Photo shoot with my four year old

Scenario:  Mom gets a decent camera and thinks she can take on the annual birthday picture of her four year old.  Mom buys a new shirt for the pictures.  Mom picks out a fun location right down the street from her house but needs to wait until the lightening is right.  Mom is out-of-control busy and never gets around to it...until one day in December when she has a spare fifteen minutes and notices that the lighting looks good.  Mom bribes four year old (who has been four for five months now) to change his shirt and get in the car.  Good thing it's about fifty degrees.  What was I expecting???

 Not too excited to begin

 Plaster on smile & cheese it up 

 Did I mention he wasn't too excited to be doing this?

 Trying to look animated or stay warm?

 Honestly, this boy is just a goof-ball

 "I really don't want to do this, Mom"

 This kid looks at me from the top of his eyes JUST LIKE HIS DAD

 Imitating Vector from Despicable Me because of course I want to put that up on my wall

 Cold, cold hands -- are we done yet?

 Vain attempts to look happy for Mom when wanting to be done 

 Does a smirk count as a smile?

 Really, really done

"Please, Mom, can we be done?"

Poor kid!  But there were a couple shots that captured my wonderful little boy the way I was hoping for:

This kid is just so cute.  Remember, I only took the time to make him change his shirt and I wasn't paying attention to his pants or shoes...but look at that face!  Am I just the luckiest mom or what?

Thanksgiving 2011

Nothing like a little bit of catch-up, but we needed to document a great holiday celebration.

Lots of bracelet-making...

lots of cousin-bonding...

probably not enough sleeping...

except after playing football, soccer, and then eating a big turkey dinner...

lots of Wackee Six, Checkers, and Catan...

lots of pie...

lots of lovely ladies (who do lots of giggling)...

All in all I would say it was an absolute delight to host this group for a very thankful-filled holiday!

Scripture Scholar?

Normal:  the pile of washed bedding in the background that needs to go back on beds, Camden's shirtfront being all wet from playing in the kitchen sink, Camden looking adorable, "Puppy" close by Camden's side

Not normal:  Camden sitting still for family scripture study looking like a little scholar!  

I'm sure I disrupted our family study time more by trying to get a picture of Camden than he normally does by just playing all around us, but I wanted a picture like this preserved forever!

The end of all dessert freezes

It's over.  20 1/2 months of 1, 2 or 3 people that decided to do a "dessert freeze" at our house.  Callie was the last one to finish up a year with no dessert.  Tyler thought it would be fun to pay her in gold dollars.

I am by no means a sugar fanatic, but I do love to cook and bake and I am THRILLED that we are all on the same diet again -- whatever comes out of Mom's kitchen (even if the pumpkin muffins for breakfast have chocolate chips in them, or the zucchini bread for snack has crumb topping).  Hallelujah!

Aside from my own personal ease, I do have to say GREAT JOB! to my three kids who went for long lengths with no treats:  candy passed out in school, Eastertime, Halloween, Thanksgiving pies, birthday cake, our weekly Sunday evening ice cream, all the Christmas treats, FHE treats, YW birthday treats...that takes a lot of will power and builds up character.  Way to go!

Naptime

 Camden is in a new phase -- he must wear a hat and boots at all times, naps included.  And yes, he really is that sweet all the time.

Two of my favorite guys.  Sometimes I'm a little jealous of how much Camden loves his daddy, but I sure can't blame him seeing as I'm in the same boat.

Sunday: A Day of Rest

In 2011 it was very rare to have our daddy at home on a Sunday afternoon.  The few times he was here, it looked something like this:

One of the only true "day of rest"'s that I got all year -- because Tyler took over!!!