Stepha-Roo and Gwendolyn Too!: Christmas in March

As St. Patrick's Day approaches, I find that I have gotten further and further behind on the blog! In February, we went to Disney World, and once I have gathered all of the photos up from that, I have a big blog post planned, but in the meantime, I realize I didn't even post any Christmas photos. Now Christmas seems like a million years ago, and I have long since forgotten any small stories about the week (which is unfortunate, as that is one of the main reasons I keep the blog!), but it feels important still to have some of the photos out there for at least those parts of the memory.
This year's trip was to my family only, which meant fairly minimal driving. We were able to visit with a lot of family, but you wouldn't know it looking at the photos, as I apparently stuck to taking pictures of my two favorite photography subjects. Earlier in the month, I spent a weekend with Alaina, sans kids, and got some camera lessons, and I was working really hard to practice and get some of the photos I thought I should be capable of. There was mixed success, but now that I know some of the more basic principles of using my camera, I think I will generally be more successful, especially in the dreaded low light environment.
One of the highlights of the trip was a visit from my Aunt that brought a snow machine for the kids to play with. It was a fairly warm day and the since snow was fake, so it was exactly the kind of snow play I love.
Kevin and Stephanie got to go to the movie theater to see Rogue One. Gwen became completely obsessed over the toys at my Mom's (dollhouse things that never appealed to Stephanie much but that have now fully had their use with her hours and hours of play).

Christmas present yoga!

Learning the low light settings on my camera!

Mom had about 4 little signs like this... I let Stephanie choose between them "Family" and "Love" were also options. "Relax" was her pick. It was appropriate for the week, but gotta say I thought some of the others were more what I wanted her to choose for the photo op!

Went for our third year at Lewis Ginter Gardens for the lights show. Still very cool, and a lot of (mostly failed) opportunities with my camera. I think it will be our last year for a while. It is very cool, but it doesn't change all that much each year and is a pretty significant drive and expense. I think we will all appreciate it more if we take a few years off.

BUT there WAS this. The train room has stained glass buildings in the little town that the train went around. We almost didn't wait in line for the trains, as we have seen them several times before. What a fantastic surprise! I could have stared for much longer than we were able to stay.

Here is a Mom lesson. I was really annoyed that Stephanie was making silly faces when I FINALLTY got a picture in which Gwen was looking and smiling. Three months later and it is a funny picture to me. SO apparently I just need 90 days more than Stephanie to find the funny in the silly.