Breakfast With Santa

Mimi and Papa arranged for the kids to have breakfast with Santa this year. We thought this might be a good opportunity for them (Lucas especially) to have a better experience with him than in years past. Seriously. Lucas is TERRIFIED of him. I try not to make too big of a deal about Santa since I want Christmas to be mostly focused on Christ's birth and sharing gifts with those we love, but Lucas was still concerned that he would not get his "big machines" unless he told Santa about them in person. Here is his checking out the Big Guy and thinking about if it's really worth it...

Shea just wanted to know when breakfast started:

Shea got up with Santa first and was a bit concerned, but not much:

We tried to push Lucas us there:

Then, he stood still for just a second...

Whispered, I want a "crane truck and a dump truck and a cement mixer"...

And ran away. Much better than last year, though, when I only got a picture of Shea. Then, I got some cute shots of everyone on our way out. Thanks to Mimi and Papa for letting us eat with Santa!!!

Christmas Program

Lucas had his school Christmas program on Wednesday. Now, if you will remember from last year's Christmas and End of School programs, Lucas does not so much have the performance gene.

I had slightly higher hopes for this performance since he had been singing the songs at home and telling me about how they were going to sing for the parents. But, alas, they missed two days of school right before the performance, never got to practice on the stage, and he was NOT HAVING IT. I will post the videos later when I upload them from the Flip, but here are some shots that give you a good idea of how the day went.

Getting on stage. Thumb in mouth.

Oooo, look...a screen at the front of the church!

Saddest face ever.

He looks like he is singing here. He is not.

Nope...never mind. THIS is the saddest face ever.

Or this one.

At this point, I stopped taking pictures and got out the video camera in hopes that he might actually sing something. What actually happened was, his pants came unbuttoned and were falling down and he starting sticking his hands down them and jumping around trying to fix them. My parents and I fell over laughing at this for a few minutes, then I gave his teacher the high sign to fix his pants. Then, he went back to sad faces.

I think we will not be registering him for Children's Choir at church next year. Poor kid.

Icemageddon

So, the second weekend of December, we had a HUGE ice storm that pretty much shut down the entire metroplex. Because we don't deal with cold in Texas. And it was cold. And icy...very, very icy. Phil stayed home from work, Lucas' school was cancelled, Gymboree and tennis were cancelled, so we pretty much holed up and played inside for four days. Church was even cancelled, and I can't remember that EVER happening. These shots are from the first time the kids went out to play in the ice. I think Lucas thought is was going to be like snow. Then, when he figured out it was hard and slippery, he gave up and came in after about 3 minutes. I love the cold, but the ice is TERRIBLE since you can't go anywhere or even send the kids out to run around and play and get dirty. Hopefully, the rest of the winter will be a little tamer and more Texas-like!

Christmas Card 2013

Here was what the final card looks like. I am so in love :) I had it printed on two sided cardstock with a linen finish. Lucas looking at his little sister just makes my heart happy.  Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

For our Christmas card this year, I decided to do something a little different. I had this idea in my head of the kids surrounded by Christmas lights in a black and white shot. It would be a challenge for my photography skills and a beautiful card (at least in my head). After baths one night, I got everyone into their Christmas jammeis, plugged in some lights and went to town. Lucas was SUPER well behaved for this shoot...lots of smiles and looking at me. Shea...well, Shea is 18 months old, so I get what I get :)  The next post will have the actual card we went with, but I thought I would share some of the shots I didn't use, too. Be prepared for WAY TOO MANY pictures of my favorite kids!

Loved the smiles here...

I ALMOST went with these two separate shots because they are so CUTE!

Random December Adorableness

THE EYES, PEOPLE!!!!

Lucas loves to decorate the tree...by putting all the ornaments on one branch.

Mimi made chocolate dessert. Hah.