Matthew’s preschool sang at a church service back in December.
The church looked beautiful:
The children’s message:
I videotaped that too:
After church, we went home and I took some pictures of Matthew all dolled up in his shirt and tie:
I think I had to bribe him with PlayDoh but I love that last picture (and that boy).
Can anyone guess the last time that shirt/tie combo was worn?!?! It’s been a while…………….
If you guessed Matthew’s baptism (worn by Ian), you’d be correct!!!!
Seems like a million years ago. 🙂
I’m not sure if you’re aware but generally the December to February/March time frame is an ugly, ugly, ugly time in my life. Work is so stressful and busy that I’m putting in tons of hours and staying at work late. By the time I get home, my main purpose in life to eat dinner, (hopefully) see the kids before bed, and struggle to remain awake until I blissfully get to go to bed. Sounds really fun, doesn’t it? In addition to the personal hell that I call my career, we have 7 family birthdays and a couple of holidays that fall in that time frame. This year we also planned a weekend-long, mini-vacation to Toronto in January.
Needless to say, my life becomes more about survival and less about picture taking, photo editing, or blogging.
Right now, I’m about 2 months behind on blogging, photo editing, etc, etc. We’re approaching the end of February and I still have to share stuff from mid-December. The bad thing is, the more I get behind, the harder it is to find the motivation to sit down and work on this stuff. So it gets worse. And I keep avoiding it. So it gets worse. And I keep avoiding it. LOL
My promise to you, dear blog reader, is to try to get some of this stuff blogged. Sooner rather than later since you probably won’t care too much to see Christmas morning pictures posted in June, right? 😉
(I have a lot of pre-Christmas and Christmas stuff to post but I’m putting this up because it’s fast and simple. LOL)
A couple of days after Christmas, Mom, Courtney, and I took the kids to Portrait Innovations. 2 hours later, we left hungry, exhausted, frustrated, and ready to kill every last one of the kids. 😉
The purpose of our session was to get pictures of all four kids together but Miss Siss was having some “I hate strangers” issues. On top of being a little freaked out about all the strangers, she also was exercising her right to be (almost) 2 and NOT want to sit still for pictures. A good time was had by none. LOL
Best buddies:
My favorite boys:
Kaitlyn finally started warming up to the whole picture thing….
The ONLY redeemable picture we got of the four of them:
An outtake that pretty much captures just how much of a nightmare the experience was….
(Please note that Miss Diva is the only one that cooperated for that shot.)
You can’t be upset with a girl this sweet. 🙂
….Merry Christmas!
I asked each person to tell me their favorite things about Disney World. 
AMANDA
- Wishes
- Eating in the castle on my birthday
- Meeting Mickey and Minnie on the first day (the boys were so excited!)
- Rock ‘N’ Rollercoaster
- Christmas decorations and “stuff”: Osborne Lights, castle dream lights, Magic Kingdom decorations, hotel decorations, the music piped in the parks, Christmas Party, etc.
Honorable mentions:
- Hoop Dee Doo Revue
- Meeting Tinker Bell
- Boys reacting to Mickey’s Philharmagic
MIKE
- Hoop Dee Doo Revue
- Our hotel (Everything from the decorations, pool, boat transport, waterfall, etc.)
- Holiday turkey sandwich at the Earl of Sandwich
- The boys reactions to Mickey Philharmagic (specifically Ian grabbing at the 3D jewels and both boys reaction to Donald sticking out of the wall at the end of the show).
- The Osborne Lights at Hollywood Studios and Ian catching fake snow on his tongue.
Honorable mentions:
- Meeting the fairies
- Matthew getting kicked off the Haunted Mansion ride
- Both Toy Story rides (Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin and Toy Story Midway Mania)
IAN
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin
- Mickey’s Philharmagic
- Peter Pan’s Flight
- Toy Story Midway Mania
Honorable mentions:
- Tomorrowland Speedway
- Going swimming
- Cinderella’s Royal Table
I have asked Ian probably 25 times to rank his favorite things and the list changed every single time. I’d say his Top 5 were pretty true but the Honorable Mentions could be challenged. 😉
MATTHEW
- Tomorrowland Speedway
- Mickey Mouse
- castle
- Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party
- Toy Story Midway Mania
Honorable mentions:
- Riding the WDW Railroad
- The Disney bus set we bought them at a gift shop
- Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin
Matthew is very “3” and needed prodding to give me answers so I’m not sure those are truly his Top 5. This was the best I could do! (He initially told me he liked riding the monster trucks best – what monster trucks? LOL)
For everyone that has stuck with me until the end, below are links to my online Disney photo albums. I blogged just about every picture from the first album but there are a bunch of Photo Pass and iPhone pictures that have not been shared.
- Walt Disney World album – these are the pictures from my big camera that have been edited and are supplemented with edited Disney Photo Pass pictures and cell phone pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anjnmds/sets/72157628074024923/
- Disney Photo Pass pictures – these are straight off the CD I got from them (no editing): http://www.flickr.com/photos/anjnmds/sets/72157628298693227/
- Disney iPhone pictures – these are straight from my phone (no editing and no culling): http://www.flickr.com/photos/anjnmds/sets/72157628325230273/
Enjoy!