The Last Santa, 2011

Merry Christmas to all, and to all SEVEN different Santa Claus that we saw! Ho! Ho! Ho!

 And, finally, the hey-what's-in-your-beard-is-that-more-candy-awesome picture!

School Santa

This is the I'm-not-crying-this-year-but-I-still-think-you're-not-a-great-Santa-Claus-dude-oh-wait-you-have-candy-I-think-I-love-you-after-all picture:

 Plus, I can't hardly stand the cuteness! Kelly, Teddy and Eli ... checking out Santa Claus!

Santa Herb

Christmas, C-130 style!

 Eli wondering if Daddy REALLY knows what all of those dials and switches are for ...

 I guess it can't really be THAT hard! Can it?

 Um ...

 Awesome!

 Wait, you want me to jump? From here? All the way to the ground?

 Of course, a chick co-pilot makes everything better!

 But the best part, of course, was more Santa action!

 And a new girlfriend (sorry Kate ... you can be Eli's southern girl! Ha! Ha!)

We just can't stop!

Seriously! And there's at least one more planned.

But this is the we-went-to-the-mall-with-Henry-and-his-mom-Emily-to-ride-the-Choo-Choo-Train-and-we-were-so-depressed-that-they-are-moving-to-England-in-three-weeks-that-we-had-to-get-a-picture-of-the-boys-with-Santa picture:

And Sutch!

Last night we were so thankful to be invited to a Santa Party by our friend, RaKell (my super-mom advisor!) and her family.
Her daughter, Kate, who is five, was a great new friend / big sister to Eli:

 She helped Eli find a perfect spot to sit and watch Santa!

 They both got distracted by Nick (the cute blue blur in the background!) for a minute ...

 ... but then were quick to get back to Santa, waiting their turn to sit on his lap!

 There was some singing ...

 And then, FINALLY, it was time for the I've-been-waiting-so-excitedly-but-now-that-it's-my-turn-I'm-frozen pictures (actually, I was so proud of Eli as he walked up to Santa all by himself! So brave!):

 And then a quick okay-I'll-give-you-a-high-five-but-there's-no-way-I'm-going-to-talk-to-you picture:

 Santa brought Eli a present (thanks, RaKell!)!

 We got to make some Reindeer food, too:

 And of course there's that face:

 But Eli had so much fun he even gave us a "real" smile!

Auntie Megan

Here is the Auntie-Megan-came-to-visit-and-we-had-to-go-to-the-fake-and-creepy-grabby-hands-Santa picture:

 Oh, and the is-Eli-really-picking-his-nose-oh-yes-he's-really-picking-his-nose-and-then-he-announced-that-he-was-going-to-eat-his-booger-and-then-he-really-did-eat-his-booger-oh-and-by-the-way-yes-Auntie-Megan's-shirt-really-does-say-Ho-Ho-Ho picture:

And finally, the we-have-to-find-someone-to-photoshop-Uncle-Tuna-into-this-one picture:

Santa Claus!

Since this is just the first of many pictures with Santa Claus this year, we've decided to describe each picture by what we were doing / who we were with when we saw each Santa.

This one is the we-were-riding-our-bikes-to-return-a-RedBox-and-we-saw-Santa-on-the-side-of-the-road picture:

Are you sure that thing didn't have caffeine?

Starbucks makes Eli smarter! Distractable, maybe, but definitely smarter!

Grown-up!

Now that Eli is all grown up - wearing underpants and all - we decided it's time he start drinking Starbucks just like Daddy. Also, because every Saturday when Mike says, "Do you want to go for a ride in Daddy's truck?" Eli responds, "Starbucks!" Ha! Ha!

Underpants

It's official, Eli is now wearing real underpants all of the time. 

Except when he naps and at night. So all of the time that he's awake. 

And he's doing awesome! 

Thanks to Grandma Deb, he has a super cute collection of underpants that he likes to wear. On his bum and on his head:

 And thanks to Uncle Josh and Uncle Zachie, too, for encouraging him to keep the underwear hat on!

 Way to go, Eli!

Snow Day!

First SNOW DAY of the year! It's hard to tell who loved it more ... Eli or Maggie!

When Daddy's away ...

... the house doesn't get cleaned. At all. It's gross. Luckily, Eli loves helping clean up!

Dog Days ... and "The Incident"

So we might as well go three for three in the "unfortunate incidents" department. Seriously, I'm just waiting for our first (of many, I fear) trip to Primary Children's. At least it's close.

This is Maggie at the awesome, end-of-season Doggie Swim Day at our local pool:

 She even tried to make some dog friends ...

... but mostly she just wanted to steal their balls!

 And then, Eli got stung by a bee:

 And we had to go home.

Poor Maggie.