Santa and Dinner

When I picked Austin up from school today, he said he wanted to go wherever Skylee was going today. I guess they had talked about Santa being at AQ Chicken and Austin decided that he wanted to go as well. I told him that Daddy and I would have to talk about it.

Well, we ended up taking him to see Santa. It was a good night though, since Santa gave out free surprises to all the kids and all the kids' meals were free as well. :-) We like free.

We got there a little early so we could "beat the crowd." I'm glad we did because a line quickly formed for Santa and we were third in line! The photographer that was supposed to be there hadn't made it yet (you get a free photo from Bedford Camera as well), but I had my camera, so I didn't mind. I figured if the line wasn't very long after they ate, that maybe we would see Santa again.

Santa got there and sat down and started talking to all the kids. When it was Austin's turn, he hopped right up and talked to Santa. He gave him his letter and they discussed all the things Austin wanted.

We got a picture of Austin and Santa (which my flash completely washed out!)...

Then, Colten got to sit with the jolly fellow!

Colten obviously didn't think Santa was so nice. :-) We do have a picture of him smiling with another Santa, but you'll have to wait for that one.We went also met up with Austin's friend, Triston, and his family. They were a further back in line, so we just got a table for all 10 of us. The kids had a blast playing and eat with each other. The boys got motorcycles from Santa and Skylee got a Barbie doll.

Dinner was really good and we even have leftovers for lunch tomorrow! After we ate, I went with Colten to the front of the restaurant since he was getting restless. The line for Santa was really short and by the time Brian and Austin came up there, it was our turn again. Our pictures should be done after Thursday, so I'll post them when I can. I'm just glad Austin likes Santa again...it's so much more fun when they can talk to him and tell him what they want.

Oh Christmas Tree...

One of our traditions that I think I have already mentioned, is to put up our Christmas tree on the day after Thanksgiving (unless we are visiting family, then it goes up as soon as we get home!). We do NOT put it up any earlier (of course, this could change if Brian was ever to be deployed around this time of year).

In recent years, Austin has had a blast helping. This year, was no exception! He was a big help getting the different branches of our tree sorted, then put onto the right tier. I think his favorite job is putting the top piece on! While I would LOVE a real tree, our lifestyle just doesn't allow for one right now. We will be travelling a lot and with a baby, a real tree would be more of a mess than I want to deal with. Maybe in a few years I can finally have a real tree!

This year, he also was a PRO at putting ornaments on. He knew just where to put each one and I didn't even have to spread them out after he went to bed! He did an excellent job spacing them out and not clumping them together.

We normally start with hanging our brand new ornaments that Bill and Mary gave us. This year, since we hadn't gotten them yet, we picked out a couple of Disney ornaments since we had just gotten back from there. Austin hung a Pluto Ornament that he got 2 years ago and Colten hung a Pluto Ball that wouldn't break if he threw it before I could help him hang it on a branch. :-)

I hadn't really gotten done with the lights before Colten needed to go to bed, so we let them put on their first ornaments (for a picture), then put him to bed. I finished the lights and then let Austin go to town with the rest of the ornaments.

Last year, we had two trees. The second one was a decorative tree in the dining room with specific colors that all coordinated. However, we didn't know how Colten would be with the trees, so we decided to only do one in case it was a full-time job keeping him away from the ornaments. Our tree is a hodge-podge of ornaments given to us throughout the years and I love it that way! It's always so fun to remember what year we were given each ornament and what the significance was. Some were even ornaments from our childhoods, either made or bought for us.

I really like how I did the lights this year. I put two strands of our lights on a twinkle setting and the rest of them are on continuously. It's different than what we normally do and sort of seems magical with the twinkle. :-) Maybe another day, I'll get a picture of it with the flash turned off so the lights show better.

So far, Colten is doing really well with the tree. We only put ornaments that wouldn't break and could be hung on the tree without the metal hangers on the bottom. That way, if he did pull a few off, they wouldn't hurt him. He has pulled a few of the Disney balls off, but I haven't seen him bother anything in a few days.

First School Picture!

Our little boy isn't so little anymore! He looks WAY too old in this picture...and WAY too cool! I might be a little biased, but I think Austin is pretty photogenic! He just looks so easy going in this picture and so natural!

