LOVED it! And after we left the store I was pushing him along in the stroller and every time somebody would pass us in the mall he would say, "I was vacuumin'"..... "I was vacuumin" It was pretty funny. Here's a picture that he very graciously let me take of him this morning as he was watching VeggieTales. Notice the fake smile.

This one cracked me up too because he's still smiling
but couldn't resist turning his head to watch his show.

I received some very nice gifts as well. Honorable mention will go to these two.


I'm a big Dr. Oz fan and this completed my set. I've been enjoying reading it. His books are easy to read and are chock full of good information. You should definitely go on Amazon right now and buy them.

I also got some Lucky jeans from Justin which I picked out myself a couple months ago. I was good and didn't wear them until Christmas. But I have been enjoying them since Christmas morning when I opened them up.


But the prize for BEST GIFT RECEIVED 2007 goes to these babies....



Aren't they cute?! My mom got them for me and she was so nervous I wouldn't like them. But I LOVED them! Who wouldn't? Ok, well, my little 19 year old Russian gal that teaches for me gave me a raised eyebrow... but she wears spiked heeled boots that put holes in my fir floors so her opinion doesn't count.... But don't you LOVE them!? I've worn them a ton already - even with a cute brown skirt. Have I mentioned that I LOVE them?

So there they are, my favorite gifts of 2007. Oh wait, these ones are pretty special too...

Especially the nose-picking version


This one stands up all by herself!
With cute new jeans that her aunt picked out for her.