Finally! Little Miss Meredith has just enough hair that I can get it into pigtails! Homegirl is 22 months old! The only trimming I've done was to snip off the weird little rat-tail she had on one side in the back a couple of months ago. The pigtails are pretty thin, but they're pigtails nonetheless! I was just a little excited. Texted a lot of people about it. Ha! So, I figured it was a fancy-camera-worthy moment. :)

Ha!  She was running by and noticed Anna's door was open for a split second!  Anna has a pretty strict no siblings allowed rule. — Ha! She was running by and noticed Anna's door was open for a split second! Anna has a pretty strict no siblings allowed rule.

This was much later in the day.  She didn't pull them out! — This was much later in the day. She didn't pull them out!

For New Years I bought the kids some fireworks, just sparklers and snakes and smoke bombs, but I was bummed that the sparklers I got were so crappy I didn't have time to light them, pick up my camera, and take a picture. They were literally 8-second-sparklers. "/ So, I'd asked Josh to pick up bigger sparklers on his way home the next day (January 1st). Apparently they were already all sold out of the bigger sparklers, so I didn't manage to get a cute pic of any of the kids holding one. :( Boo!

But while he was there, Josh picked up some fancier fireworks! I knew these were going to scare the littles, and sure enough they did. Wallace and Meredith darted for the house. I coaxed them back out and got them to sit in my car so they could still watch. I watched many fireworks displays out the back window of my Mom's car as a child.

Anyway, I tried just getting pictures of the fireworks, but this is apparently a difficult art to master. Still, They were pretty fun!

Ha!  I was so focused on using a long exposure and high aperture that I forgot to attempt to focus....which, how the heck are you supposed to focus on something up in the air, in the dark, before it happens??? — Ha! I was so focused on using a long exposure and high aperture that I forgot to attempt to focus....which, how the heck are you supposed to focus on something up in the air, in the dark, before it happens???

I ended up guessing that these were flying up about 50 feet, which is about how far away Josh's truck was from us, so I set the focus off that and of course none were centered again.  Lessons learned, use the wider lens, get away from all the t… — I ended up guessing that these were flying up about 50 feet, which is about how far away Josh's truck was from us, so I set the focus off that and of course none were centered again. Lessons learned, use the wider lens, get away from all the trees (which you can't see in the dark!!), and haul out the tripod. I was resting the camera on the ground and tilting it by propping it against my shoe. :)

It only took us 17 days to getting around to lighting these fireworks. Ha! I'm sure our neighbors were understanding.