This post is only one reason why Sadie is going to hate being born so close to Christmas...

I love Christmas. There’s just something special about that time of year. We got to spend time with family, and when you've got all these great cousins around to help, lots of silliness can occur. It was especially fun this year, now that Jackson is really starting to get into the spirit of it all. He and Sadie visited Santa for the first time (Jackson enjoyed it so much we actually chatted with him two different times!), helped me make Christmas cookies and candy, and stuck with his original wish list the whole season through (a monster truck, a car and a school bus…and according to him, Sadie also wanted a monster truck).

Sadie did not get a monster truck, but she did get some swell things that Jackson has enjoyed just as much as her (and getting to see Daddy in his own version of a Santa suit is a gift in and of itself~) . And Jackson? Well…he must have been a pretty good boy. A few days after Christmas, he was playing with his new trucks while I was cleaning up the kitchen, and I hear him say, “Okay monster trucks. Say cheese!” He’s got them all lined up for a picture, and he was especially excited when I offered to take one for him. This from the child who six months ago wouldn’t stay in one place long enough for us to pick up a camera!

And Sadie…wow. She has grown up so quickly. We celebrated her 1st birthday on New Year’s Eve (her actual day is the 29th. I finally realize how much it’s going to stink for her to have a birthday so close to Christmas…maybe we’ll do a half-birthday or something in the summer…). It was just a small family thing, but Sadie was decked out in all her "princessness"-- tutu and crown included. At first I thought we were going to have trouble keeping the crown in place, but once she discovered the beauty of cake, the crown was an afterthought!

She loved every single bite of her cake. For some odd reason, no one else minded that she didn't want to share! :)

She is a happy, beautiful little girl, full of mischief and as stubborn as both her parents put together (God help us all). She is the "anti-Jackson"...where he was quiet, she is loud; where he exercised extreme caution, she shows no fear; where he was perfectly happy with what was around him, she is full of curiosity and loves to dig, where he was our little conformist, she's our little rebel. ...And while Jackson is a great kid that we are lucky lucky lucky to have, I am so glad that she is making her own path rather than following in his footsteps.

Picture Day, Take 2...

Remember back in the summer when I said that I would only attempt to have my children professionally photographed only when I lost my mind completely? That day came a few weeks ago, sort of. Every year, our high school journalism department does a fund raiser called "Studio Red." They have a portrait studio set up in a back room, and for $25 they will take your picture and put them on a CD, which you can take to Sam's or Walmart or wherever and have developed.

We've done this for the past two years with mixed results. High school students are the photographers, and they do a great job. The first year, we got some of my very favorite pictures of Jackson at that age. The second year Jackson walked into the room and straight into the edge of a table. Couple that with me being 8 months pregnant, and you've got why I call that year a wash.

Lately I'd noticed a slightly increased tolerance of Sadie by her big brother, so I figured for $25, what did we have to lose (my sanity notwithstanding, of course)?

Turns out my children like having their pictures taken by 17 year olds. Sadie was a little tired and hungry and not totally feeling it, but Jackson was totally willing to cheese it up. We had a great time, and thirty minutes later we walked out of there with over 150 pictures on a CD!! What a deal!

Here are some of the highlights...

The above picture is one I'm especially happy about. Sadie was not at all happy at this point, and Jackson had to kiss her four or five times to get this shot. And he did so willingly. Happily, even.

The tutu Sadie is wearing here was created by her Aunt Kim. It is too cute, and if we could've kept her smiling longer than 2 seconds, we would've taken a ton of pictures with her in it! As it was, most of them have her screaming in it (see below). Sigh.

To say the least, we were thrilled with the results of our $25 photo session.