Christmas Time!

Merry Christmas! Or, day after:)

Here is what we have so far....

A couple weekends ago we celebrated with Bill's side. We opted to eat out as the day after was the Christmas dance recital and did gifts after dinner. Before dinner we had a quick family photo session ala my talented sis in law.

Our crew

Whole gang

At Babe's. Yummo

Kids in their PJs for presents

Sunday was the big recital and L's grand debut! I'm waiting for better pics, but this is what we got with my phone.

Happy backstage

Loved getting on the stage...didn't love when they tried to hold her after

No pictures!

Freedom finally

Sunday night we went to the park to look at lights. Somebody was very excited to see them up close:)

Lights and running. She was in heaven

Christmas Eve and day the four of us were home. We went to church and then attempted to look at lights on Christmas Eve. L wasn't having it, she wasn't feeling well. The next day we stayed in our PJs all day. We had french toast for breakfast, left over gumbo for lunch and roasted duck for dinner. Dee-lish!

 with Daddy at service

New Christmas PJs 

One last look at the tree before bed...

Big hit of the morning

Sorry, I'm too busy to look at the camera

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas too!

Pictures With Santa

So last year, we met Santa for the first time at brunch. Leighton was more willing to be held and wait then, so waiting in a long line wasn't a terribly bad experience. Actually meeting Santa, on the other hand, went a little something like this.

So this year I decided we would meet Santa at the mall on a random weekday to avoid the line. It went PERFECTLY. No one was there but us so Santa and his elves had plenty of time to let L warm up. She played around his wonderland and, though it took her a minute, even high fived Santa a few times. Things were looking up. Until they weren't.

She immediately tried to make herself go limp so Santa wouldn't be able to keep her on his lap. Santa and the elves suggested we get in the photo with her. After a couple of tries, we got this:

Not too bad, right?

So we tried her on her own and got this:

Trust me, no real tears. 

So the photographer elf and I try to make her laugh and, inspite of herself, she smiled a little. However, when she saw that we saw, we got this:

So as with anything else in todderville, when all else fails, hand over the iPhone:

Merry Christmas, y'all!

October Part 2

We have kept pretty busy with the remainder of October. It was lots of fun!

First we had to take pictures of L in her "other" pumpkin outfit.

Then we had to celebrate Bill's birthday! (This was the low-key day of. He had his "big" celebration the following weekend).

And finally Halloween with our sweet friends!

What a month! Now I'm ready for Turkey day;)

Lately...

Lately we've been pretty busy. Leighton's social life has definitely overtake our's. Here's a little of what we've been up to...

Trike-a-thon

Aubree's birthday party

Uncle Bruce's birthday party (and music lesson)

Liam's birthday party

Boo at the Zoo with our BFF's

Hope everyone has been enjoying themselves, too!

Weekend

Okay, I know the title is weekend, but we will go a little past the weekend...

This weekend we celebrated the original Princess's 8th birthday!

We tried the day after the party to get a picture of them in the outfits the Princess wanted them to wear at the party but she never wore her's b/c she stayed in her swimsuit the whole time, lol. Here's how photographing these two goes:

Here's a good one:

Yesterday we took a trip to the park with our neighbor:

And this is after with me doing my best L watching TV like a zombie impression:

That is all! One day I'm going to read that pin on taking better pictures of your kid. Until then, I apologize;-)

Gender Reveal Party

The story is not mine to tell, as it was not my party, but the party details are too cute not to share! Especially since I know so many are dreaming of their own gender reveal parties;)

I ordered a print package from Simply Captivating Events, an Etsy shop. For a mere $35 I got PDF files of more paper decorations than I could ever imagine needing for one party. Plus personalized invitations, welcome sign and favor tags and cupcake toppers. It was a grey and yellow theme and was adorable.

However...I went to Hobby Lobby for fabric to use for the table cloths and found a beautiful black and white print I HAD to have. So I googled and found a similar style paper pattern I used to add to the banners that came with my package.

I also really wanted a photo booth so we could serve 2 purposes - photographing all participants and allowing everyone to cast their "votes". Though my camera gave me a little trouble here, the extra fabric worked great as a back drop. I used clothes pins to attach it to my blinds. The bow and mustache props were ordered from Grey Skies Blue, another Etsy shop I highly recommend.

All plates and napkins are courtesy of Target a la my co-planner, Summer. She also set us up with a GREAT local baker who made the delicious and adorable cake. So, onto the pictures...

Baby girl was NOT happy about having to share her momma with a camera

And.....

It's a boy!!

Congrats, my friends! You guys make great little men and I can't WAIT to meet this one!