He has a Spring School Picture Day as well, so I'm sure we'll have to buy a small package then too. That is also when his class gets their picture taken together. I think school pictures have come a long way since the blue background with the shoulder-and-up-headshot!

10 Months

So, I'm a little late on this post! I DID take his comparison picture when he turned 10 months, but just never got it posted! It's definitely getting harder to get these pictures done! I have to get everything ready (while trying to keep the dogs out of the room), then enlist in Brian's help to place Colten on the blanket and get out of the way so I can get the picture before he rolls over and walks off.

Here's what I got this month.

Oh, I'll get his 10 month update posted soon. Maybe by the time he's 11 months? :-)

Note to self (ok, and I guess whoever else reads this blog!): I really need to figure out this lighting thing...it's really bothering me! I'm probably just being picky...but I think that my pictures are either too warm or too cool with horrible lighting and hot spots. Oh, to be able to take classes that don't cost an arm and a leg! Plus, I'll need the time to actually go to them! Maybe someday!

Family Pictures

We went to Picture People (a while ago!) since we are a member of their Portrait Club and our membership expires sometime this month. We had a few free sheets, $10 off an order and I also had a coupon for buy 2 sheets get 3 free AND another coupon for 30% off PLUS a free sheet . So, I booked two sessions since I knew Colten wouldn't last long enough for us to get the shots that I wanted (plus, I could only use both coupons if I did separate sessions). Did that make any sense? Let's just say we were still saving for Disney World and didn't want to shell out the money that better photographers charge. Maybe someday we'll be able to afford someone better, but for now, Picture People will have to do! :-)

Anyway, we hadn't had a family picture taken since Colten was still in my belly. The family pictures that we had hanging in our entry way needed updated and poor Colten only had ONE single photo of him printed out and in a frame. Let's just say I'm really bad at printing out pictures. I can never decide on what picture I want printed and just never make that decision.

I picked out clothes that we already had in our closets that coordinated and off we went to the first appointment. The goal for this was to get a family picture and pictures of each parent with the kids (together and separately). Here's what we got:

(These are scanned images, so bear with the coloring and the family picture being cut off...it was bigger than my scanner!)

This is exactly how it looks in the frames with each parent in the middle with both boys and then separately on each side.

All of the pictures that had Colten in them were done first. By that time, he'd had enough. So, I was REALLY glad we booked two sessions! Oh, I think we spent $68 on all of these with the 5x7s having two of each since they come in a sheet.

So, two days later, I took the boys by myself to get some more pictures taken. I basically wanted a picture of them together and then each separately. Here's what we got from that session!

I was really happy with all of them, but was really glad she got one of Colten standing. He walked so early and I wanted professional proof of that! Plus, there is just something so cute about a baby who is just learning to walk and they have their arms out keeping their balance! Oh, and I paid all of 78 cents for these! :-) I think it definitely pays to be a member of their portrait club. I think all of these pictures would have cost us well over $200 if I hadn't had those coupons or the Club savings.

Do I think we could have gotten better pictures with an independant photographer? Of course! They would have been clearer with better coloring...but we would have gone broke getting all the pictures we wanted. So, I'm happy that we got our "photo wall" updated and didn't break the bank doing it! :-)

Last of the Disney Pictures

Our Disney Vacation definitely didn't go as planned, but we had a blast anyway! I am so glad that we were able to do this vacation! Here are the last few pictures...at least until next time!

Like I said before, Austin got a few souveniers from the pirate gift shop, including this cool gun. The snake that Bobo got him is 6 ft long and he had it wrapped around him like it was squeezing him and he was shooting it in the head with the gun. It was pretty funny.

Colten also had a good time trying to climb the stroller at the resort.

He made us all nervous though since it was a tile floor and he almost fell off backwards!

Friday was supposed to be our last day. However, since we didn't go to the parks on Tuesday, we still had a day left on our tickets and Brian wasn't going to let that go to waste! So, since Austin didn't get to go into the "big golf ball" on Monday, we took a quick trip to Epcot on Saturday morning before we left to go back home. We were there for all of 2 hours, which is absolutely NO time when you are talking about a Disney Park!

