Family Pictures 2012

Last week we braved the mall and went to have some family pcitures taken at JCPenney. We got a pretty good deal on them (thank you Groupon) which is a good thing because they mostly turned out awful. Seriously. They turned out really shadowy which is ridiculous for studio photography. I was super disappointed. Needless to say we won't be headed back there any time soon.

Happily, while we were visiting my oh-so-talented sister over Christmas break we had her snap a few family pictures for us. In between cloud bursts no less! They turned out approximately 5 bajillion times better than the JCPenney portraits. She's the best!

glow sticks

The boys got some glow sticks for their birthday from one of their friends. I thought the boys would really love them in a few months. Nathan thought they'd probably really like them now. I was a little doubtful, but we had plenty so we busted some out for the boys.

They of course loved them!

I learned several things from this experience:

1. I need to work on my glow stick photography skills. Lots of cool shots were possible, but missed because, well, I had no idea what I was doing.

2. Sometimes I might underestimate my children just teeny tiny bit.

3. I'm grateful for my husband (which I already knew and was merely reminded of). He pushes the boys  and me (in good ways) and I'm usually amazed by the results (see above). He has a 'let's try it!' attitude where I tend to be more 'let's try it...a little later.'

4. No matter how old you are, glow sticks are just plain fun. Seriously.

Gavin's latest accomplishment

My children are so helpful. They love love love to help me unload the dryer...even when I'm trying to load it with wet clothes. One day after helping me unload I happened to leave the dryer door open and walked away for a few minutes. All of a sudden it was all too quiet and went to check out what my little guys were up to. 

Gavin decided that the dryer looked a little too empty and promptly climbed right in. He was so proud of himself! Too funny! 

(and to anyone who might be wondering the door was wide open the entire time. no worries.)

First hair cut

Right after Christmas we decided it was time the boys got their first haircut. Their hair was getting seriously nappy. I mean look at the wings on these two! Drew especially was starting to confuse people at the grocery store (they're two boys, right?). 

It's not that I'm anti-haircutting for babies I just was nervous about doing it. Worried I'd make them look worse (ask my little brother, poor kid got a crappy haircut or two from me). I do cut Nathan's hair, which bolstered my confidence, but his hair is very forgiving, unlike wispy fine baby hair. 

But it had to be done and so we did it. I did the first (Andrew) and Nathan did the second (Gavin). There were plenty of fruit snacks and Sesame Street involved and still they squirmed like crazy (which is why there are no before and after pictures). 

Here is a little 'after' picture a few days later.

{Hanging out with their cousin. These three would live outside if we let them}

So much better, right? While the haircut still needs a little tweaking, I'm really happy with how it turned out overall. Especially, after looking back at the 'before' pictures. Eep!

We just might make it a tradition...

{Twins' First Christmas}

{Twins' Second Christmas}

...at least until they're old enough to protest.

Christmas 2012

We had afabulous Christmas with our little men.

{Presents in front of our tree. So glad we did the felt Christmas tree it just wouldn't have felt like Christmas morning without one.}

{Me and my littlest men Christmas morning, forgive the crazy look in my eye.}

{Daddy and the boys in their Christmas pjs that I made for them!} 

I made Nathan and the boys pj pants and faux appliqued the boys shirts. I resized some adult size Dollar Tree Santa hats to fit their sweet little noggins for our pre-Christmas visit to an assisted living center (SIDE BAR: We tagged along with Nathan who went to play the piano and the boys upstaged him, big time! These two sure know how to spread Christmas cheer! You should have seen all the residents going gaga over these two in their matching Santa hats. Best two dollars we ever spent!)

Back to Christmas morning:

Whilst opening presents someone managed to sneak a piece of Christmas chocolate from mom's stocking. This is how he looked when we finally noticed.

{Could he look any more innocent?}

{haha! Love this face!}

One of the perks about being a parent that I grossly underestimated was the sense of satisfaction you feel when your kids love something you buy/make for them. It's pretty much the best.

{They love the play kitchen we got them!}

We only got one picture of the just the two of them in front of the tree, but I think it's pretty great.

Classic, right?

We sure love our little guys!

Now and then

I like to periodically look back on the pictures and videos we have of our boys. It is so fun to see how they've changed over the months. 

My latest favorite thing they do: play together! I finally caught a snippet on film.

(little stinkers pretty much stop being cute the second they see the camera, so we've had to get sneaky to capture those sweet moments, please forgive the sideways video)

{playing together: 5months}

{playing together 1 year)