At 5am this morning Jared and I were suddenly and loudly awakened by a loud bang and then the sound of breaking glass…in our bedroom. With no explanation the window that serves as our headboard simply shattered. It’s a double paned window but only the inside layer of glass broke; so it couldn’t have been some sort of impact from outside. We have no explanation for it. We’re just glad that neither Jared or I were hurt. Our heads were sleeping exactly underneath this window. To take these pictures I was standing on our bed.  The big black strips are duct tape that I put on it to keep the big piece from falling and making a big mess. [gallery size="full" columns="1"]

This morning, as I was cleaning up the bathroom from their morning bath, WIn and Harriet dashed out to the living room and plopped themselves in the reading chair together and began reading. They would climb in and out of the chair to get more books, but they insisted on reading together in the chair. Even after I dressed them, they continued to read together.

In all of the flurry for packing for Thanksgiving I never posted these pictures of Win making the potatoes.  Jared worked late that night.  Win and I made 15 lbs of potatoes and Harriet nibbled on oatmeal while she watched us from her highchair.  After they were made it became clear to me that I hadn’t really communicated to Win that we weren’t going to eat the potatoes right away.  To be fair I gave him a little sampling for his dinner.

Each year I like to put out a little point and shoot recommendation. This year I’m going to offer 2. One for the traveler/partier who wants great pictures but doesn’t want to fuss the details of photography. This camera will take great pictures, and is small enough to fit in your pocket next to the wad of cash that you saved by buying it. The other is for someone who is interested in learning about photography, but wants a camera that doesn’t require a visit to a chiropractor after carrying it around all day.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ4K

This baby has some really amazing features for a point and shoot. RAW images, 2.0 min aperture, high ISO and 3:2 aspect ratio. If you don’t want to learn what these mean, this camera will just be a waste of money. If you are interested in learning about photography and want a point and shoot that you can really play with. This is a great buy.

Panasonic DMC-LX3S

It’s not a box.

I gave the kids a really big box to play with the other day.  Win decided that its best use would be a library.  He put a big pillow and a basket of books inside of it climbed in and insisted that I close the top.  He soon discovered that it was difficult to read in the dark with it closed and now he doesn’t mind having the top open.

By the end Harriet lost her cool with me as I was taking pictures of them when I was supposed to be serving lunch.

As I pulled into my parking space I couldn’t help but giggle at the american flag clad bumper sticker on the van next to me in the Ikea parking lot.  It said “Worried about your job? Keep buying foreign.”  I guess that maybe the owner of that bumper sticker is Swedish.