The Big Day

 I think Christmas gets better each year. This year, Jonah seemed to get it. He remembered Christmas and was excited for it to come. He was excited for Santa Claus. He believes in Santa Claus. And he definitely had the Christmas spirit! Henry still doesn't quite get it, but I think next year will be different for him.

They were all so cute. Jonah felt it was very important to leave some Christmas cookies and Gatorade for Santa and some carrots and water for the reindeer. So we got them all prepared and set out on Christmas Eve before he went to bed. Previously, Dan had placed a piece of plexiglass in front of the fireplace to keep the draft and wind out. Jonah was very concerned that Santa would not be able to come down the chimney and get in the house if that was in the way. So Dan made sure to remove the plexiglass on Christmas Eve as well. After Jonah inspected everything and was sure Santa could get in, he was ready for bed. I think Christmas felt more real to Jonah since we had a fireplace. On all the cartoons and Christmas movies, Santa comes down the fireplace. So he felt like the "real" Santa would come now that we had a fireplace. So cute!

 Christmas morning, the boys got up and went straight for their stockings. Jonah was AMAZED that Santa had been. He saw Santa's bootprints on the fireplace and saw the stuffed stocking and the eaten cookies and he was so excited. (Gracie was a super good sport about eating the carrots and drinking the reindeer water.) Seeing him so excited made it so much more fun!

 After stockings, we went to check out the tree. This year the only presents under the tree prior to Christmas were presents we bought for other people. There weren't any presents for the kids. So on Christmas morning, the tree was full of presents from Santa! Santa even used a special wrapping paper so the kids knew the presents were from him. They were so excited and couldn't wait to start ripping off paper!

 Lucy had fun ripping off the paper too!

 Very excited for walkie talkies and new cars.

 Sweet girl!

 Jonah asked Santa for the Angry Birds set. Santa searched high and low and was able to get a good deal on Black Friday!

 Henry didn't really ask Santa for anything. He knew Santa would get him something great. And Santa got him a giant remote control Monster Truck!

 LOVE this picture!!!! Lucy got the cutest little Cabbage Patch doll that looks just like her. And it smells like baby powder. Love Cabbage Patch dolls!

 Lucy scaling the mountain of toys!

 Sweet girl and her sweet dolly!

 This was right before bed on Christmas Eve. He is SO CUTE!! Cookies and Gatorade for Santa - carrots and water for reindeer.

December fun

 We met up with some friends at the zoo one night for their Jungle Bells lights display. It was really cold but the kids had a ton of fun. We probably had 25-30 people in our group! We didn't see many animals but we had a lot of fun walking around and hanging out!

 Just a fun trip to Home Depot. The kids LOVE the car shopping carts. Seriously, whoever invented these was brilliant! The boys always ask for the car cart and now Lucy's gotten in on the action. She cries and tries to get to the cart if I try to carry her around. So we have to rotate kids in and out of the cart so everyone gets a chance to steer!

 Daddy's little helper! Dan was working in the boys room and Lucy was very excited to dig through his tool box. Looked like a bunch of new toys to her!

Sweet Friends

 We had so much fun at the zoo with our besties!! We have been so blessed by their friendship.

Decorating the Tree

 We had so much fun decorating the tree this year! Lucy was a perfect spectator. And Henry was actually into decorating this year. Yay! This year was big time for the boys - they were allowed to hang all the ornaments, not just the plastic snowflakes that hang on the bottom of the tree. They were really excited!

 Look at that sweet face!

 Getting some help from Daddy!

 Jonah is always smiling!

 Playing peek-a-boo

family photos

 My sweet family! I have been blessed beyond what I ever thought was possible. I really wanted to get some family photos with my new lens and thanks to Pinterest, was able to figure out how to do it! So while we were in the valley for Thanksgiving, we got dressed up and went in search of a shady, leaf-filled spot to take photos. Dan found this spot and I think it was perfect! The kids did such a good job for the first ten minutes or so. Then it went downhill pretty quickly. Can't say I blame them. Getting your photo taken was never fun for me either!  Overall, I'm really happy with how they all turned out. I've been practicing more with my lens and hope to get some good shots of Lucy's one year old photos soon.

 One of my favorites. I love how Lucy is playing with the leaves, Jonah is smiling and Henry is being mischievous. This photo reflects their personalities perfectly!!

 The Christmas card shot. This one came out nearly perfect. Everyone looks pretty cute and it's in focus. What more could I want?!?

 This is my favorite photo from the entire session. This was just one of those lucky shots that you could never plan for. I was over at the camera getting ready to wrap things up and looked up to see Henry laying down and Jonah and Lucy looking right at me. All the kids were so tired and sick of photos but this shot was absolute perfection.

 My sweet smiley boy!

 Trying not to smile!

 Look at those little choppers!

brotherly love

I had so much fun taking these photos! Henry and Lucy were having fun playing together and I was able to capture some sweet photos of them. Henry loves Lucy so much!!