A.K.A. Quilt Retreat (in Hannah speak) & the time Joe took the kids to see Santa!
Only THE BEST weekend of the year! If you are into crafting and eating ridiculously good food and relaxing that is... And who doesn't love that?! Plus my kids saw Santa and I didn't have to be there lugging around 53 gazillion coats and hats and gloves plus the camera plus snacks and drinks to keep everyone happy. Nor did I have to try to capture the moment or bribe anyone into sitting on the jolly man's lap. Yep. Pretty great.
Truly it was amazing. And even more amazing was the fact that I FINALLY finished Charlotte's baby book! It only took me four and a half years. Not bad. Not bad at all. Ok. Kinda bad. But in my defense I thought I had finished her book before Hannah was born. However after last quilt retreat (during which I started Hannah's baby book) I pulled out Isaiah & Charlotte's books for fun...only to discover I NEVER finished Charlotte's book. Ack! So this past weekend I remedied that little situation. And I do mean little. As in Charlotte's scrapbook has the fewest pages/pictures! Like significantly fewer. It wasn't/isn't intentional. It just happened that way. And now I know why middle children have the middle child syndrome! (Sorry Charlotte. I really do love you just as much as your siblings. It's just I was working full-time your first year of life and daddy takes far fewer pictures than I do!)
And now quilt retreat summarized in a (phone only picture) collage....
Clockwise starting at the top left: natural refrigeration at its best, worker bees, hemostats come in handy whilst scrapbooking, a few finished products for baby made by me, and Grandma Donna lovingly sewing her 13th grandchild a blanket (and by "lovingly" I actually mean sewing and cursing the blanket simultaneously! But he is going to love it.)
And here is Joe's finished product from the weekend...all three kids with Santa....
Two out of three smiling! That's the best we have ever done. Seriously. We almost always have at least one crying. And yet we keep going back...hhhmmm. Not sure if that makes us terrible parents or not?! And NO Charlotte is not wearing a belly shirt...she just had a minor wardrobe malfunction that daddy didn't notice until after their time with Santa was over. Speaking of shirts, Hannah's is hilarious and SO appropriate for her personality. It says "I am on the NICE list. Trust me."
Oh and Charlotte did in fact ask Santa for toilet paper. Apparently this Santa does not actually listen to the children because Joe said Santa didn't even bat an eye at that request! Come on Santa...a four year old asking for toilet paper...that's funny stuff! While his listening skills are not quite up to snuff, he clearly excels at looking jolly and very Santa-esque.
And now because I love a good walk down memory lane, here are all of our Santa visits over the past seven years. Lots of tears. And a little bit of magic.
*2007*
Apparently we did not yet believe in torturing our child at this early point in our parenting journey. We did however enjoy dressing our child as Santa...taking his picture with Santa Bear...and pretending to be Santa's reindeer together.
*2008*
Truth be told Isaiah was mostly crying because I took his snack cup away from him...I thought it would be unsightly in the picture. Clearly a crying child with a mouth full of food is much better:) Santa & Isaiah look a bit skeptical of each other in the second picture.
*2009*
Aaahh...the magic of Santa. So sweet. This one is a favorite of mine. Plus it holds a lot of good memories of a day that Isaiah and I spent just the two of us.
*2010*
Still loving Santa! Only thing cuter than one kid on Santa's lap is TWO kids on Santa's lap!
*2011*
This one kills me! That face + the "I love Santa!" onesie....its just too much! This one I have framed with with my Christmas decor. Its a family classic.
*2012*
Charlotte cried as soon as she saw Santa. There was NO WAY she was going up there without her daddy! Thus began the family picture with Santa.
*2013*
Another family picture. Again Charlotte cried before getting to Santa's chair. Hannah waited until I put her in his lap. And Isaiah just really disliked that sweater I made him wear!
Next year with four kids should be interesting...
Next year with four kids should be interesting...
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