This is what happens when you do Christmas pictures yourself

This is what happens when you try and do Christmas pictures by yourself:

(Cassidy is pulling on his ear)Our brilliant curtain idea came crashing down, quite literally.and yet we did it anyway all for one or two pretty good shots:
In case you're thinking, "Oh, that doesn't look too bad..." it's because we deleted the worst pictures (crying babies) before I thought to put them on the blog.

But I thought our Santa adventure was quite the success. Baby Ethan sat on Santa's lap first, to show big sis that it's not so bad. Then she climbed on hesitatingly, forced a smile for the photo, and then climbed off graciously. And with tears welling up in her eyes, she recited, "I need a pwincess dwess, a bike and toys," all by herself! We had talked about seeing Santa for SO long and kept reminding her that she would NOT cry. I was VERY proud of her!

She points out Santas all the time now (half the time it's just a guy with a beard) and gets excited. It's just his lap that is scary to her. She really does love the idea of him and is very excited for this Christmas!

We were too impatient for Santa to bring Cassidy a bike, so we got her this used one FREE! She loves to ride it, even in the freezing cold:

Don't worry; Santa still might bring her a shiny red trike. We just have to wait and see!

Baby Ethan Update: He got his second tooth shortly after that first one. He is scooting backwards and always getting stuck under everything: couches, beds, tables, you name it. He now gets mad when you lay him down for naps, which is very unlike him. He still loves his jumperoo, and he thinks that everything Cassidy does is hilarious. Just for fun: