Slim Pickings

It was hard for me to pick outfit pictures for today's post.  Damon was acting goofy in many.  I took a few with my girlfriend, but my shoes are cut off or it's out of focus.  The choice was pretty much made for me!

Necklace & Earrings: Express

Top: discount store (possibly F21, I don't know, very old)

Shorts: H&M

Tights: Target

Boots: Aldo
Abstract Painting: c/o BFF's brother-in-law's sweet bachelor pad
Damon's 'stache: c/o referee rules

We Need More

Christmas weekend with my mom and siblings was a blast.  Damon and I went out one night with my favorite couple.  There was pizza and Asian food.  There were presents and game playing.
The only part that I don't need more of is the check-in and security lines at the airport.  I'm going to start working on a personal teleporter, stat.
Photobomb!

{bff}

{Farmer's Market}

My eyes are closed in this one, but in the other one, I'm leaning away from my mom like she stinks to avoid the sun in my eyes LOL

{matchy-matchy!}

{that's Tombstone playing in the background, which we HAD to watch when a game of Taboo revealed that my youngest siblings did not remember it!}

{I did both their makeup and Emberly was insisting they were twins all weekend}

Merry Christmas!

Here's a special holiday 'toon of Bauer, eating candy and wearing underwear on his head (seriously, don't leave your knickers around or he'll fashion a hat).
Merry Christmas!

All Transactions Final

When I was pregnant with Bauer, I waited until I was out of my first trimester to say anything to Emberly, who was 2.5.  After a good appointment with the midwife where I heard that reassuring heartbeat again, I decided to tell her she'd be a big sister.
She was ecstatic.  But I guess we hadn't explained well enough from where babies come, because she was wondering if the place where we pick up the baby was on the way home from daycare :/ LOL

The Last Weekend

Before Christmas!  Eek!
The kids went to their daycare provider's Christmas party Friday night while Damon and I tried to see Sherlock Holmes.  Unfortunately, I underestimated how far back the previews would push the movie and we had to miss the end to go pick the kids up.

Bauer somehow managed to open one of those produce blister packs by his lonesome and was gnawing an apple one morning.  I would have gotten it for him if he asked LOL

Emberly ran errand with me Sunday.  It was surprisingly uncrowded at Costco and the mall.  The benefits of being bright and early, I guess.

The weekend culminated with a night out with a my favorite Vegas girlies.  I danced for hours without sitting down.  In tall peep toe boots.  I have the blisters to prove it.  But I'll spare you those photos.

So Predictable

Bauer even knows how the blog photos work.  A 16mo old has mastered my schtick.

Jacket: Target (for 11 bucks!)
Blouse: F21
Jeans: AE
Shoes: super old Nine West
Necklace: NY&Co

Snuggle Bug

My mom crocheted and knit a couple blankets for Emberly before she was born.  Emberly used them but never developed any sort of attachment to them.
Bauer, on the other hand, is all about his blankies.  He loves burying his face in them for snuggles.  Loves stroking them while nursing.  He'll drag them behind him while playing.  And occasionally, he'll insist that we wrap him up like a burrito in them (and this is especially his favorite naked right out of the bath).
My only explanation for this is that he slept independently from a younger age and developed his attachment to self-soothe.  I'm not sure why he prefers the handmade over say the fleece or cotton jersey knit ones though. *shrug*

Seeing Santa

I'm really not a huge fan of having my kids sit in a stranger's lap and beg for gifts.  Am I the only one for who this seems counter-intuitive?  But I'll probably give my children plenty of other complexes without ruining Christmas for them.  Plus, it helps that they've "met" Santa when I use his omnipotence to coerce good behavior.
So, we took them out to Bass Pro Shop where they have a whole wonderland set up, where you meet Santa and get a picture for free, as well as do crafts for free.  The downside to "free" is everybody and their mother wants something for free, so there's a line.  Damon and I tag-teamed the kids and the line ride wasn't too bad.  Of course, Bauer started to lose his sh*t right when we were up next.  Thankfully, he was mesmerized enough by the bearded stranger in the soft red suit to be tricked into smiling for a photo.
Afterward, we hoped to catch mermaids in the aquarium at the adjacent Silverton Casino, but it turns out we missed both the mermaids AND the scuba Santa!  But we did get to see a guy in scuba gear doing something to a sting ray.  Hopefully he worked there and wasn't just some weirdo that has an aquarium fetish.

This is Bauer losing his mind LOL

Michael Jackson, Conversation Piece

We were listening to a cd my best friend made me in my car.  Emberly had me playing the same two tracks over and over and over.  Michael Jackson.  So I bought her an album of his hits.  She loves it.  But is he a man, or a woman?  Is he white?  When he goes like this, "eee-hee," he kinda sounds like a girl.  And in that picture on the internet, he looks black, but on the album, he might be white?
Deep thoughts I love discussing with a four year old :D

Even Girly Girls

Emberly is such a girly girl and she used to insist that we leave the bathroom when she was having a "movement" until she was done and flushed before we were allowed to come in and help her out.  And she would run to the hallway to pass gas and then rejoin us on the sofa.  No one else was doing this, it's all her.  But lately, she's found humor in passing gas where we have to smell it.  Maybe the boys at daycare are rubbing off on her.  It seems awfully out of character for her to maniacally ask us if we can smell it.  Gross.

Oh, My head!

I was in Monterey for work most of last week.  I had a great time, actually dressing for work and talking face to face with people!  But I was really preoccupied so my plans of a great post about work wear featuring pictures of my conference apparel never came to fruition.  Boo.  I suck.
And then, even suckier, was that my weekend mostly revolved around dealing with caffeine withdrawal headaches that came with drinking a couple cups of coffee every day while I was gone.
But, I did get to meet up with a friend at the Palazzo and it's fun to see the big casinos decked out for Christmas.

{this is pretty much how we all feel after a day with Emberly LOL}