You Better Watch Out

I got this print at Mistletoe the night before Rhett was born. Ann Elise got one for Michael too. It will always be a little reminder of the events of that night and morning. I had to have it because I could just picture it in my house now and in 20 years when the kids are gone. I love it's vintage feel. So, without further ado, our 2011 pictures with Santa...well, after a little flashback...

Santa and ME
2009

2010

2010 (2nd attempt)- I had totally forgotten about this one before I looked it up on my blog. Classic!

Santa and Rhett
2011

Awww...and for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to pay a professional photographer $40 and then STILL wait in line at Sweet Dreams to have Santa pictures made with my kids. I guess I thought this Santa would be less "icky" for my 2 week old than the one that a million kids had sat on at the mall. It's the same photographer that did ME's Easter pics, and these would have been precious and worth the money, except...

What? I thought you loved Santa, Mary Ella?!?! She wouldn't even come close to sitting on his lap without harming him, so we tried the sneak approach...she was smarter than that!

Ugly cry face

She freaked! Totally wasn't expecting it...I don't know why after last year. Ha!

I guess this is the best one, if you can call it that! And then look what she went and did...

The Bass Pro Santa? You smile and sit with the Bass Pro Santa? Really??? Brad took her to Bass Pro one Saturday just to get her out of the house (and I'm sure to look at guns). But I totally laughed when he said they had a Santa, and he was taking her. I thought, "Good luck with that." Oh well, the ones above are pretty hilarious, and I'm sure they will only get better with age.

And when I went to pick up the Santa pics at Sweet Dreams, these were ready too.

Sweet, sweet. I have an imprint of ME's hand from last year and an ornament with her handprint from her first Christmas, but I can't find them since the move. :(

And this set is for his room...love imprints by Mitzi!

Gingerbread House

Christmas is coming so fast! I am trying to squeeze in everything I want and need to do. Friday night, Mary Ella and I had a little girl time and made a gingerbread house! Rhett also got some one-on-one Mommy time...Saturday we finished our Christmas shopping. It is crazy out there, people! Thankfully, he slept the whole time. And Sunday I finally got around to wrapping gifts. There is still more coming in the mail to wrap before the weekend. Thank goodness for online shopping this year because besides a few hours on Saturday and a few on Black Friday I have not been out to get anything. But my Paypal account has been busy!

Her side of the house

I thought it turned out cute, and she had a blast! I love that she loves to get in the kitchen and get crafty too!

6 Weeks

6 Weeks Old

Cutie

Look at him reaching across his crib!

Whew! Brad was out of town Monday through Thursday this week, so there was no rest for this weary Mama. Let's just say we made it through alive, and any woman that would choose to be a single mom probably doesn't know what she's getting into! Monday I had my 6 week check-up...that was interesting with 2 kids! Dr. Cole was so sweet and let Mary Ella watch Mickey Mouse in her office. And then she let me feed Rhett in there before we left. Love her! We got to see Daddy one more time at lunch that day. First lunch out with both kiddos, and it went well! This week was also the first week without supper being brought to us. So, I just made a big pot of soup, and we ate it all week. My sweet friend, Rachel, did bring me some yummy chicken salad from Beagle Bagel, so I did have some variety. I was so thankful for a few visits from friends! Rebecca, Cullen, and Campbell and Sara and Ann Louise came over too. It was nice to have someone to talk to and have friends for ME to play with.

This sweet thing gave us his first BIG smiles this week! He tries to talk and can say "goo." He also let out his first real laugh (when he let out a big toot and more). It cracked sister and me up!

Sweet talking Mommy

This is how he looks and listens to me, with his big eyes.

I was trying to catch a smile for the camera, but I got a silly face instead.

He took a few naps in his basinette in the living room.

Getting ready to put sister to bed

It was warm enough one day to let ME and Cullen play in her playhouse. Rebecca and I sat on the porch with the babies and chatted.

This is what Rhett does while I take my bath. He looks thrilled to be sitting in his sister's pink bouncy seat. Notice the raised eyebrow?

Finally Dada's home! Let's hold hands and nap!

More Christmasy pics in our appliqued t-shirts. Thanks, Leslie!

She likes to put her hand over his face while I'm trying to take their picture.

Hi, Mama

Looking up at the Christmas tree

Elf on the Floor

Most of you probably know about The Elf on the Shelf. It's a book about how Santa knows if you're naughty or nice. It comes with an elf that flies to the North Pole each night to report to Santa and flies back and lands in a new spot in the morning to watch you. I love this guy! He gets Mary Ella to take her medicine, stop whining, and helps out in lots of other fun situations. Now, I'm not the type of person that gets creative with discipline. I'm pretty old school. But right now I'm tired and my patience is pretty thin, so I don't mind a little extra motivation from Santa and his elf. ME loves getting up in the morning and finding the elf. She gets excited and says, "Oh, there is the elf!" She can't seem to come up with a name for him. You're supposed to name your elf, but the only thing she has ever said is Numeroff (as in Laura Numeroff, one of her favorite authors)...maybe next year she'll be more interested, but right now he is just elf. So, the only rule about the elf is that you can't touch him or he loses his magic. This is not a problem because he usually appears in a spot that is out of her reach. WELL, one day this week he was perched on top of the armoire in her bedroom. It seemed to be a safe enough place, until we got her shoes for the day out of it and closed the doors a little too hard...Splat! Elf fell off, flat on his face. You should have seen HER face. It was priceless. Mine was probably pretty funny too, because I thought, "Oh no, how am I going to handle this?" She didn't get upset, she didn't rush to pick him up. We both just froze and didn't know what to do. She wanted to help, but she was afraid to touch him. I assured her that the elf was okay, and that it was probably okay to touch him just this once since he needed our help. I told her that would be the nice thing to do, and Santa would be proud we helped him. Then I told her to wait and ran and got my camera. Her face cracks me up in every one of these pictures. She picked him up, and I put him back on top of the armoire. We ended up laughing about the elf bonking his head, and she was so excited that she got to touch him! Too funny!

You would have thought she was holding something priceless...she's not even that gentle with her baby brother!