Christmas Card Outtakes

So, this is the photo that we used for our Christmas cards this year:



We wanted to do something a little bit silly involving tacky Christmas sweaters. I found Luke's sweater at a consignment sale months ago and thought it was hilarious because it was a tiny version of a classic looking Holiday sweater. It just made me laugh. Of course, when I actually put the sweater on him, I thought "awwwww! It actually looks really cute on him!!".

Anyway, I had been on a mission to find tacky sweaters for Andie and I and was coming up with nothing! Seems like it would be really easy to find those ugly things... I mean, if you just take a quick trip to Wal-Mart you can find lots of people proudly wearing them! I looked at Wal-Mart and Target first. Nothing! How could this be??

My next stop was Belk where I purchased mine. I thought it was pretty fabulous - shiny ribbon, glittery snowflakes, tassel on the zipper (the only thing that I didn't really take into account was that most of the tackiness of the sweater was located at the bottom - so it didn't really show up in the photo).

But still no sweater for Andie!

Since time was running out and I really needed to get the photos taken, my last attempt was Kohls. They really didn't have anything tacky in the male department, but I did find turtlenecks! I knew that pairing a turtleneck with a sweater would automatically increase the 80s cheese factor, so I just paired it with the busiest-looking sweater I could find.

ah-ha! done!

Although the outfits were not quite as tacky as I had hoped, at least we were ready for the photo session (and much closer to checking "order christmas cards" off of the list).

The photo session was pretty funny - Andie put the camera on a chair and set up the timer to take like 15 pics in a row. We kept Luke still on our laps by feeding him goldfish. He was just chomping down on crackers as the photos snapped away.

It was so much fun to look at the photos when we were finished! You are guaranteed to get hilarious photos when you have a one year old and two silly adults! Here are some of the outtakes:


(this photo was the one that we almost used for the card. I think that it is a cuter photo overall than the one we used, but Luke is looking away and also he's covering up my sweater - which Andie and I both agreed was the tackiest one of all)








(what is going on here??)

These Are a Few of Luke's Favorite Things

Luke is BIG into his blanket these days and one of his favorite activities is walking around the house dragging it behind him.

(as you can see, pants are optional in our house)

His other favorite activity is reading books. He brings us books all day long and is very persistent about having them read to him! If you are sitting on the floor, he will force himself into your lap and shove a book in your hands. It is pretty hilarious.



Favorite activity number three is touching/laying on things that are soft. I already mentioned his blanket - but there are also other blankets in the house and stuffed animals that fall into this category.




(yes, this is the famous "Belkie Bear")

He has plenty of other favorites, but we'll just make this a top three list for now.

Tot's Christmas Program

Blog slacker! That's me. Can you blame me... it IS the holiday season! There's always so much to do. The tree is up, the house is decorated, 90% of the cards have been mailed (I had to order just a few more...), 98% of the gifts have been purchased. I'm right on track!

So, to continue with the holiday theme... Luke had his Christmas Program tonight in Murfreesboro! It was so cute and so much fun!!

To be honest, Andie and I were a little nervous about how the night was going to go. When we picked Luke up from daycare today, he was really upset and trying to shove all of his fingers in his mouth (really bad teething). Plus, we were nervous that if he saw us in the audience during their "performance", he'd start crying and try to walk off the stage towards us. :)

Our fears were quickly put to rest - he was totally occupied and having the best time up on stage with all of his buddies. We (and the entire audience) were cracking up as Luke would not sit still! As most of the other kids sat up on stage with a deer-in-the-headlights look, Luke was walking from one side to the other, smiling, clapping, and even had one attempted escape from the stage. It was hilarious and I was so proud of my little guy!!

(the Minnows and the Sunfish):


(attemped escape):


(what a ham!):

And yes, we did capture it all on video!