Christmas Card Shots

Here are the pictures we took in November for our first Christmas card. I couldn't pick just one so that is why we ended up with three. Like all parents, we love taking pictures of our little one!

Thank You Serdel Family!

Thank you so much Brian, Amanda and Mackenzie for your thoughtful Christmas gift! We got it on Saturday and have already started munching on the goodies inside! It was so thoughtful of you to get us the "Breakfast in Bed" one too since it came with a breakfast tray and we needed one of those (the one BJ used for me on my b-day was borrowed). 

Thank you also for the handmade Christmas card and wonderful family photo! We love you all!

Who is this Little Boy?

           Can you guess who this little boy is?

........................................................................................

         Daddy had to show Eli that it's fun getting a hair cut!

All set for his first real haircut!!!!!

A sucker helped him be still...

Checking out the new 'do

All done!

I'm surprised I didn't cry...we're holding a little box with his curls inside.

"Whoa! I didn't know I had ears!"

Had to take him up to the office to show the girls up there...they were shocked!

 My little boy is growing up!

Mall Santa and Snow Bibs

Today we headed over to the mall to find some snow bibs in hopes that there will be a white Christmas in Michigan. I grabbed the camera and thought we'd give the Mall Santa Claus another try. We saw him once about a week ago too but Eli wouldn't sit on his lap. Plus I didn't have my camera. When we got there Santa wasn't around. I think he had to go feed his raindeer or something, so we hung around to wait. All of a sudden, Santa came walking toward us from out of nowhere! When Eli saw him he started saying, "Deet! Deet!" which is his way of saying, "look!" He does that when he sees a dog or something that excites him. He also started smiling and waving furiously at Santa and Santa stopped and waved back! So I took him over and after petting the little toy dog next to his chair, he cautiously sat on Santa's lap!

We were also successful in finding snow bibs that were 40% off. When BJ got home we put them on him and took these pictures. As we were doing that there was a knock on the door. It was UPS delivering a Christmas present from cousins Jake, Aiden, Luke Lily, and Maggie. We went ahead and let Eli open it...

"I'm just doing this for you mom!"

Eli is ready to roll in the snow!

I special effected this shot...

He's been going around w/ his mouth open a lot lately...I guess from the stuffy/runny nose.
I'm keeping the tags on until we know for sure that MI will have a white Christmas!

I love that smile on his face! He knows this must be something good!

Ripping it open all by himself!
"My very own backpack! Just what I always wanted!"

It's the gift that keeps on giving! A backpack w/ a sleeping bag, water bottle and flash light! All set to go camping with Daddy! Thanks Uncle Rob, Aunt Shannon, Jake, Aidan, Luke, Lily and Maggie!

Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

Refreshments for the evening
Underneath that cloth the tree is taped and tied to the table!

The end result...with a little pizzazz!

Some of my favorite childhood memories are of decorating the Christmas tree with my family. We always made a fun night of drinking egg nog, listening the Chipmunks Christmas music and putting up the tree. I remember it seemed like we had to wait forever for my dad to prune the bottom of the tree and then put the lights and garland on before we could start with the ornaments. Then we'd douse the tree in silver icicles or tinsel as most people call it. What fun we had!

So maybe that's why I had big plans for us to head up to one of the tree farms in Boone to cut down our own this year. I pictured us all bundled up on a wagon ride going out to a field lined with beautiful fragrant Fraser Furs! 

When I started looking into it though I thought $50 plus the trip would be kind of a lot to spend on a tree for the 3 of us to look at for about 2 weeks. Maybe if we were having company for the holidays it would have been worth the splurge. I guess I'll save my fantasy tree idea for next year. 

We got this little 4 footer over the summer from a Fred's that was going out of business. I almost wanted to cry when BJ took it out of it's little ole' box last night, but we both just got a huge laugh out of it!

I was all set to load it up with ALL our ornaments but in the end we just put most of the non-glass/non-breakable ones on it. Eli seemed to have fun but he was scolded quite a bit. We'll see if this thing makes it thru until we leave for MI!