pre-christmas fun!

here's another hodge podge post for y'all - some of our pre-christmas fun around these parts :) you can't have a christmas without a little visit to santa right?!? aj is so cute about santa clause and christmas now that he gets it a little more, and miles just loved being out of the carseat, but beckam wasn't overly comfortable sitting with father christmas - maybe next year!

 

a big thank you to grandpa zoe and grandma moj for an awesome early birthday present! beckam love love loves it!!!

 

some pics from another one of our photo shoots of our cute boys....

 

beckam's now officially a big boy and not cuz he's turning 1 tomorrow....he got a big boy carseat! i thought he'd love it and be a lot better in the car, but he proved me wrong again and seems to miss his warm snuggly little baby carseat. oh well - on to bigger and better things becks!

 

here are a few from our annual gingerbread decorating tradition :) we thought about letting becks in on the action but figured this was more of an us thing. we went with a train this year in honor of big ron, and it turned out pretty cute!

 

the portland zoo lights are a must see when it comes to pre-christmas fun, and we braved the 45 minute trip (because of an accident of course - portland drivers are horrible!) and then the 25 minute wait for a parking spot to make sure we got the full experience. beckam was tired and all bundled up, and we didn't stay too long, but it was lots of fun and worth the craziness!

 

 

 

another tradition that we hope to keep up while we're down here is the portland festival of trees. we went with the poytress family and had fun looking at all the trees and taking in santa's workshop and the teddy bear hospital. becks got a jingle bell necklace at the workshop and it was a choose the necklace, shake the necklace, eat the necklace chain of events - always ends with eating with this kid!

 

i thought i'd try to get beckam's face painted but was a bit skeptical that he'd let it happen. he sat there so good though and got a little wreath while aj picked the snowman and miles cried through a candy cane stick. aren't our christmas boys cute!

 

the teddy bear hospital was tons of fun! the boys got to pick out a teddy bear and name it, and then the nurses mended up the bears' owies and casted or bandaged them up. then, the bears went in for surgery and got their masks and hats, and the boys just really loved the whole thing! here's aj with teddy and beckam with russell :)

 

 

last but not least, a family shot! that's what christmas is all about right :) we have had tons of fun together over the holidays so far but can't wait to go home and celebrate with our families too. beckam has been so much fun to play with, and we can't wait for christmas morning!

 

black friday "fun"

i have always wanted to do the whole black friday thing in the states but have never had a chance. lucky for me, i live here now, and i couldn't pass up the opportunity it get some great deals and have fun with the girls :) cindy came down to join in the fun, and here is us mapping out the game plan....

 

this is our pre-all nighter cheer - dust's idea of course! we were feeling energetic and excited at this point!

 

lace really wanted a sensible footwear picture, and here it is! i'll give you 1 guess which sensible footwear i chose ;)

 

1st stop was the troutdale outlet strip mall, and it was a huge success! lots of the stores opened at 9pm, so our night started at 9:30ish. we beat the rush and got some great deals and still had energy after hitting up the stores there! next stop was toys r us, and i think we underestimated the craziness involved with that certain store. we got there at 11:50 with an open time of midnight, and the line circled all through the parking lot and was out onto the road as we pulled up - not a good sign! we had fun waiting in line though and got some sweet deals there too. the waiting in line outside seemed long but not nearly as long as it seemed once we got inside! it took FOREVER!

 

as you can see, we still felt good at this point, but our energy took a dive from there, and we didn't even bring the camera in for our next 2 stops - old navy and target. forever lines, some good deals, but i think we've decided to change up the game plan for next year for sure! thankfully, we had each other and made it a fun filled night full of memories :) prego becki was a trooper too!

 

here the is loot from year #1 though - not bad eh!

 

we got home at 7:30am making for a long night, but we all got a little snooze in before cindy's flight home. beckam got some great new toys, and although the plan will change for next year, it was tons of fun and totally worth it! thanks girls - can't wait to do it again next year :)

 

lil of this lil of that

not much rhyme or reason to this post, but here's a little of this and a little of that from our little lives lately :) first up is how we do movie date night in our little apartment. we miss our hide-a-bed for sure, but we can make 2 couches work just as well!

next - beckam loves red robin just like his parents! he loves the bottomless fries and the balloons too - both to play with and chew on!

beckam also LOVES bath time with dad! dust usually sneaks away to pull the curtain back and start filling the tub, and that is beck's sign to hit the road down the hallway to help! he loves playing with the soap and hitting the side of the tub like dad, and i just love my handsome boys!

continuing on with the bathroom theme, beckam also loves getting ready with mom and playing with the toilet paper roll like every other kid! gotta love that token toilet paper picture, and thankfully that's all he got off before i caught him :)

 

 

next up are a few pictures from some early birthday presents for our boy! grandma cindy came down for a little black friday shopping and came bearing gifts for everyone including our soon to be 1 year old beckam :) he loved the long card full of animals of course and was so cute with opening his presents!

 

he wasn't sure whether to eat the paper or play with it or what, but we helped him eventually get to the prize inside, and he just LOVED his present from aunt Alaina! aj and beckam have spent lots of time with beck's new little animal train the past week or so, and even though beckam loves to eat the animals, aj shows him what you're really supposed to do with them! thank you sooo much Alaina - becks loves it!

 

look at present, eat present, push present, open present, play with present! so fun! i'm not sure how we forgot to get grandma cindy in a few pictures, but she was here, and we loved having her here! thanks for coming cindy and for all of the gifts and the fun we had together :) can't wait til next year!

 

finally, i know i've said this before, but aj really is beckam's favorite person. he can make beckam laugh so hard and is so nice to share his toys with him and to let beckam follow him EVERYWHERE. we love watching our little cousins be such good friends, and here they are loving beckam's carseat box together :) life is good down in portland - still wearing flip flops, beckam's doing so good with his walking, we're excited to come home for the holidays, dust is almost done quarter #4 (woohoo), and christmas is almost here! such a fun little life we have!

 

take 2

here are some family pictures from take #2 with our friend steve :) it was a chilly foggy portland morning, but he got some great shots rosy red cheeks and all!

nicole thinks that beckam and dust look exactly like each other when they scowl, so here are my furrowed brow scowling boys! so cute :)

this is one of my favs - check out that pouty little lip!

tickle tickle tickle!

hehehehe my husband is the best! first of all, who does this pose, and who would be ok with his wife putting it up on facebook and the blog cuz he knows how truly awesome it is! cat like reflexes :)

anyway, you can check out steve's work here......
http://www.wagnerdidit.blogspot.com

thanks again for being so great about 2 takes with the tolman family steve, and thanks for making me look pretty nicole! these are sooo cute :)