A Couple of New Favorites

It's Christmas Eve Eve, you guys! Unfortunately, I'm stuck here at work until 3pm. Boo! Hiss! Anyway, I took a few pictures last night of things I wanted to share with you. The first is an ornament that Haeden "made" at daycare. They took his picture by their Christmas tree and then pasted it to a foam cut out of a train. It's adorable. I keep going over to the tree just to look at his little picture because it instantly puts a smile on my face. Speaking of smiles, note Haeden's shy one and the way he sweetly has his hands clasped. You'll just melt!

I also wanted to share Haeden's stocking. It's pretty hilarious. See, Hubby and his boys all have darling knit stockings that were made by his grandmother. Since she has passed away, I asked my own grandmother if she would make a stocking for Haeden's first Christmas last year. She obliged, although she warned us that she had never made one before. I wasn't looking for perfection though, I was just hoping for something homemade with lots of love. I'll admit to being a little surprised when we received the stocking... it was a little bigger than expected.

To be fair, the stocking's that Hubby's grandmother made are, in my opinion, smaller than the typical store-bought kind. I'm not quite sure where my own was going with this one though. She clearly didn't find it necessary to use a pattern. But, she was 80 years-old when she made it and honestly, I think it's pretty damn perfect. Imperfections and all. Besides, big stockings = more presents, right?!

Something tells me this guy won't be complaining! Hmmm. I wonder if she'll make me one next?!

He's Coming to Town

We've been trying to prepare Haeden for his meet-n-greet with Santa for a couple of weeks now. Although I was hoping for a Santa pic with Haeden's cheesy little grin, I was fully expecting one with crocodile tears and a runny nose (not unlike the Christmas card photo experience). When it came down to it though, I got neither.

We went right after work and pumped him full of milk and snacks on the drive over to the mall to try and avoid any possible hunger-induced whining, crying or throwing of oneself onto the floor in complete and utter agony. While waiting in line, he caught a glimpse of Santa and immediately recognized him. He yelled out, "SANA!" and pointed at him with all his chubby little finger's might.  We only had to wait for about 10 minutes since we got there just before Santa's shift started, but as most of you know, keeping a toddler happy in a confined space for 10 minutes is not unlike corralling a greased piglet. So, we did what I assume most people do in this situation and just let him swing the velvety ropes back and forth hoping and praying that he didn't hit anyone else's kid in the face on the upswing. Prayer answered. We made it to the front of the line with no casualties. Of course, then we were presented with trying to get him to keep his paws off the big ass Christmas tree directly in front of us and right next to Santa. Clearly these people that do the setting up, they don't have kids.  Big shiny ornaments hanging on a tree not 4 feet from where you have to wait your turn... not so good for avoiding screaming children who want to eat and/or throw said shiny ornaments!

Any who, when it's finally our turn, Haeden surprisingly didn't cling to me and instead sat happily on Santa's lap. Quite possibly he was still distracted by the tree since he was pointing at it. But as soon as he turned back to look at me and realized about twenty people were staring back at him (Awwwing and giggling over his cuteness, of course) he decided to play the shy card. His bottom lip stuck out and I thought he was going to lose it, but instead he just clasped his hands and looked at the floor. Even though I wanted a nice big grin, or even a sweet, shy smile it was still pretty damn adorable. As usual, we jumped up and down and made silly noises, but he still ended up looking scared and confused. I can't blame him though, that's kind of how I feel the week before Christmas, too.

 Dan's shot

"Elf's" shot - not really, how come the helper's don't dress up anymore?!

 I think we've got a pretty good Santa though. It is the same guy as the year before. And speaking of...  lets check out last year's shot! Can you believe how much he's grown (Haeden, not Santa)?!

Pretty funny how he looks like he is about to topple over. But check that smile! Too cute. Maybe we'll get that perfect shot next year, and then again, maybe not. Either way, the future trip down Santa memory lane will always be a fun one!

