Christmas Pictures Blooper Reel

This year I was lazy. For our annual Christmas card I decided to use a couple of photos from the family session we had done in October. Easy peasy, minus deciding to rework the card design myself in Photoshop. But I felt bad. I have taken (or had someone else take) holiday photos of Evan since he was a baby. So when my friend Heidi asked me to take a couple of shots of Simon for their holiday card, I really had no excuse not to do it while I had the setup. I also wanted to try the twinkle light background that seems to be all the rage this year on pinterest and photo forums.

But the once easy-to-photograph, all smiles and adorable Simon is now a walker. No, he's a runner. And my house was just too tempting for a baby on a mission. Then Evan who is normally the most cooperative toddler ever when it comes to doing these set-ups for me decided to get in on the fun. Did I say fun? I meant collusion.

These are the outtakes from trying to corral a 13 month old, then a 3.5 year old for ONE picture.  Excuse the lazy processing - these are outtakes, I don't get fancy for outtakes.

I had no idea 13 month olds could snarl.






Go on!



Yeah, I can't fix this in photoshop.



Or any of this.











Of course. After 3.5 years, I get the newborn pose.



Despite an intense workout for me and Heidi that morning, the boys did allow a few seconds of cooperation and adorable cuteness to come through.









Merry Christmas!  I'm going to go take a nap.

Furry Faces

Evan and his furry best friend, McFly. Totally candid, totally real.

Thanksgiving

I got a Thanksgiving card in the mail this year from my friend Emily. It's not often you get Thanksgiving cards, but this one was full of pictures of her adorable children (I'm a sucker for photo cards) and had a quote on it that I absolutely loved.

"Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action." - W.J. Cameron

A nice reminder of what the day is really all about.

Stuff I Missed

I honestly don't know how people who have 365 blogs do it. I missed some "stuff" in the gap between vacation this summer and Halloween.

Stuff like:

Evan transitioned to a toddler bed! Huge lesson learned here - do NOT do this at the same time (or within a week of) pacifier weaning. All is well now, but those were two weeks that none of us in the house slept well.



Evan helped.







Then Evan's Uncle Andy visited from South Carolina





We had birthday celebrations



And spent time with cousins who don't run or hide their face from the camera (which is surprising because their mom snaps photos more than me!)





Evan is becoming a pro at being in parades



And perfecting the parade wave



Then we wrapped up last month by celebrating two more birthdays. One with an eight year old...



How can he be eight already?



And rounded out the first year for this one year old



Thanksgiving pictures to be posted soon!