Ashton-Man turns two!

I didn't think it could happen, but my baby boy turned two.  He's just so awesome.  I've been so lucky to stay home with him since the summer and we have really bonded and he is so expressive and loving.  Because his birthday is in the winter and we have a little house, I decided to make things easy on myself and have his party at McDonalds.  For his first birthday we did a lunch in the hall at our church, but we had to do all the food, set up, clean up and entertaining.  At McD's, I really just had to pay, and it was quite affordable, so everyone was happy.

Kids playing with the cup tower.

 Ashton got to topple the cup tower.  He was scared that he would get in trouble but then he went for it he had a blast!

 My dad being... well... my dad.

There were games...

even duck duk goose.

 And presents!

 And we mustn't forget about the cake.

The Elf and Santa

Did you hear about the Elf on the Shelf?  They were pretty popular this year it seems.  Basically you adopt this elf who comes with a book explaining the elf and his magic.  The elf sits on your shelf and watches over you, and every night after you go to bed he flies to the north pole to let Santa know if you're being naughty or nice.  Can I tell you that this elf is FREAKING MAGICAL?  The first thing the book has you do it name your elf, so we named ours Marshall, although Eleda called him Markle about half the time.  As soon as she started mis-behaving, we just pointed to Marshall and all was well.  Magic, I tell you.  The most fun was every morning when they woke up, the kids would search the house to see where Marshall landed when he came back from the north pole (a different spot every day).  I wish I'd taken more photos, but I worked almost every night leading up to the holidays and just didn't have it in me.  Anyways, here's Marshall/Markle getting up close and personal with our pickle ornament.

 I've been reading about some of the photography skills I'd like to master, the big one for this time of year being Bokeh.  This was my first semi-successful attempt, and while the photo has absolutely zero composition or interest, I had to show off my first success ;)

We attended the Argyle Business Improvement Association's breakfast with Santa.  It was quite well done with lots of free food & coffee, games, a magic show, and a chance to sit on Santa's knee and get a book.
Here's my superhero of a husband with both big, heavy kids.

I was desperately trying to stay away from any of the auto modes on my camera, but switching the ISO every time I turned (vast difference in light levels) didn't go so well, so these photos aren't great, but at least I'm learning lol.

 I promise he wasn't sad... he was actually happy to see Santa, although a little apprehensive.  I don't know what the adorable sad face is all about.

Pretzels and decorating and giving, oh my!

This post is a little mish-mash of a few different holiday activities.
My mom has been BFFs with the same 3 ladies for as long as I can remember.  They refer to themselves as the YaYas.  All those ladies have kids and grandkids now, and each December most of the girls get together for a cookie exchange.  The original 4 YaYas used to get together every Christmas and do all their baking together.  Picture it:  One kitchen.  One oven.  Everyone bringing their own ingredients, pans, tools, etc.  I always remember my mom being in a really bad mood when it was over, not because she didn't have a good time with her friends, but a huge family fight always broke out from basically having to lug an entire kitchen back home.  The cookie exchange works much better.  We each make a dozen "cookies" (any baked good is welcome) for each participant (11 dozen this year!) and bring them all over to one house to exchange, so we each wind up with 11 dozen cookies of all different kinds.  I find this works really well because not only can I bake on my own time, but making a whole whack of one thing is unquestionably easier than trying to make even 3 or 4 different kinds of baked goods.
I decided to do cake pops with pretzel sticks.  I did an entire cake and only ended up with enough for about 4 of every dozen to have a cake pop, and since there was no way I was going out to get more cake mix, each dozen got 4 cake pops and 8 caramel & chocolate covered pretzel sticks.

I got this wreath idea from the most addictive website in the world, Pinterest.com.  Not quite as pretty as the inspiration, and stuck on an inside door because it was too thick to fit between the front doors, but pretty nonetheless.

This year we bought a real live Christmas tree.  We went as a family out to a lot at a church and found the perfect tree for our little house.  I will have to get the pics off my phone of the kids helping to saw off the bottom.  This photo is terrible, but it's the first one of the cute lit up tree :)

Now for the part of this post I'm most proud of.  My mom & I talk on the phone quite a lot.  My kids tend to be a little rowdy and attention seeky while I'm on the phone, so to combat this, my mom started putting a nickel in a jar everytime they were good while we were on the phone.  As a testament to how often we speak on the phone, the nickel jar added up very quickly.  When asked what she wanted to do with the money, Eleda said she would really like to buy some presents for kids who don't have many toys.  She pulled at my heartstrings that day like you wouldn't believe.  Alan also received some donations from business associates who heard about her generosity, and we as a family matched her nickel for nickel.  It was AMAZING taking her shopping and letting her pick out pretty much whatever she wanted to give to other kids.  I may have scooped up one extra tiara for her because she deserved a little bling for being so selfless and thoughtful.

Alan is a member of several business networking groups, and it just to happened that shortly after this shopping trip, a representative from the Salvation Army was coming to one of his meetings and was very happy to collect her donation.  So I brought Eleda down to the Highland Country Club to present her donation to the group.  It was a very proud moment for us as parents, and I hope something that will stay with her and that she will continue with the spirit of giving her whole life.

And just because he's so stinking cute, here is Mr. Ashton-Man turning it on for the camera.

Middle of July in December

As much as I love photographing my own kids, it's hard to set up an actual "photo shoot", especially since I don't really have the right equipment for indoor photography.  So I booked a Christmas Mini session with Stefanie Ponting, owner of Middle of July Photography.  This woman is amazing.  I have lusted after her work for quite some time, and the stars finally aligned such that I could manage the session.  My kids were quite well behaved, and we ended up with gorgeous photos.  Hey, if you ever decide to book a session with Middle of July (as I suggest everyone do), let her know I sent you ;)