Christmas Eve 2016

Arrived to Christmas Eve at Grandma Marilyn and Papa Ward's house

Present time! 

I had nothing to do with this gift. Can't even type what it is. Sorry Marilyn! ;) 

This would go on for hours if I didn't limit it to weekends only. ;)

See what I mean?

See?!

Brothers. 

Off to Uncle Chris's for Christmas Eve dinner. Homemade pies that Todd did not make. Grandma Marilyn is the baker in the family! 

Kayla and Chris had a beautiful, TALL, tree.

Our first time experiencing a deep fried turkey. 

Todd and Papa Ward

The Christmas poppers had crowns and jokes that we read around the table. 

Christmas Eve tradition from Auntie Holley. 

New Pjs!

Thatcher made sure to edit his Christmas list the night before Christmas... Uh oh. 

A note to our Elf, Frisbee, on his last night with us. 

Thatcher's last picture of the year with Frisbee before he returned to the North Pole.

At some point in the middle of the night this happened. Santa paid us a visit! 

2016 Holiday Piano Recital

Hands down the best music studio in Santa Barbara is Detar Music. Samantha has been taking lessons for over two years now and just recently Thatcher started. As we thumbed through the program at the Spring recital the other night, it confirmed that we have referred a quarter of their students. I like to remind the owner and the kid's teacher, Gus, this bit of information each week to keep our preferred piano time slot with him, forever. ;) 

Video: Sam's first piano recital over two years ago. 

Ready for the Holiday recital this past December (you'll have to wait for me to catch up to show you the Spring recital that was the other night) ;) 

Always a little nervous anticipating her turn on stage. 

After seeing Thatcher perform the other night at his first recital, I am convinced he is more comfortable on the stage than he is sitting in the audience eating coconut shrimp. ;)  

Gus is such a great musical mentor for both our kids. 

Video: Every once in a while he will just play for us. It's incredible how talented he is. 

Video: And finally, Samantha's performance from the Holiday show. 

Holiday Photos 2016

Last year, I decided it was too hectic to arrange for a professional photographer to photograph all five of us. The stress level went down immensely with only having to figure out what the two kids and dog were going to wear. 

This year, the window to have professional photos taken was closing and I have thought all these years of holiday cards arriving in the mailbox, that my favorites are not always the staged professional family photos. They are nice to have once in a while but I am pretty sure most families are like us, you take them, and then they are just in digital format rarely printed out. So, I thought we'd skip that whole (expensive) process and I'd give the iPhone and Todd's photography skills a try. 

Testing outfits. 

A version of these outfits won the popular vote and then we were off to the beach just as the lighting was getting good. 

As you can see, amazing lighting and background but perhaps the beauty of a professional photographer is you most likely aren't related to them so they can get your kids (and dog) to cooperate easier. 

Even Lollipop kept blinking. 

Drumroll..... this made the front of the card. 

And this made the back of the card. 

AND I am printing these out for my wall ;)