Christmas Card Out-takes

This weekend I had two major objectives. The first, Christmas shopping with my 81 year-old grandmother. The second, capturing a lovely family photo for this years Christmas cards. The shopping, for once, went quite smoothly. It was actually quite nice to spend a little alone time with my grandmother. She's quite the character and sometimes I'm a little afraid to take her out in public (just like Haeden, only the opposite. ha!), but we had a really nice time and I look forward to spending more time with her, just the two of us. Of course, she is completely obsessed with Haeden, so I think she'd much rather it be the three of us next time!

Now, the second objective, it didn't go so well. Since Grandma and I went out on Saturday, we decided to take the family photo on Sunday. Everyone would need time to primp and prep, so it made the most sense. Of course, no one thought ahead to check the weather. We woke up Sunday to some of the crappiest weather we'd seen all year. It was coooold, windy and raining on and off. Of course, since we only have the boys every other weekend and nowhere to take the photo indoors (re: shoebox sized house), we decided to brave the weather and head outside as planned. Okay, honestly? Hubby decided, despite my protesting (i.e. muttering and eye-rolling), we were going rain or shine.

It was starting to sprinkle as we left the house. We headed over to one of our favorite local spots, a pier and raised walkway overlooking the river. For once, there were no fisherman (obviously because they were smart enough to stay inside where it's warm). We had beat the rain, but the wind was stronger over the water. As Hubby worked to set up the shot, I struggled to keep Haeden under control. Not to mention my hair with that damn wind. I know wind-blown hair is supposed to be sexy and all, but that was not the case here. I knew that it wasn't going to work, but I also knew someone else wasn't going to want to hear it.

Teeth chattering, Rudolph noses running, we all grinned and bared it. All except one of us, anyway. So, yeah, I guess trying to attain that "perfect" family photo when you have a headstrong 19 month-old, is asking a little much. And apparently so is expecting your photographer husband to make you look like one hot little mama.... just kidding, babe, I know you don't have photography super powers... or Glamour Shots software!

And here are the outtakes...

 *Here we are pretending to cry. Of course, Haeden stopped and decided to look confused instead. Also, most of us just look excited, not really upset. Hmmm. Gonna have to work on the acting skills.

*Obviously Daniel is just too cool for school. He's hiding his embarrassment of me pretty well, I think. Hubby was adjusting the camera settings here and Patrick was chasing Haeden from one enclosed end to the other. That was before the screaming, kicking and crying took place. Ahhhh, memories.

We are off to see Santa this evening. Lord help us.

P.S.

Yes, I still have bangs. I told you it was WINDY!

What's the Dealio?!

Who likes free stuff?! I do! I do! Well, my bloggie friends, Shutterfly is offering 50 free holiday cards for bloggers who post about their favorite cards from the fab holiday collection. Woo hoo!

This only furthers my current love-affair with Shutterfly. The Hubby and I used their services recently to create a few, uhhh, gifts that I cannot tell you very much about because I don't want to give anything away to any family members that might be reading this! Lets just say the final product is wonderful and I can't wait for Christmas because the grandparents (and great-grandparents) are going to do back flips! Our order didn't just look great, it came fast and cheap (coupons, coupons, coupons!), too. Does it get any better than that?

Usually, no. But this time, yes! Last week a representative from Shutterfly contacted us and asked if we would consider allowing them to purchase (through a generous store credit) some of the images we posted on their site. I'm not quite sure if they chose them because Haeden is the cutest kid ever, or if the Hubby's photography skills are just that good. I'm going to go with both. Either way, we were pretty excited with the notion that Haeden's very adorable mug will be gracing the website in a matter of months. Promise to update you with that information when we have it!

Now, on to the Christmas card favorites. I chose the first one because, being the undercover hippy that I am, I love anything and everything with the word "peace".

This next one I love because it has a bird on it. I'm currently obsessed with all things birds and owls. I also love the color scheme since it's similar to the decor we have going on in the house right now.

Those are great, yes, but I think this just may be our winner! It has a freakin' palm tree ( Hi, we live in Florida!) and a bird!

Now that that's settled, we need a picture.  Oh, Huuuuubbyyyy...