Family Pictures 2012

Family pictures are so stressful for me. I seriously agonized for

weeks about what we should all wear. Would we look like we

went together but not too matchy? Then I worried

about where to have them taken, if the weather was going

to be good, if Judd was going to cooperate.

Would I look like I was stressed out....?

But for some reason I love having family pictures.  I take tons
of pictures of Judd (just ask Scott) but I like having ones of
all of us together.  I feel like Judd is growing up so fast and
we will never have this moment together again so I want to
somehow capture it forever.  Too cheesy or dramatic?
Probably, but that is how I feel.

Luckily, Judd was in good spirits for about the

first half of the time so we got these cute ones

of him.  Of course, he somehow managed to

scratch his head a few days before.  The

lady who took the pictures said she could

photo shop it out - but by then I was attached

to how accurate it is of our little boy...

If you look closely, you can see the half-eaten 

Smarties that I was bribing him with..

The fun story behind the photo is that there are 

technically four of us in the picture.  We had just

found out for sure this afternoon that we were expecting again.

Love this little boy.  

Love my little family.  

Time Together

I love Christmas. 

 I think it is a combination of being together, mixed with 

anticipation, and everyone just seems happier and nicer

 to each other.  Maybe it's because we all take time to 

remember what's really important. Whatever the reason, 

it's my favorite time of the year.

This year was so much fun.  Judd was old enough that he got

 excited about things. He always wanted to hold the 

 "Ho Ho with deer horns" (better known as Santa in his sleigh with

 a reindeer.) He loved getting our Christmas tree.  

It was a great adventure.

After we got our tree, Judd kept saying "Chop it down!"

He was sure that every 'pine cone' (evergreen tree)

 needed to come to our house.  

He also got his very own "scoop."

I don't know who was more excited for 

Christmas morning, me or Scott.

  

Judd loves 'diles' (crocodiles) and 'soars' (dinosaurs).
We watch Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaur several times 
a day because not only does it have dinosaurs but it has 
one that looks like a crocodile. We have been working on
 brushing our teeth (he pretty much hates it) but apparently
 must think it is important enough to inflict on 
his Momma and baby 'dile'. 

I'm pretty impressed with Judd's throwing skills.  In the 

mornings he calls for me to get him out of bed.  In the

 meantime, he entertains himself by throwing all of his stuffed

 animals out of the crib.   He is getting surprisingly accurate

 at "making a basket" in the recliner. 

Judd is starting to instill some fear in the dogs,

 mostly Foxy. He thinks it is great fun to chase them 

around the house.  I think if I were the size of a

 basketball, I would run from him too.

He does have a soft, quiet side to him too.

It's just not as readily apparent.  I wish this picture was

 brighter but he was sharing his bottle with the stuffed lion.

(Which is saying something, because he takes his bottle

 and binky very seriously. It's about time for him to say 

goodbye to his bottle and binky but I just haven't had

 the heart to take them away,)

He is supposed to only have them when he is napping

 or at bedtime but I think some days we don't make

 as much progress as we should... :/

We also found some snow boots at the thrift store
that he thinks are pretty much the best thing.
He calls them his "awesome boots."  Literally.
He wants to know know why he can't wear his
"awesome" ones to church....

His obsession with hats continues. 

My elliptical that is in the living room so it 

can be "conveniently used",  is now

 used as his hat rack. I would have taken a picture but then 

you would see how much dust was on it and you would know 

that I don't use it as much (or ever) 

as I should and that I dust even less....

He loves 'naculars', (binoculars)

and gloves,  

and playing with things he isn't suppose to....

We wouldn't trade him for the world.....