Here are a few pictures from the past couple of days.  Yes, we let Peyton open a present early... we couldn't help ourselves... and really, she liked the paper way more than the bath toy anyway!!

 

Aren't her new jammies cute?  She really liked playing under the tree!!

Pictures with Santa

So I knew that I wanted to have Peyton's pictures taken with Santa, and I thought it would be easy just to head to the mall, stand in line for a bit, take pictures, and then leave.  I also wanted to get some pictures of Peyton and Brady with Santa together, so as my sister and I hatched out a plan, we realized that going to the mall was going to be ridiculously expensive... seriously? $24.99 is your starting package??  Santa better be giving Peyton a really nice gift for that price!

Thankfully Lisa's sister-in-law Mandy mentioned that pictures with Santa were FREE at Bass Pro Shop.  Random?  I thought so, but off we went.  The set up was super cute and the line wasn't bad.  They give you a "pass" and then you can go wander the store until your appointed time and then your wait in line isn't suppose to be more than 30 minutes.  Not bad... especially since it was free!  They even let us use our own camera which was totally a bonus. 

 

I love this picture of Peyton.  So sweet & innocent!

 

Peyton & Santa

 

Brady, Santa, & Peyton

  

Brady & Santa  

I love this picture- I think it is so cute how they are looking at each other.

 

Lori, Lisa, Peyton, & Brady (notice that Peyton is trying to steal Brady's blanket)

  

The four of us again, but now notice that Brady is giving Peyton the "evil eye" as in "touch my blanky again and that will be the last thing you will ever do"

Meeting Santa...

Brady's First Birthday

Happy 1st Birthday Brady!!!

Christmas with the Newmans

On Thursday we celebrated Christmas with our good friends- The Newmans.  Tamara, JJ, Mayah, and baby Newman came over for dinner (pizza) and pumpkin pie.  We had to celebrate a bit early this year because they were moving away the next day.  Tamara and I have taught together for the past 5 years, and through our friendship, Josh & JJ became friends.  Mayah is 2 1/2 and is on-the-go 24/7.  I don't know how Tamara keeps up with her, especially since she is growing another baby girl in her belly.  I was lucky enough to watch Mayah grow from a teeny tiny baby into the independent and opinionated big girl she is today! 

We are very sad that the Newmans had to move away, but JJ had a great job offer in Arkansas and Tamara was thrilled since it is closer to her family.  I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do at school without Tamara... who will walk into my room while I am pumping and sit and chat? (janitors, I suppose.... long story... )  Tamara and I have also carpooled to work (and various other places.. mostly shopping destinations) for the past several years, so I am very sad that Peyton and I will have to make the drive by ourselves.

Peyton was very excited to open presents.  She only needed a little help.

 

Peyton's new doll house!

 

Mayah got a memory game!

  

Mayah got a chef's apron!  

And Peyton really wanted to play with the paper...

Lori's Christmas Present

So I've been wanting a new camera for a while... it seems like every Christmas I end up with a new digital camera.... so this year I splurged on a new camera... I got the Nikon D3000.  So far, so good.  Obviously I don't know all the tricks yet, but it is still fun to play around with.  Here are some of my pictures from today.

Tempe Art Festival

On Saturday morning we headed out to Tempe to check out the art festival.  It was pretty chilly, but we enjoyed it nonetheless.  We met up with a few of Josh's coworkers, had a beer (or two), did a little Christmas shopping, then headed home.  Here are a couple cute pictures.  There were some nice places to take pictures- works better when there aren't 10,000 people walking around though... very distracting to Peyton... that and the water fountain... who can resist a water fountain???