My Christmas Photo Shoot Attempt

I took Ethan and Matthew to Bass Pro Shop for a visit with Santa.  Ethan was very curious about how Santa would actually be arriving at Bass Pro Shop.  When we pulled up he asked, "Where is his sleigh?"  He also noted that Santa's sleigh is for pulling presents on Christmas, so he was a bit confused as to why he would be driving it around before Christmas!
While we were there and dressed up so cute, I decided to try to snap a few pictures for a Christmas card.  It couldn't be that hard right?!?
Ethan had ideas of his own, and wasn't into providing me with that perfect little smile.  He would rather watch to the people enter the store then participate in my impromptu photo shoot.  Matthew smiled when a nice woman came up behind me and tried to help get them to smile.

Then I somehow got this shot...I can't get enough of his sweet little hand propped up on the bench, and that thoughtful little gaze...don't get me started about those blue eyes.

 Ethan finally gave it his best shot (maybe he thought I wouldn't notice if he smiled while causally tending to his people watching!).

Mr. No Nap

It's funny how sometimes having a baby who skips a nap can result in screaming, crying, and over the top fussiness...and not just from mommy and daddy!  Well on this particular evening, Matthew had of course skipped his afternoon nap and I put him in his high-chair while I was making dinner.  All of a sudden he just started staring off into space as he sucked his little fingers and played with his hair.  The next thing I know he had closed his little dreamy eyes, and the rest...is...history......zzzzzz

 What?  I'm not asleep, I'm just resting my eyes!

 Oh wait, that's not bad...

Don't mind if I do!

What's the Time? It's Christmas Time!!

 Check out the most adorable hip hop dancer this side of the Mississippi!  I enrolled Ethan in Hip Hop and Play dance class with the extremely eccentric Miss Stacy J at the Tumbleweed Rec Center back in August.  The class has been great for Ethan - a chance to socialize with other kids, practice following directions, and most of all - get his hip hop groove on and burn some energy!

The culmination of the 4 months of classes was this holiday dance show where Ethan and his fellow dancers danced to What's the Time? It's Christmas Time!  Miss Stacy J told us to "dress up" their costumes, and as a mom of boys I wasn't really sure what that meant.  The girls had bows, ribbons, stripped leggings...but I needed to do some research to figure out what to do with Ethan's costume.  After perusing YouTube children's hip hop videos (which you should do because it is hysterical!) I decided that sweat bands were definitely the way to go.  Ethan was pumped to go buy these sweat bands and he wore them with pride!

Ethan followed along with the dance well, and we were all so proud of him!  I am going to be looking for another dance class for the spring since this was such a positive experience!

All decked out!

Looking adorable before the show!

Singing "What's the time?  It's Christmas time!"

Showing off some hula hoop moves!