Christmas & Santa

The verdict is still out on how much Santa will be a part of Knox's childhood.  I never believed in Santa and Kyle did- so we have a house divided.  But, I am not opposed to the idea of Santa and am willing to play along for the sake of the child :)

Today, I took Knox to see his first Santa.  It would be a lie if I said that I did this for him, I did not.  I was pretty certain how it would go, but I figured there was no harm in trying to get a Santa photo for histories sake.  Knox may not agree one day when he looks back at this photo.  Part of me laughs when I see it and part of me cringes because poor guy was seriously sad.

It almost seems like child abuse, but I promise that he only sat there for about 10 seconds and immediately stopped crying when I picked him up.  I tried to do some Christmas shopping after this but I think Knox was still ticked at me and he refused to cooperate.  However, some very nice person stopped and asked if I wanted a picture with Knox since I was taking pictures of him. So thoughtful and I was excited to get a picture of the two of us! We don't have too many of these...

Here's to hoping next year's visit will go better!!

-Stacie

Christmas Traditions

Once you have a child, I think you really start thinking about what traditions you'll have in your own family.   I have mine from growing up and Kyle has his, but now we definitely need "ours" to give to Knox.  We have some- we always open our stockings and gifts together (just the two of us) before we fly out to Spokane. We also make our "christmas nachos" and watch Jim Carrey's "The Grinch". We also read a daily advent book together each night in the weeks leading up to Christmas.  So, this year we have started a new tradition.  Heading down to 37th street to look at the lights.  We stopped by last year, while Knox thankfully slept in the back.  But this year, we got Knox all ready in his PJs with his bedtime milk and walked around and looked at all the lights as a family.  It was sweet (and also kind of weird- there was a stuffed animal petting zoo- SO Austin...) and one of the many traditions that I am sure we will have as a family.

-Stacie

Photoshoot with the McClures

Thanks to our friends the McClure's for letting me take their pictures!  As always it was really fun to get the chance to try and capture a family moment.  Their two sweet kiddos did great and didn't mind having their pictures taken at all! We have known Mike & Michelle since we lived in Virginia, so they are long-time friends of ours.  After the mini-photoshoot we got to catch up, watch the kiddos play (or in Knox's case- destroy) and enjoy some "adult" time after all the little ones went to bed.  It was a great evening!

-Stacie

He's a sneaky little bugger...

Knox figured out how to open the freezer door.  He also figured out how to get the frozen chocolate out of the wrapper...

We should probably buy stock in child safety products because we now own a refrigerator lock, dishwasher lock, oven lock and toilet seat lock. All I have to say is thank goodness he's cute :) 

Head Scratcher

Photography thoughts and a photoshoot

For awhile now I have been working on my photography.  As I shared in an earlier post, I took photography for a few years in high school and absolutely LOVED it.  But then I went off to college and got on with my life and didn't really give it much thought.  I spent most of my 20's trying to decide what type of "career" I wouldn't hate and never did manage to figure that one.  But thankfully, the Lord blessed us with our sweet Knox and I was able to stay home and take care of him.  Since then, I have started to work on my photography again and have been pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoy it and the positive response I have received from others.  My ultimate goal would be to someday become a professional photography. I am not really sure how to reach that goal but one thing I do know that I need is lots and lots of practice! So, I am taking another class at ACC this semester and have been getting lots of opportunities to take pictures of friends.  Many thanks to the Lee family for letting me take their pictures last week.  It isn't even remotely difficult to get good pics of such a beautiful family! Here are some of my favorites:

What a doll baby

This little lady can work the camera

See what I mean, just gorgeous!

-Stacie