Our Annual Santa Claus pictures

Went to Redmond Town Center and saw Santa Claus.  They had a free Merry Go Round too.  The boys rode it while we waited in line to see this rosy cheeked fellow.  Both boys were so excited to see Santa.  When he asked them what they wanted, Cody said he wanted a red Power Ranger costume and Decker said he wanted Max Steel "stuff".  Hmmmm  ;)  Santa came through for both of them.  Phew!!  

On Christmas Eve, we had a special visitor come to our house.  He brought a special gift for Decker and Cody.  Some wood projects Mike got for them to work on and a poster.  They were so excited to see Santa at our house.  :)  

 Then we went to the Todesco's for Appetizers and then for the first time in 8 years, we broke tradition.  Keppi and Grandma Wood both had pneumonia, so they were staying home instead of going to the Wood's.  So we went to Keppi's house first and "caroled" to her and brought her one crystal ornament gift to open and wished her a Merry Christmas.  Then we drove over to Grandma Wood's, and took her a  hot chocolate gift to open and caroled to her and wished her a Merry Christmas.  Then we came home and the boys opened one gift.  Pajamas for each of them.  They were soooo HAPPY.  Decker went on and on  about his Avengers pjs.  For someone who doesn't wear pajamas to bed because he gets too hot, he was sure excited and happy with his pjs.  Cody got Jake and the Neverland Pirates pjs.  Both were just thrilled!

 Christmas Morning (3:00 a.m.)

 Decker's STASH--Ninjago, tennis shoes, Innotab with games, Max Steel toy, socks, pjs, flashlight

 Cody's STASH--Innotab with games, markers, Power Ranger costume, Lowes tool set and apron, socks and pjs.

Merry Christmas!

Pictures December 2013

I've never been a fan of professional photos.  I always thought, we take so many pictures, why do we need to go to a studio and have someone take our pictures for us and then pay an outrageous fee for something we could do at home?  At Christmas time, I thought I would do something different.  I would get the boys matching shirts and then take them to JC Penneys to get some studio pictures done....but not before I tried to do it on my own...
I found these cute shirts at Target.  The boys loved wearing matching shirts.  I took them down to the park in hopes of finding some pretty foilage or fences that we could take our pictures...got there and realized, I forgot the camera...Ughhhh...go back to the house, grab the camera and then we decided to run to the church and use the grassy areas with trees to take some pictures...these are some of the pictures I took.  The boys got cold after a few minutes and so we would go sit in the car with the heater blasted up to thaw and then go for some more pictures.  Trying to get the boys to smile at the same time and look at the camera has always been a challenge and today it seemed especially hard.

 

 This is where they started throwing pinecones at me...and where I started getting some more natural smiles...because they were having so much fun and laughing together....

After an hour of trying to get the perfect picture...we made our appointment with JCPenneys....Within 10 shots, the photographer had several great pictures with the little guys looking at the camera and smiling at the same time.  A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!  ;)

 Maybe there's something to it after all... :)