Santa!

This year and last year, we visited Santa and Mrs. Claus at the Pendleton Fire Station.  Ryan's Uncle Steve is a volunteer fireman there and he invites us to join their great (and free!) celebration.

A few of Santa's reindeer (or reindeers as Tyson calls them) hang out and wait for Sant to visit all of the little kids:

Hi spooky reindeer eye.

Not just reindeer, we also had cousins!

And more cousins:

Cookies.  Yum.

and more cookies.

A baby sister too!

A little bean bag toss while we're waiting in line...

Finally, a turn to sit on Santa's lap!  Tyson was less than impressed.  He looks a little scared at first, but Morgan and Quinn don't mind at all.

Santa's trying to talk to him and Mr. Sassyface doesn't want anything to do with him:

Quinny's taking in every word.

By now, he's just ready to get the heck out of there!

All in all, he did better than last year.  Look at how teeny Morgan was last Christmas...only 3 months old!

On the way there, asked him what he wanted Santa to bring him for Christmas.  He said "umm, cars."  I asked him what else and his response was, "umm, scissors".  I don't think he got his requests out though.  Maybe next year.

Photo Gallery Wall

I've adored photo gallery walls for years.  The Pottery Barn catalog always has the most amazing gallery walls and I knew someday I wanted one for my house.

The problem is that because of the floorplan of our house, I couldn't envision a good spot for one.  After reorganizing a bit (and taking down the print that used to hang there), I decided this little space in our foyer would be perfect.  Yes, the thermostat is in among the frames too!

Enter the gallery wall! 

Since it is a corner on the far edge of our foyer, it's a wee bit dark and hard to get a bright picture of it.



I found the vast majority of the frames at Goodwill and a few at Ikea.  I refused to pay more than $3 for any frame and I spray painted them all off white (the trim in our house is antique white).

I hung most of the frames with 3M Command Velcro Hanging Strips.  I love those things!  They are super easy to use, they hold the frames tightly, no holes in the walls, and the frames don't wobble on the wall.

I love that I now have a place to display all of our beautiful photos and as my babies grow and change, it will be easy to swap out the photos for new ones.

Christmas Glow

Using Beth's tutorial, (found via Pinterest, of course!) I took some glowing pictures of our main tree and mantel.  Merry Christmas!

35mm

f/1.8

1/20 sec

ISO 3200

I'm also linking up to her Show your Glow link party:

Catching up with Sparky the Elf

We haven't forgotten about our little Elf, in fact, Tyson is more excited about him than ever.  Every day when he finds him he yells "It's Sparky the Elf Mom!!"  I think this little boy is going to be very sad when Sparky leaves us until next Christmas.

Enjoy Sparky's escapades over the last 6 days. 
It is getting harder to find good spots for him.  No wonder parents resort to having their elves make mischief. 

trying so hard

Remember when I said my favorite baby stage was when they were big enough to sit up and play with toys, but not mobile enough to go anywhere?  That precious stage lasted a mere two weeks with little Q.  She's trying so hard to crawl. 

This makes me sad for so many reasons.  My baby is growing up.  Way, way too fast.  Taking care of her is about to become 100x more difficult.  Mobile babies are hard, ya'll.

She starts out sitting so nicely.

Then the lunging starts



She pushes her legs out behind her

And she's ready to go!

She can't quite get the mechanics of moving her arms and legs but it won't be long.  She can already pull herself around a bit on her belly.  Watch out world!

couch jumping

Probably not the best thing to encourage but it was sure fun. 
Absolute joy on his face.
We laughed and laughed.

And laughed some more.

All while listening to Christmas music :)

Real life, happy smiles from my sweet boy.  None of that super cheesy fake stuff here. 

I love this picture.  I love this boy.

Oh, hi Sparky!

Catching up with Sparky!

He's making the rounds in our house!

Relaxing in Tyson's stocking.

Literally the Elf on the Shelf.

Hitching a ride on Santa's shoulders.

Tyson is having so much fun with him, but I promise to be back with pictures of the babies soon too!