Gideon and the "Jahcobs"

My nephew Gideon officially calls all his uncles "Errett" and all his cousins "Jahcob." Because he's cute like that.

Sharing the iPad. (sort of)

Make shift sheet hammock. (Held by obliging uncles and Gaga.)

Christmas Card Shoot 2012

I bought 2 chocolate advent calendars from Aldi and decided to sacrifice them for the possibility of a messy/cute photo op. I showed the boys how to open the doors and how to get the candy out, and stood back hoping they would go to town and share some chocolate covered smiles of glee with the camera. Of course, nothing ever quite goes as planned. Alexander was fixated on keeping all the little doors closed! They both mostly wanted to get up and play with the lights we had set up to try for pictures without the flash. And since I'm still really a camera n00b, not using the flash made for much grainier photos than I would have preferred. But here are some of the best ones we got. Can't really go wrong with cuteness of this caliber, even if I've given up on getting them to look at the camera. :-)

Zoo with Papa

My dad came to visit for a 3-day weekend. Alexander had school Friday morning but that afternoon we were able to make a trip to the Zoo.  

Baby Elephant Statue. Alexander just can't get enough of those statues.

Jacob looking cute while refusing to look at the panda right behind him.

Again.

Papa spotting the little man in a climb.

Here is Alexander actually expressing mild interest in the animals for once. Most of the animals at the zoo don't move very much and since you can't even climb on them like you can on those awesomely fabulous statues, they hold little fascination for my logical boy.

(The penguin hats are a Christmas Card "Costume" attempt. One of these days I will get a picture of my sons dressed cute and looking at the camera at the same time. I swear it!)

We found out adults ride free with a paying child (under 42") on the zoo train. I totally didn't know that before or I would have taken the boys a long time ago. 

Alexander l.o.v.e.s. trains.

Halloween (1.5 Weeks Late)

We were sick the week of Halloween so I wasn't able to get any pictures of the boys in their costumes the day of (although we did Trick or Treat for about 30 mins just in our cul de sac.) So, a couple days later I dressed them back up and went for a visit/photo session with Grandpa. May I just say, I've got me some cute kids!

Baby Dinosaur

Alexander THOMAS the Tank Engine

Genes

I've been going through a lot of old pictures lately and then I've proceeded to bug everyone in the room about how much Jacob looks like me and then how much we both look like my dad. I don't know that it's distinctive enough to actually get our pictures mixed up but let's just see. What do you think? 

Preschooler 2012

See how big my little boy is getting?? Compare to last year's school picture for a nice double take.

Sunday Sunday

Mommy and boys all dressed up for church.

I'm handsome and I know it.