The holidays are here!

It was a wonderful start to the holidays at the Carlson's. It was nice to have some time off from school to spend time with Dayne and Lylah. On Wednesday we played at home and did some prep for Thanksgiving. I also took on the task of doing the decorating of the porch and walkway- the weather was beautiful! Of course Thursday was Thanksgiving and this was the 2nd year it was just the 4 of us. It reminded me of when I was a kid. It was always just our family since my dad worked for the airlines and had to work sometime on the holiday. So we always enjoyed the day as a family. I really love making turkey and all the trimmings. It turned out yummy and a little early... but that was okay. At least I was checking on it to know! On Friday I did a little shopping early- without the kids... then later with the kids. They actually were pretty good while I waited in line at Kohls. There I got Lylah her own christmas tree for her room since Dayne has one... couldn't pass the deal. =) The weekend brought a few families by for photos and also the decorating of our house. Another throw back to my childhood is having 2 trees. One is more formal and is in the living room and the other has our family treasures on it. This year the kids decorated it for us! They did pretty well. We had to so a little fixing because it was a little bottom heavy! It was fun to see all our Christmas treasures again. We have lots to put out and I did some organizing so I could put out my houses that I haven't done in years! It looks so nice and festive. I am thrilled to have it all out so I can enjoy it over the next few weeks.
Unitl Later!
Melyssa

Just the girls!

Now I hate to admit it, but it is true. I am reliving my childhood. I am doing this with the help of Lylah. Today was a really cool day for Lylah, even though I know she isn't going to remember it. Of course I will scrapbook it and write about it here so hopefully she will feel like she remembers. Today we went to the Mall of America and to the new American Girl store for lunch. Now not everyone would think this is so exciting, but I sure did. We went with my friend Tonya and her daughter Tessa who was born three days before Lylah. The girls dress in similar clothing set off for the the Mall of America at 9am. We did some shopping before going into the store for lunch.

Here we are sitting at our table.

As you can see Bitty got her own chair and menu.

Now if that isn't cute I don't know what is! LOL!

Lylah checks out Bitty's menu. Bitty decided to share Bitty Bunny's Buttered Noodles with Lylah.

As we wait for our food Lylah sat next to Bitty. Bitty was very, very good while she waited and she was a good influence on Lylah.... she was very good too!

Lylah went for the fruit first. YUMM!

Bitty wanted some sauce from Tessa's chicken so Lylah fed her some andthen Lylah wanted to try it. Now, honey mustard sauce isn't all that tasty Lylah discovered!

At the end the girls had some ice cream! Lylah dug right in and kept saying "OH BOY"! Talk about cute!

It was so much fun and the girls were really good. I can't wait to go again. What was really nice is they didn't rush you or make you feel like you had to get in and out super fast. That was so nice! Hopefully the girls will want to go again and again. With any luck we won't be like the 3 older ladies that were there with out kids. They even borrowed American Girl dolls to eat with. But heck it looked like they were having a nice time! They even asked me to take their picture together!

Then after lunch we did some shopping at the store and now Lylah has her birthday present. Of course I couldn't resist letting her have the Bitty feeding set early and as I write this she is playing away with Bitty. Dayne found the Bitty Ducky I had found for Lylah's duck themed birthday and gave that too her... oh well! Maybe Bitty will have to have an actual name sometime. But Bitty is kinda growing on me!

Look at me!!

Here is a funny little video of Lylah from tonight. She sure has grown in the language department lately. Plus she really has no fear. I wish I would have been a little faster with the webcam becuase she was really having a good time. So enjoy this little video...

Closing in on an end......

This weekend Lylah will be 23 months old. For those that don't know I have taken her photo each month for the last 22 months. I always try to get as close to the 22nd of each month as possible. After 22 previous months of photo ideas and now with just 2 more to go I have mixed emotions. While I am glad to be done (I only did Dayne monthly for the first 2 years so that is why Lylah stops at 2 years too) I am kinda sad that it is over... While some months have been really hard- she didn't want to sit or would just scream- somehow I managed to get a shot good enough to share with family and friends. Now I am going to look forward to taking my friends new little one's photos each month come April (she had her daughter the same week I had mine so she had me do monthly photos of her too) so #2 gets the same!! At least this is a boy so I get to go back in my memory to my photos of Dayne!

