Christmas snapshots

In an attempt to put together our picture Christmas card this year, I have been taking Christmas pics nonstop. Ironically, I didn't use any of the pics that I have been taking the past few weeks for the final cut. I ended up using a few pics from a couple of months ago. Go figure. Anyways, here are the ones that didn't make the cut.

These are just 4 of about 30 pics - they got progressively worse as the pictures dragged on. They switched off between either Brian's or Tristan's eyes closed or looking elsewhere. Like father like son when it comes to pictures.

A sweet moment I caught between the two of them :)

We even dressed everyone up for a grandkids pic to give to Grama & Papa George. Trying to get three kids under the age of three to look at the camera, let alone smile at the same time, is nearly impossible. Of course the ever photogenic Emma is the only one who cooperated!

Keep 'em busy!

Since we have two boy cousins who are very active, we have to find activities to "keep 'em busy"!

Instead of sitting around all day and doing this:

We have to do more activities that wear them out, such as this:

Bowling

Boys all dressed up to go to Bouncing Off the Wall - not sure why Tristan chose to wear a railroad engineer/pilot outfit, but it's pretty cute! And I'm pretty sure these Osh Kosh overalls were either mine or Trav's when we were little :)

Happy 8 months!!

Wow, we now have an 8 month old! Where is the time going?? If I was amazed at how much she has grown since turning 7 months old, it is even way more of a jump to 8 months old. Her personality is really coming out now - and my, what a personality she has! Here are some highlights/milestones she has reached by 8 months:

*She is a mover! It only took her a week of army crawling before she was "regular" crawling all over the place! And not only crawling, but pulling herself up onto furniture and cruising everywhere! I really think it's just a matter of time before she starts walking - seriously!
*She has such a big smile and loves to interact with those around her. She especially loves her cousin Emma - they could spend all day together!
*She can give high fives. Well, she may not really understand what they are for, but if you hold your hand out and tell her to give you a high five, she will. Pretty precious.
*Her laugh is so contagious! She will giggle at anything - the way Tristan talks to her, a tickle or a funny face and she will laugh out loud. Love it!
*Still no teeth which is crazy because Tristan had 6 at this age! She still appears to be drooling/teething like crazy, so I'm sure they're just around the corner:)
*She's starting to eat more baby foods. Since she still lacks teeth, we haven't tried anything solid with her, so are sticking with the pureed kind.

Little blurry, but love this pic of the two of them!

Cruising around on her push toy. I have a feeling she won't be needing this for long!

We love you baby girl! You make our lives so much more meaningful and complete!

Bath time!

Now that Talia is able to sit in the bathtub without her baby tub, she is loving being able to take baths with her big brother and even her big cousin. It's so funny to see how different brother and sister are from one another - Tristan sits quietly and plays with his toys (and always has been this way) while Talia is a mad woman in the tub, splashing and doing laps around him. It'll be interesting to see how they grow into their personalities and if the way they are now has any indication as to how they will be :)

Santa Claus!

Today we got to see Santa Claus!! And this was the first time Tristan was able to tell me his Christmas list so that we could write it down and give it to Santa when we saw him. Both kiddos were not afraid of sitting on a stranger's lap (it sounds super creepy to me now...) and we lucked out with a pretty good pic.

His first list! It was hard for me to get anything else out of him besides a garbage truck, but I added the last three because these are things he always loves to play with. And I know he will love anything brought by Santa!

Walking up to Santa, right after he handed him his letter

The only one I got of both kids together - not too bad! And only in Bend do you have to wear your full winter outfit - hats, jackets, etc. - because Santa's "cottage" is outside in the elements! It looks warm and cozy in the pic, but this was all outdoors in freezing weather. This would definitely not happen in Portland!

Sunriver day trip

Today we decided to have a fun day trip to Sunriver to see all of the Christmas sites. Even though it was SUPER cold, we still had a good time walking around the village and warming up with lunch and a treat from the Goody store. It's so fun to know that Sunriver is only a half hour away so that we can do this any time we want!

Christmas Crafts

I love this time of year, especially when I was teaching because it meant doing all of the fun Christmas-related activities with my students. It's even more fun this year because now I get to do these activities with Tristan! This is the first year that he is able to participate and do some of the fun things that I was always excited to do each year with my kids. So looking forward to more things we can do together!

Making a gingerbread house with cousins Emma & Eli!

Making pine cone Christmas trees

Love this one, especially of Talia who is just hanging out in her chair watching the action.