A Jelly Belly Christmas

I am just a little behind on blogging so I am trying to catch up.

Right before Christmas, we took the boys to see Santa at the Jelly Belly Factory. They had not visited Santa yet so this was their one shot to give Santa their last minute Christmas list. (DJ did email him his list at school, but we wanted to make sure the big man heard it from him in person).

This beautiful archway greeted us into Santa's workshop.

Cody had no idea what was going on since he hadn't really been up close and personal with Santa yet, but DJ was VERY excited.

When we got to the front of the line, Cody ran up to the chair. I don't think he really realized anyone was sitting there. When he got on Santa's lap, though, he got a little nervous.

Okay, a LOT nervous. I love this picture!!! We never had the "get me away from this creepy, hairy guy in red" pictures with DJ so I'm glad we got it with Cody. =)

Santa is probably used to rejection, though, considering he continues to smile through the arms flailing, shin kicking and shrieks.

DJ got shy while sitting on Santa's lap so he never voiced his wish list. I guess he was happy with Santa learning about it through email.

I think I should be working at the mall taking Santa's pictures this year. Isn't this a good one? LOL

Jelly Belly was decorated inside and out with Christmas decorations. DJ loved looking at (and touching) everything.

These were some of the decorations outside.

Even the inflatable Santa was too much for Cody!

Sugar is Sweet

Doesn't just looking at this Christmas "Tree" make your teeth hurt?

Kindergarten Holiday Christmas Program

It was the show of the season and one we had been looking forward to!

We always enjoyed going to DJ's preschool seasonal programs and watching the kids sing their little hearts out. We kept hoping that he would have on this year as well and we weren't disappointed!

Right before their Holiday break, the kindergartner's had their Holiday Program. DJ practiced daily in preparation for the show. :)

Here is our little singer posing in front of the Christmas tree.

I'm not sure what he was doing, but it apparently was a pose (so he informed me).

This is my current favorite picture of him. That is probably why it is the one used for the header of their blog. :)

We had to get to school before the program so the kids could get their "costumes" for the show. Since they were going to sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, they were all adorably dressed as female and male reindeers (I know there are proper terms for them, but they seem to escape me at the moment).

I thought DJ would get shy during the show and not sing, but here is proof that he did. He sang his little patooty off! Watch out American Idol!!!!

Holiday Portrait Session....

It is that time of year when my kids dread seeing me with a camera in my hands!! Yup, it's time for their Christmas portrait session!

This time I was ready for them and had not one, but TWO baby wranglers to help me keep them in line (thank you Mama and Tita Teri!!).

Funny part is they both wanted their pictures taken this year. Unfortunately, they didn't really want them taken together.

I am pretty happy with the results, though!

Warning: there are LOTS of pictures! :)

Just like with his Halloween pictures, DJ did not want to be cute. At first, he did not want to smile for me and got mad when I took a picture of him "accidentally" smiling. I couldn't help myself - he's got such a cute smile!



The more serious, supermodel DJ...



...the mad "stop taking pictures of me smiling" DJ. Even his mad faces are cute!



We are so lucky to have a compliant dog like Scooter! He lets the boys do just about anything to him and does not make a fuss about it at all!



After looking at the pictures of the kids on the dog, I was realizing I should have put reindeer antlers on Scooter. :)

Cody is always SO happy! This picture truly reflects his personality.

The one thing DJ treasures most are his animals!

Cody loves Scooter, too!

I like this picture of Cody and Scooter because they both have that "mamarazzi, are you not done taking pictures yet?" look

Funny part about the photo session is that Scooter was the most compliant between the three. He held his pose the best for all the pictures! :)

Oh that face and those chubby fingers! This picture just makes my heart melt!

I'm not too sure what he was doing here, but I had to post this one because it makes me laugh. It has a Victoria Secret feel to it. Especially with the way he's touching his foot and everything! :)

Our cute little men. They really do love each other.

"Don't mess with us!"

Silly Cody. He was making farting noises with his mouth and dancing to the beat.

New Header!

For the email subscribers, if you haven't checked out the blog itself yet, visit the site to see the new header! :)

Random Pictures of the Boys

Both boys just went back to school last week after break (DJ had 3 weeks and Cody had 2 weeks off). I was sad to see them go back to school. Their vacation time flew by quickly and Cody spent most of it with a cold. The cold weather is still foreign to us wimpy ex-San Diegans :) so colds are pretty frequent in our household.

DJ is happy to be back in school and is now starting a reading program. He received the first set of books today (3 of them) and already finished reading them all without my assistance! GO DJ! It is amazing how far he has come in these few months of school. He makes us so proud.

Cody is NOT as happy as DJ when it comes to going back to school. Although he started out like a champ a few months ago, he has slowly digressed and no longer likes going. He enjoys being there if I am there and participating with him, but if I do leave him behind, he cries and sometimes cries himself to sleep. It's heartbreaking, but I know he will eventually begin enjoying school independently again.

Here are some recent pictures of them.

It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas

We LOVE Christmas in our household! So much so that our tree was up (though not decorated) before Thanksgiving!!!

The outdoor decor is still not up, but the indoors is starting to have that Christmas feel. The 32 degree weather is helping make it feel like Christmas, too.

Not sure what we are going to do without a 70 degree Christmas this year! :)