Feliz Navidad!

What a great, relaxing Christmas we had. It was so much fun spending time with Grammy and Papa.

After much anticipation, Joshua, Grammy and Charles finally made a gingerbread house (actually it was a train) Thomas helped for about 5 seconds, so that really doesn't count. Joshua was the only one who hung in until the end. Charles lost interest about half way through.
Here is our masterpiece!











We went to church on Christmas Eve (Grammy and I went an HOUR early this year, so we finally got a spot up front) Then we came home and opened some presents. But first a few pictures in front of the tree.



And finally Christmas morning arrived. It turns out Steve was up half the night putting together a bench that mom and dad had bought for me which was a surprise(what a great guy!) so he was exhausted. But other than that, nobody was sick and we all had a lot of fun. There are too many pictures to show, so here are a few favorites.

More Christmas fun

We have been busy this past week with lots of Christmas activities. First was Charles' Christmas program at preschool. He did great. He sang, and did the motions and hung in there in, even when the girls behind him starting losing it.

Here he is at the beginning:

And doing the Jesus Loves me song..."they are weak but he is STRONG"

Still smiling, til the end!


Next we all went to see Santa. Yes, Santa!! Thomas told everyone that the shorter the list the better because Santa wouldn't think you were being greedy. Then he proceeded to ask for twice as many things as the other two! The cutest part about it all was that Thomas took a shower and put on his Christmas sweatshirt that he made last year in Kindergarten before going to see Santa. That was all his idea.

Some of the things they want: a new bike (Josh) DS games, WII games, a ripstick, geotracks...whew!


And yesterday was the annual Flower Mound Christmas parade. It is a really fun parade, and we go see it every year if we can. This year the cub scouts got to participate if they wanted to. Thomas was very excited to be in the float. Joshua chose to watch from the sidelines since he was already in the Homecoming parade earlier this year for student council. (He really just didn't want to miss out on all the candy.)

Thomas took this very seriously. He sat and waved the ENTIRE time, and yelled Merry Christmas. By the end, most of the others were just goofing off. Not Thomas. He was so cute. When it was over he asked me "how did I do?" This was a big deal to him. He will be a great employee some day.

Here he is before we took off. The float had a fake fire and the boys pretended to roast marshmallows.

And here is the whole gang that participated. Thomas is front and center.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

The Kall boys are giddy with excitement as soon as the first Santa appears on a lawn anywhere within a 20 mile radius. So, we have been decorating and singing and talking a lot about Christmas. And it's only December 3rd! It's so much fun though.

Check out Charles in his new gingerbread apron. He is patiently waiting for Grammy to arrive from Florida so they can make a gingerbread house together.

And here are Thomas and Charles showing off their new nutcrackers. This has become a tradition of ours. The boys get a new one each December 1st. This year Joshua got a Mexican nutcracker, Thomas got a cowboy and Charles got a pirate. They just love these things. They play with them like barbies. Now if I can just convince them that they don't really crack nuts!




We decorated the tree last night too! The boys couldn't wait another second to put up the ornaments.

Kids Kids Kids

As you can all imagine, I have been taking a LOT of pictures lately. And one of my favorite things is capturing those cute moments from the kids I shoot. The family shots are fun too, but there is just something about kids. Here are a few of my favorite kids pics from the past two weeks!

Here is "M"! He is on Thomas's baseball team. I did a whole family shoot with them, but his mom wanted some of him too...doesn't he look like a model?


Next are the precious "G" girls. I took tons of fun pictures with dogs and mom and dad in their amazing front yard. The girls are so sweet, and check out the freckles and manes of gold on these cuties!


Next was the adorable "S" kids. I have never had such an easy time shooting a 4 year old boy. And his sister was fabulous too, not to mention gorgeous!!


And here are my good friends, the "Ms". I also took some really great shots of the family, but what a fun shot of these 4 cute kids.


The "D" kids are neighbors and it seems the little 4 year old in this family runs the show. He really hung in there though, and was such a hoot!!


Last but not least the "B" boys. They were soooo easy. Really. And boys usually aren't. I just LOVED this shot. Precious.

My Big boys are still Little

Time goes by so quickly, and my boys have gotten so big. They are constantly walking a line between being little and sweet, and big and pushy and making their way in the world. In spite of it all, every now and then I get a glimpse at how little in spirit they really are.

Thomas got to bring Franklin the turtle home last weekend to take care of. It is the 1st grade class pet. He was very excited to pull him out of the backpack and show me. He decided to write a story with Franklin watching. (this is Thomas's favorite past time. We are hoping he is a famous author someday) Notice how he placed the pencil on Franklin's lap, as if he is going to pick it up and add a paragraph to his story.








I need to remember these sweet pictures when he is yelling at his brothers or rolling his eyes at me because I asked him to pick up his socks.
And little Charles has gotten so big too. He is reading as well as a 5 or 6 year old and seems to know just about everything that his big brothers know (almost). But deep down, he is really still so little too. The other day, he drug his Thomas tent downstairs and decided to watch cartoons inside. First he got a snack of peanut butter crackers and then moved the coffee table out of the way. He got all situated and began enjoying some Clifford the dog cartoons.

Chirstmas Card Photos

I just wanted to share a couple of pictures I took the past weekend of two great families. These are just a couple from the day that I liked, but there a lots more great ones coming. The "L's" were so much fun to work with. They said they hadn't had a family picture since their little boy was born. Can you believe that?
Here they are:

And the "M's" look so great all in brown. What a photogenic family.

Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone! We had a great time trick-r-treating again this year. We met for hotdogs, chips and drinks in our neighbors garage, then off we went. Thomas was Boba Fett (from Star Wars), Charles was a Clone Tropper who would NOT wear a mask (also from Star Wars) and Joshua was a Mexican bandido. Isn't he a riot?!
(ps.click on this picture to enlarge it and check out Thomas under the mask. I think he saw a ghost)

The boys were very proud of their pumpkins this year. We decided to go old school and carved some plain old Jack-o-lanterns. Joshua and Thomas actually cleaned, designed, and carved their pumpkins all on their own. Charles drew his design on a paper, and I copied it the best I could when I carved his pumpkin. Here they are showing off their finished Jacks.

Just in case you weren't sure...here is Thomas without the mask. His pumpkin was screaming.

Photo Session

I decided to open up my Christmas card business again this November. So, I dusted off the camera and headed out with Charles for a quick practice photo session to get my fingers working on the camera again. (And because I never took an official 4-year-old picture of him and he is so darned cute in those glasses). Charles is generally not a great subject. Pictures are NOT his thing. And he is at the age of the goofy grin. But he was quite cooperative today! I was so proud. I am just having a hard time deciding which one to print and hang on the wall.