The best part of taking these monthly photos is how much I have grown in my photography. I look back and I just can't believe I started over 4 years ago with a simple Sony Cybershot and lots of ideas. Now I have the joy of capturing many friends families and it has brought me so much joy! Who would have though sticking Dayne inside a suitcase at 2 months old (and no, not to save money on a vacation) would have brought me to where I am today. Thanks to those who have encouraged me along the way- I wouldn't be here with out that too! So here are a few of the shots I have taken over the few months of my babies... enjoy!

Until Later- Melyssa

Web Cam... the final frontier..

Now I do consider my parents pretty tech savy; they know how to e-mail, find their way around the web, and even have a cell phone, but I wanted to take them one step further ---- WEB CAM! They live in Arizona so we don't see each other much. I thought this would be great for them and our kids. When I got the idea, I didn't think I was going to have to invest in a web cam because there is a camera built into my Mac, but my parents have a PC and we were having trouble communicating - which is strange to me since PC and Mac seem to get along so well on those commercials. Anyway, we invested in a web cam for our PC. After that minor investment, as well as the help of a tech-savvy neighbor my parents know to help get theirs going, we're connected. The only glitch is my parents' microphone doesn't work.

The kids think it is SOOO cool to see themselves on the computer so we had a little fun playing and made a video. It is nothing special at all, just them being silly, but they are my kids so I think it is kinda cute. Lylah is wearing a hat that I knitted for her. She hasn't taken it off all day apparently so I guess she likes it. To those family members that read this, if you have a web cam let me know and we can play, too.

Until later....

Melyssa

Picture Perfect Weekend

What a beautiful weekend!
It is hard to believe it is actually November. Soon enough we will be bundled up and wearing hats and mittens- but we received a great gift this weekend- 70 degree weather. Perfect days for photos. I was given the opportunity to capture some great photos of some friends and their families. We headed to a park close to my home and shot away. I also arranged to have my good friend Karin help me take some family photos and even one of Rich and I. We decided that the self timer isn't going to cut it anymore. So here are some of the photos we got from the weekend. Of course the family ones were the hardest to get. I think that Dayne and Lylah are tired of being in front of a camera and rebel! Oh the joys of children. But I keep trying. I think it comes from a childhood of never having a family photo taken. Not one... not until I got married. My dad HATED getting photos taken so any photos with him in them are even rare. He is getting better now- will take a photo with the grandkids. He doesn't like to look at the camera though, always looks at the kids. It is actually kinda funny. So because of this I think I am obsessed with photos and have a need for family photos. Plus they seem to be the only photos I actually get to be in. =) So here they are- my way of capturing moment for my kids that I didn't get to have with my parents- no offense Dad- I know you read this and will be the first to admit it is so true. But I am REALLY thankful that you are willing to take photos now.. so thanks!!

Trick or Treat

I decided to give putting a video up on here a try. I didn't do a lot of editing of it because I uploaded it to the new iMovie and it is different enough from the old iMovie that I need to figure out some things so this is basically unedited.. sorry for my poor videoing- I know now why I take still photos! HA HA... The kids had a great time Trick or Treating. We walked with our neighbors-- I will add some photos to this blog later... Lylah and Dayne kept running from house to house. We had wagons for them to ride in but my kiddos didn't want to ride- they wanted to run!! Dayne was pretty funny at the end- He said "Mom, this is getting heavy (his pumpkin) I have enough candy lets go home." I couldn't agree more so home we went. Later some friends came over to let the kids run off their sugar high and the adults had a few adult treats! We had lots of fun-- but I am glad it is over.... now comes the count down to Thanksgiving.....