I have such beautiful, happy, photogenic kids. Taking their picture is so easy.
Or not…
They’re distracted:
They’re constantly in motion:
They don’t always put on their best face:
And they’ll let you know when picture time is over:
It might take two days and 107 attempts, but the end result is worth it:
Dec 8
For the first time, we were able to decorate for Christmas as a family. In previous years, I decorated by myself during naptime, while Rob was at work. This year, Rob took the Monday after the Christmas production off and we decided to pull out the decorations together.
Arya tried to help us out until her naptime.
Putting the tree together
Lights…
Star…
Ornaments and ribbon. Yes, purple, gold, and lime. (Xander insisted that his robot ornament be put on the big tree until his room tree was ready.)
Xander in front of the completed family tree.
5 stockings this year, including one for Baby Aliza (we’ll be calling her Liza).
A tree to match Xander’s bedroom.
Look closely and you’ll find some robots and Jedi.
Merry Christmas!
Dec 8
We had a fun time having all of our siblings over for Thanksgiving.
Looking back, hosting Thanksgiving dinner 3 weeks after moving and 1 week before our Christmas production probably wasn’t the best idea in the world. But it was good motivation to get settled in the new place quickly, but it was just a little bit stressful making that happen with two little people around.
Our siblings live in New York, South Carolina, and Georgia so we appreciated that all of them traveled out to come see us.
My sister arrived first, and she got both kids to herself for several days. We had fun shopping, playing, and took a trip to the Children’s Museum of Memphis.
My brother and all of Rob’s siblings arrived the same evening. Xander is in the right family, because all of his uncles are extremely geeky. With two computer programmers and an engineer, my robot-obsessed Star Wars fan has no trouble bonding with his uncles. Here they are discussing Minecraft before heading to bed the first night.
Some pictures of Thanksgiving day (which was actually Wednesday because we had a couple of Black Friday workers that needed to be back home by Thursday):
I’m very thankful for my families: Both the one I was born with and the one I married into.
We all hear stories from our parents about the amazing things we did as young children. But we have no memory, they have no proof, and part of us wonders if what really happened has been embellished over the years.
That’s why I’m glad I finally caught this on video. Xander has had it down for several months now, but is never in the mood when the camera starts rolling.
We are currently working on states and capitals. He can memorize the faces, first names, and last names – 3 pieces of information – for 44 presidents. So the locations, names, and capital cities of 50 states won’t be much more difficult. Xander has learned 5 states so far – a tenth of the way there!
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