He did get to go up into the "golf ball" by riding Spaceship Earth. It was his favorite ride...so I'm glad we took the time to go back. However, he was first terrified in the show, "Honey I Shrunk the Audience." He loved it the first time we were there in 2007, but this year not so much! It was a little too intense for him and he said he didn't want to EVER go back to that show. Eh, I'm sure that he'll want to go again when he's older. :-)

We had to get a family picture in front of Austin favorite part!

Our resort (Westgate Resorts) was awesome on this vacation! We knew it would be handy because we were trying to do this vacation on a budget, so a full kitchen would help with eating breakfast there and bringing lunches to the park. However, it was instrumental with a sick kid! I can not say how great it was to have this much room! The couch pulled out into a bed, we had 2 full bathrooms, a full kitchen, a balcony, a dining room area, and a king size bed (plus a crib) in the bedroom. There were nights when I was in the bedroom with Austin and Brian was out on the sofa couch, nights when Austin was on the sofa couch and nights when we were all 3 in the King-sized bed. It has completely sold us on a king-sized bed...but probably won't be getting one anytime soon!

Oh, and we had a washer and a dryer so we even came home with CLEAN clothes! It was so nice! The resort also had all kinds of activities we could have taken advantage of. We own a timeshare with this resort, but have never been able to use it since we were in Hawaii. We will definitely be using it more often!

Well, that's all...sorry it took me so long to post them. I hope to be better about posting pictures, but I'm not promising anything since I have yet to post Colten's 10 month comparison picture! Maybe tomorrow. :-)

Some More Disney Pictures

Friday was supposed to be our last day at the parks. We went to Magic Kingdom (which was what we planned the whole time). This was the only full day at Magic Kingdom though, so we hoped to do most of what we wanted to do. The night before at the Christmas Party definitely helped with that goal!

Getting to Magic Kingdom when you drive is a little more troublesome than the other parks. You don't just park in the lot and walk to the gate. With Magic Kingdom, you park in the Ticket and Transportation Office parking lot and take either the Monorail (faster) or a Ferry (slower, but different) to the gates. We went both ways and definitely know that the ferry is S-L-O-W-E-R!

However, you get to slow down and are able to take really good pictures of your kids with Mickey Ears on. See? Like this!

When we first got into the park, we saw that Pluto was there and got in line. We had seen him at Animal Kingdom, but Goofy was with him and Austin doesn't like Goofy. This time, he was by himself, so Austin was eager to get his picture taken with him! Colten? Not so much...he would MUCH rather play around the fence that was nearby. :-)

And don't even get me started why they have the kids facing THE SUN so they squint the whole time! I even have pictures where Austin is using his hand as a visor! Oh well.

We got to do all kinds of shopping and rides. I even got to get a Dole Whip (pinapple soft-serve ice cream) that was SO good. I need to research and see if I can find it any other way than going to Magic Kingdom!

We found out Colten's favorite ride: Aladdin's Carpet Ride. He was in awe just watching the ride go around and around, then just LOVED the ride while we were on it. He was SO upset that our ride was over!

Austin found a rubber snake that he wanted...and Bobo ended up going back and buying it to surprise him with!

We saw Captain Jack Sparrow on our way to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. Looks like he stepped right out of the movie!

Austin loves all things pirate right now. He got most of his souveniers from the gift shop outside of the ride. We didn't complain much about that since they weren't too expensive...one of them only cost $3!

One of the things we did that we didn't have a chance to do last time was go over to Tom Saywer Island. This is an awesome place for kids who love to explore...but you have to have some time on your hands to really enjoy it. We spent just a little bit of time over there, but I got a few good pictures of Colten in a bucket while waiting for Austin and Brian to get back from exploring! I'm only posting one since I have a LOT of pictures on this post! :-)

I am starting a tradition (hoping we make it to Disney again and again in the years to come!). Each time, I want to get pictures of the kids trying to pull the sword from the stone. I guess we'll see at what age they start to resist these pictures. :-) Austin thought it was pretty neat last time, and was really eager to try it again.

Colten had to be held up there, but he didn't mind! He thought it was pretty cool as well!

Then, Austin had to get back on there and try ONE MORE TIME!

This picture was taken on our way out. My advice? Do the castle picture earlier in the day when you have kids who are still happy, your husband isn't trying to get out of there, and you have more patience with it all! :-) I can guarentee that a better picture could have been taken at a much better time than the end of the day.