'Tis the Season

I am not even sure where to start! Thinking about all of the words needed to write this post exhausts me :) We will start at the very beginning...a very good place to start (movie trivia for those of you who are familiar with do, re, me). We, like most people, waited until Christmas week to go see Santa. It was a combo of procrastination and sickness. Poor Nolan had a good little episode of ear infection and bronciolitis the week leading up. Something we are all too familiar with :( We missed our family Christmas party and some other fun things. The Sunday before Christmas he started to sound a little better, so we thought we would see Santa...quickly. We arrived right at 11 when Santa was to appear...along with everyone else in Green Hills. It was a nightmare. I took one look at the line and my not feeling so hot baby and decided we would have to leave.

Nolan practicing his "I'm scared of Santa scream"

This is as close as we would get to Santa this day :)

A few days closer to Christmas day, we dove into our gingerbread house project. I had dreams of Nolan putting on the candy. I must be crazy. I have posted pics of this before, but here they are again.

He had lots of fun tearing it down and feeding his daddy.



On Wednesday, Christmas Eve was Thursday mind you, we thought we would try the Santa thing again. By this time Nolan was tons better and we thought that even if there was a little bit of a line, we could handle it. The line was crazy. We...more like I...stood in line for an hour and a half...yes you read correctly...to see Santa. After 45 minutes I hit a wall. Brad and Nolan went on an adventure through the mall, so I stood there watching kid after kid take their turn sitting on Santa's lap. Some cried and some laughed. When we finally got close (here is a pic of me super excited to be almost done).....

Santa decided he needed to go to the restroom. I was a little more than annoyed. When there is a two hour line, Santa should hold it. Finally, it was our turn. I held Nolan's hand as we walked toward Santa (Brad was on camera duty). We got about 2 feet in front of Santa when Nolan stopped. I knew then it may not be pretty. Take a look at the following pictures. Let's just say that in the 1 and a half hours that I was in line I never heard any kid scream this loud :)

Maybe next year will be better????


On Christmas Eve, we went to Aunt Pam's for a visit with family. We were not sure how long we would stay as the first signs of winter weather, sleet, started falling when we arrived. Nolan had fun opening his gifts, and playing with Bailey the dog.

On our way home, we looked for Santa's sleigh. Luckily, he was not in our area yet :) We put out some reindeer food, so that they would have enough energy to deliver presents to the rest of the planet.

Starting family traditions is very important to Brad and myself. I have so many neat Christmas memories as a kid, and I want Nolan to have some as well. One tradition we started last year is giving Nolan his gift from mama and dada the night before Christmas. It will always be a pair of pj's (washed and dried of course) and a book. I am sure there will still be some excitement over Christmas jammies for the next few years, but not sure how long it will last. I hope it will be something he...and future kiddos...will come to expect, love and get a good laugh out of.

After we read out Christmas book, we put some milk and cookies out for Santa. I the craziness of Christmas Eve, I forgot to bake cookies, so we put out some Chessman cookies instead. Who doesn't love those?

This is what we found Christmas morning when Brad and I woke up. I love that our Santa does not believe in giving children millions of gifts. Nolan got the perfect amount for a 1 year old who has a million toys already :)

Booboo woke up with extra excitement Christmas morning as if he knew something neat was in store!

This year it was kind of neat to see which toy he went to first because...well...he can walk unlike last year. Should not have been surprised when our little block lover went straight to the blocks. After a minute of playing, he found his rocking chair. He loves to be rocked and loves to sit in a chair, so a rocking chair was very fitting :)

Our Christmas morning mess..........

As an extra special Christmas gift, Santa left us a blanket of snow. In fact, it snow all day and into Sunday. We had a fabulous Christmas as our little family of three. We took a Christmas nap and played in the snow. I don't think it could have been any better :)

Santa Came Early :)

We might make "busting out a Santa gift early" a Smith family tradition. Nolan, Brad and I had a ball playing with his bowling kit. Funny how our version of a good time is vastly different that it was before we had our booboo :)

Nolan + Christmas = FUN!

So far, this Christmas has been one big ball of fun. Last year, it was exciting because it was Nolan's first Christmas, but let's face it...he had no idea what was going on. Now, he is interested in EVERYTHING. Our tree, for instance, has become a marvelous wonder :) Look who I found hiding behind it.


Yes, we have ornaments...on the top :)


Caught ya!


This year we made a gingerbread house. I had visions of Nolan placing the candy pieces on the icing. You know...like the kids in the picture on the box. HA! Brad and I ended up building it, and we let Nolan do what he does best....tear it down :)

Finally, to top off our Christmas season of fun we had a wonderful snowfall. Our area usually does not get snow until after the new year, and usually not a lot. This December we got 4 inches at our house...plenty of snow for Nolan to run around in. Unfortunately, it was about 20 degrees outside, so we could not stay out for long.

Snip Snip

I am not one of those mothers who was scared or nervous about the thought of cutting her first child's hair. Hair is hair right?? Some people I know let their little boys turn into little girls because they just could not fathom the thought of cutting those locks. I guess I never really thought about Nolan's hair because...well...he never really had any. Here is a picture of the first day of school in August.


Click the picture and make it larger. See what I mean. He was bald at birth and pretty much stayed that way until his first birthday which is when this picture was taken. At that point, his body decided it was time to start growing some hair. For the past three months, Nolan's head has become a Chia Pet :) I didn't mind...not until a few weeks ago. I was running my fingers through his hair as I was rocking him one evening, and noticed that I could put the back of his hair in a pony tail. A co-worker and fellow daycare mama mentioned that she knew how to cut hair, so I thought "why not".....hair is hair right? :)


Here is a "before" shot.

And here he is nasty face and all telling me that he likes his rat tail and to BACK OFF :)

This is the point when his hair was not just hair anymore. As soon as that first snip happened, I felt a little lump in my throat. I could not believe that my little hairless boy was getting his first hair cut.

Snip Snip again. This time it was much more bearable :)

I was so proud of my booboo. He sat the entire time and did not scream.

Could you not eat that face off??

Here he is with this 12 year old hair cut and his iPhone. A glimpse into my future :)

Miss Harper Jane just hung out and watched her mama cut some hair.

The next day he was allll smiles and told me he loved his new hairdo.