Nagowski Family Tales: January 2011

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Finally Taking A Photography Class

For years I have been wanting to take a photography class and finally found a way to fit it in my schedule. My first assignment was to take pictures of the full moon this week. Here is what I shot:

Cape Fear Valley Hospital Gala

Mike and I were all dressed up for the hospital Gala this year and ironically, Tori was in her princess ball gown. In fact, she spent the entire day in her princess gown practicing dancing and twirling.

Tori's Loves the Wii

We decided to introduce Tori to video games via the Wii. For Christmas she got the Kids Fit game, so we started there. She quickly picked up on the game which involved lots of physical activity like running, rowing, and using her arms. She would play for about a half hour and then say she was tired. Next, we got her Just Dance for kids. She LOVES it! She likes to sing and dance to the different songs and is getting a good workout at the same time. It's amazing the technology that three year olds can handle. Tori can totally operate the game and change the games with out help and she took very little teaching to do it.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Washington DC...Mom Gets To Tour the White House

I am a co-chair of the Women's Giving Circle of Fayetteville and we were invited to tour the White House all decorated for Christmas!

So, we drove to DC and spent the weekend tooling around DC. We toured the Capitol and visited the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. I toured the White House with nine other member of our group. We enjoyed playing in DC with the Bellian family.

On our way home from Washington we stopped to visit the new Marine Corps Museum near Quantico, where Mike was once stationed while he was on active duty.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Week After Christmas in Buffalo

Highlight pictures from our visit to Buffalo

We woke up the day after Christmas to 5 inches of snow in Fayetteville. This meant we were in a state of emergency and our flight to Charlotte was cancelled. We decided to drive to Charlotte since their airport was still open and we managed to make our flight to Buffalo. We spend 6 days visiting family and friends. Tori also played in the snow with Chickie and Mike. She made snow angels, sledding and built a "princess" snowman (notice the tiera.)

Christmas Day

The kids woke up around seven to see if Santa came. Santa brought Tori a Barbie Bike and Barbie guitar, the two big items she was hoping for. Both were a big hit. Nick got a video camera and Xbox gear and Ashley got a few Disney Jim Shore pieces for her collection. I got an Ipad! I was hoping for one...Mike has one and Tori loves to play on "her pad" as she calls his. So now, I will share my pad with her as well. Mike got some books and cookies gadgets. He has become a wonderful breakfast chef and he always talks about having the right tools. Now, he does.

Later in the day, our family came over and we exchanged gifts differently this year. We did a dirty Santa exchange. It was a lot of fun and surprised you on what some people decided to take. Micah and Tori gave us a jam concert with their new guitars. That was very cool! Max's is getting bigger and enjoyed his first Christmas with the family.

Christmas Eve

What a wonderful Christmas Eve. Every one was home again to keep the traditions going.

On Christmas Eve the kids open their gifts from Mike and I and each other. Tori was so funny...she insisted on opening every gift...not just hers, but everyones. She would give the presents to the person one she unwrapped the gift. It was a hoot. She also made sure every single piece of wrapping paper and tape was removed from the gift before she would look at it to see what it was. Unwrapping therefore lasted a long time this year. The big surprise this year was a two man 13 foot two man Kayak for Mike. Trying to sneak it in the house was funny as we distracted him with a task upstairs. He definitely was surprised when he came downstairs!