Working out for his Performance

Chase and I have been doing a little P90X at home, and this guy decided it looked fun and wanted to join in.  So he grabbed his "carpet", put on his exercise shorts and running shoes, and then noticed that one of the guys in the video wasn't wearing a shirt.  So that came off too. 

He made it through the whole video, cheering, encouraging along with Tony, the leader, and giving fist bumps all around.  "Blow it up guys" he'd say.  

Then, he'd show us his muscles to see how strong he'd gotten over the last 30 minutes.  Priceless.  

So he was all big and strong for his school performance Thursday.  He was a shepherd, and sang 4 songs with his class of 3 year olds.  

What a precious pillow case pageant!

Liam, 11 Months

Tuesday of this week Liam turned 11 months old.  The countdown to toddlerdom has begun.  I cannot believe it has already been 11 months.  What a sweet joy this little munchkin is.  (In spite of his bought of sleepless nights he experienced from months 7-10).

He is the spitting image of his Daddy, and his curiosity gets the better of him all throughout the day.  Whether it is getting in the dog food, climbing stairs, or pulling ornaments off the tree, this guy can't get enough of exploring the world around him.   

He is eating 3 meals like a normal person now, sleeping 11 hours at night and 4 during the day, says mama, dada, rara, hey, baba, and pop (or Pa) and is so close to walking!

Christmas Tree Portraits

For some reason when it comes to children's clothing, I feel like if I can get a good picture of them in the outfit, it doesn't matter so much if they ever wear it again.  

This sounds really weird I know, but when you find a precious outfit (or smock it, as in Liam's outfit in this post) you really want your child to wear it.  And when they don't want to, you feel like it's a challenge to make it worth the time/price you paid for it.  

So when Raughley finally wanted to put on his reindeer sweater, I jumped at the chance to take a pic of him in it.  Because it may never be on his body again.  

And this smocked jumper may be ruined by the next time Liam wears it, at the rate he messes up clothes.  Spaghetti will never come out of white things, no matter how much oxi clean I use!

Guess who took this picture?  I think he has a future in it- he even used the rule of thirds- I didn't even crop it!

So I have a memory of a brief second where both children are clothed, clean and happy... what a blessing!

Seeing Santa

What a difference a year makes! Raughley loved sitting in Santa's lap this year.  We had so much fun riding the carriage, seeing Santa, and eating brunch.  I hope Santa took notes because someone has a particular list this year.  Some random things he's asking for- buzz lightyear shoes, woody's horse, a little car, a trampoline... the list changes daily.  Oh what fun to be 3 1/2 and loving Christmas!

SEC Championship

Little Santa's

Trimming the Tree

We got our Pre School Partners tree again this year, and couldn't wait to put it up and get decorating!

At this point Raughley started taking pictures with my camera- so we had a little lesson on how to point and shoot, and he actually did a pretty good job!

The first present daddy ever gave mommy. 

All of those pictures above were taken by Raughley- I was pretty impressed!