Better late than never

Milk and cookies for Santa

The loot

Neither one of them would look at me lol

All day she just wanted what he had lol.

Ryan got her this stuffed dog when he got to shop in school for people :-).

First present!

Again, trying to take what he had.

Getting another present :-).

She was not as in to opening things as I thought she would be.

A beloved DS game lol.

This puppy is sooo cute. It started singing "If You're Happy & You Know It" and she started clapping :-).

A Cars stunt set.

He loves both these games and I love that I had them when I was a kid :-)

A music player...she loves music.

He loved throwing the paper lol.

She loves babies.

Not sure what this was about lol. But she didn't have near as many meltdowns as last year.

Her first dress up set...she LOVES to dress up :-).

A t-rex...the one thing he really wanted for Christmas. And I don't think he's touched it since Christmas morning :-P.

He's so cute :-)

Wordless Wednesday - First Lollipop

It's a small world

Ryan was invited to a birthday party for a little boy in his class that was at Chuck E. Cheese yesterday afternoon. We almost didn't go because Ryan was not behaving the greatest before the party, but I felt bad not going since we had RSVP'd. So we did go. Ryan surprised me by being VERY well behaved there :-). It was really great to see him playing with and talking to kids in his class and to see them yell his name and run over to him when we got there :*). The only girl to come arrived late and it is one of Ryan's closest friends in his class...Maggie. Her mom, Lori, introduced herself to me and I realized that she was the midwife that was with my OB's practice at the time I was pregnant with Zachary and she was there the day I went in to labor and had him. I really liked when I saw her for appointments and I was SO happy she was there that day. I told her right away who I was and she remembered every little detail about that day. She then really floored me by telling me that she was in the hospital with Maggie like 2 rooms away when I was in with Ryan! Maggie was born the morning of the 19th and Ryan was born in the afternoon on the 20th. She had overheard the nurses talking about me and questioned them on what was going on, although they weren't really supposed to say anything, she did know that I was going way too early again. She told me that she had her rosary there and she prayed for us :*). And now 6 years later, our kids our in the same kindergarten class and best buds. They ran off together hand in hand to play games...it was so cute :-). We're hoping to get them together for a playdate over Christmas break. I forgot my camera, but I did snap a pic of the two of them with my phone while they were eating pizza.

Wordless Wednesday - Brooke-proofed tree

Someone won't keep her fingers off the ornaments, so I undecorated the bottom :-P.

Christmas card picture attempt

Yesterday I finally decided to dress the kids up and attempt to get at least a halfway decent picture for our Christmas cards. It was NOT fun....but it was kind of funny :-P. Between an uncooperative subject (the short one ~ although I do give her props for listening to me and NOT touching the bow in her hair, which is a small miracle in itself) and my sucky picture taking abilities...I didn't come up with much, but I did manage to get a few that were card worthy and I can't wait until the cards come in that I ordered today :-). I'll share the finished product if I can get someone to scan it for me!

Here are some of the shots I got...the good, the bad, and the funny...

This one cracks me up. Holy flash, though :-/.

Had to make sure her shoes were still there, I guess?

When did he get so grown up looking??

Mad because I told her not to touch the tree.

I told her to go sit by Ryan and this is what she did lol. Camera hog.

Very ladylike.

These pictures don't do her dress justice...it's gorgeous! It was a thrift store find!!

Another with mucho flash.

Awww

They really do love each other ;-)

I really like this one, but again...the flash >:-(

DING DING DING! We have a winner!

Not so sure this year

Last year, Brooke liked Santa....SEE? This year, not so much.

(This is a picture of a picture because I don't have a scanner, so I apologize for the poor quality.)

Can you tell she couldn't wait to get away?? LOL. Every time she would look at him, she would start to cry. This is the 5th (and last) one they snapped and right after, she totally freaked out and scooted down off his lap. I scooped her up and held her while he talked to her and she just stared at him. I wonder if she'll have nightmares tonight :-X. As you can see, Ryan did great :-).

Wordless Wednesday - Drama Queen

Edited on www.picnik.com :-)

Christmas tree and a "haircut"

Yesterday afternoon I put the Christmas tree up. Brooke didn't pay any attention to it until I plugged it in and then she ran over and said, "What's that?" (comes out more like "Whussat?" lol). Ryan and I decorated it after she went to bed. It was absolutely priceless this morning when she realized there were things now HANGING on the tree. LOL. She got all excited and started pointing at everything and saying "bear" (there was *a bear...but everything was a bear to her lol). Then she was bouncing up and down and squealing. And of course then started trying to rip all the ornaments off. Ugh. She then went in the pack-n-play while I finished up getting ready to go to my mom and dad's. We were there all day until bedtime, so I'm not yet sure how stubborn she's going to be with it lol.

Crooked picture, but he is very impatient when it comes to taking pics so this was all I got.

I made my mom's day today when I let her cut off a lock of Brooke's hair that was always hanging in her face if I didn't have her hair pulled up into a ponytail. She's been complaining about it for at least a month lol. It was starting to drive me insane, too. I had planned on growing her bangs out and I still might, but this was definitely supposed to be a part of her bangs and for some reason was about 2 inches longer than the rest lol. If I would leave her hair down, I was constantly brushing the front of her hair to the side. More often than not lately, I was pulling it up to avoid her looking like a ragamuffin. It is SO much nicer looking now and she will be able to wear her hair down and have it look decent :-). Here's a couple before and after pics.

Not looking too bad brushed to the side, but it never stayed looking nice. Love the pouty face :-P.

Eating breakfast lol.

Blurry, but the best "after" pic I have so far!

Just because...

...I think they looked so cute, here are some pictures I took of the kids before we left for dinner at my in-laws' today :-).

We had a really good Thanksgiving today :-). It was so nice spending time with family. I love the holidays! We'll be celebrating Thanksgiving again on Saturday with my family :-). Can't wait!