Christmas Pictures

So I am officially a Christmas slacker. Granted..all of my shopping and wrapping is completed and I have done all the necessary arrangements for hosting Christmas dinner here, but I failed to remember one important aspect.. I forgot to schedule Nolan's Christmas photo session until last week. So off we go to Portrait Innovations with an early morning appointment. I thought that I was the only one who failed to schedule Christmas pics, but boy was I wrong..it was packed!! Anyway, next year I will be going with our beloved photographer or maybe even scheduling with a special out of town photographer, i.e. Raven :), but for this year it is what it is. So Nolan did great with the family picture, but he wanted nothing to do with his individual shots. He was totally NOT interested at all in sitting in the chair or looking at the Christmas tree, but he was thoroughly impressed with the empty present boxes..so much so that he barely even looked up from the boxes, much less smiled for the stranger with the camera and the stuffed animal on his head. Anyway, at least the picture selection process was easy since we didn't have many to choose from. So..here are some of the best pictures from this morning :)

An Incredible 17 Months

Today Nolan is officially 17 months old. How in the world did that happen????? I continue to be amazed by him each day. Every day is a new adventure full of laughter and learning, and some tears and boo-boos along the way. I hope that the next 17 months don't go by as quickly as these have...I have enjoyed watching him grow and change and I am looking forward many many more fun-filled days with my little Roo.

From a Penguin to a Lion

Ok..so here is my belated Halloween post of my little lion. A couple of days before Halloween our church hosted a "Reformation Day" celebration, very similar to a fall festival to give kids a safer alternative to trick-or-treating. The kids are supposed to dress as a favorite Bible character or ark animal. Last year Nolan was an adorable little penguin, but this year he moved up to king of the jungle status. I had his costume picked a long time ago, so starting in early Oct. I began asking him what a lion says. He first looked at me like I was absolutely crazy when I started "roaring," but he quickly became amused and started "roaring" back to me in a sweet little voice. Of course he doesn't always perform on command, especially when others are present (sound familiar to any other mommies??), so getting a video clip is pretty much next to impossible. (BTW- now he not only knows what a lion says, but also a pig, cow, dog, cat, snake, monkey, duck, bear, chicken, horse, and elephant, ok proud mommy moment over :)) So since I didn't have my blog last Halloween I decided to post some old and new costume pictures. It is amazing what a difference a year makes!!