Up on the housetop reindeer pause, out jumps good ole'...

Santa Clause!

Naughty?  Or nice?

Happy Birthday, DJ!

Phew, lots of birthdays this month! Evan's good buddy, DJ, turns 5 at the end of December, but in order to have the party at the Gymnastics Center his mom had to schedule it a bit early.  

Ball toss on the balance beam.

Jumping into the foam pit.

Opening the present from Evan.

Blowing out the candles!

Happy Birthday, DJ!

Evan the Artist

Our family photo for the year.  Isn't this great?  I don't think any of us have had hair or noses before - and he even gave me blue eyes!  This kid is my new favorite artists.  Eat your heart out, Maxfield Parrish.

Here are the two new beautiful paintings I had commissioned this week. When hung like this they remind me of a moon rising over a field. Evan painted these for me at ArtReach while I was writing thank you notes.  They are on actual canvas and he even remembered to paint the sides!  What a guy.

I bought a new camera (finally) on Black Friday this year.  I've been playing around with it all week, albeit it quite ungracefully.  I think its going to take me quite some time to get all of the settings right.

Still playing with the camera...

Evan no longer fits in a Tupperware box.

Yep, still playing.

Playing with the camera settings at the Holiday Stroll.

Red Wing Trolley

Happy Birthday, Emma (5) & Maddy (3)!

Princess Emma (Snow White) and Evan.  Evan made sure to let Emma know that she was dressed like a Queen and not a Princess - because "Princesses don't wear crowns until they get married.  Princesses wear pointy hats until they get saved by a prince."  

Painting an adorable little wooden step stool as a party favor!

Balloon Race!

The Birthday Girls!

Marley with his Uncle Chad and Jezebel the dog.

Up the nose kiss!

"Surprise!"

What Evan wants (more than anything!) for Christmas

Evan-ism from yesterday:

Evan: "Mom! Its almost Chicken Celebration Day! I'm so excited!"

Me: "Chicken Celebration Day? Is that something for school?"

Evan: (sigh) "No, mom. Its the holiday in between Halloween and Christmas, silly."

Speaking of Christmas...can you tell from the picture below what Evan wants (more than anything!) from Santa this year?

That would be a remote-controlled car (with an antennae off the back) and a remote with buttons to drive it.  Isn't it amazing when all of a sudden your child switches from drawing scribbles to actually discernible pictures?  Amazing.  (Although, sometimes, I admit, they are only discernible to me!)