It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

So for the last 29 years we have headed off to the local Mall and taken pictures with Santa. This was great when we were kids because we knew a bag load of candy was a sure thing. As we got older and had friend who worked at the mall it was not so cool but we sucked it up and smiled for the camera and for our Mom.

As the family grew girl friends and husbands and now grandkids are included in the experience. 

So here are the pictures from this year. Enjoy!

Michaela's first Christmas! She loved to pull on Santa's beard and feel the fur on his coat. 

Marty's black eye came from an encounter with Uncle Tim's cat. 

But aren't they cute!!!

The whole family!

And she is off!

Happy Early Thanksgiving!!!!

We love you all!

Yesterday Michaela had her weight check. What an experience that was, Ugh!! Seriously not cool, but on a better note....

She's HUGE!!!

A little back ground:

After her 6th month appointment the doctor was concerned that she has not grown but in fact lost weight. She was only 11 lbs 1 oz and 23 1/4 inches tall. Not even on the chart!

So we changed from breastfeeding to the bottle and formula. And the great news is that it worked!!! 

 

Our little Miss gained 15 oz (basically 1 POUND!!) and grew a HALF an inch! 

This was great to hear because it means that it was just a nutrition problem and not any underlying health issues.

Woo! Hoo!

As I know you all love to see pictures of my cuties. Enjoy!!!

Awesome Bed head! 

It was a great faux hawk.

Sweet faces baby Girl!

 Marty made a "Cat" out of blocks. Not to shabby if I say so my self!

 Stickering Daddy in the Morning

Where did all my pretty bras go?

I swear the bra fairy raided my drawer while I was pregnant and made off with all my pretty bras!

In the course of fattening up our little Princess, she was managed to become weaned.  My "Plan" was to breastfeed her longer that I had with Marty (about 6 months) but for me that whole use it or lose it cycle that goes with breastfeeding runs in 2>>FF. 

 

One or two skipped feeding plus sleeping through the night and we are done. Sad, but it is for the best. She really needed the extra calories and fat, both of which I could not give her. Now she gets to spend some quality time with Daddy eating as well! 

She is still chowing down of her food of course. Even getting to feed her self!

 

Yummy Beans!! 

And now on a full belly she is a maniac. I mean wiggling, rolling, flailing all over the place. 

Talking, screeching and giggling every chance she gets. 

This girl is busy!

You know what that means, Good Bye boring beige and black nursing bras and Hello!!! Cute bras! I swear I put them in another drawer so that when this time came all I had to do was open it up and TaDa! 

Nope, gone!!!

And where you might ask?

I have no clue.

This is not even a "Hey, its a Mommy moment", nope they have run off to live with the bra fairy.

 We are getting geared up for a busy holiday season. The kiddos and I just got back fro a week at the rents for a craft show and in a few days we are all packing it up for Thanksgiving!

Then my brothers wedding!!! Can't wait! 

Then home for Christmas and New Years with a house full of Guest! I can't wait to get all the decorations out and hung while playing Christmas Music in the background!

We love you all and can't wait to spend some time eating and hanging with you all!

XOXO

Our Little Miss

So we had Michaela's 6 month appointment today. We knew she was little but figured she was still growing. Well we were wrong. She has lost weight!!!! Grrr, the kid eats food like crazy and still nurses but it is just not enough fats or calories. So we are now pushing the bottle and formula. 6 month is as far as I made it  breastfeeding with Marty and then once he got a handle on the bottle that was it. Wish us luck on fattening our Little Miss up!

Check her out!!! 

Eating Puffs all by herself!!!

And the Winner Is......

Congratulations to Kristi Kunce on winning the DIY Tutu Kit! Way to go Giants!!!

Happy Halloween from the Arthur's

 Happy Halloween!!

 

This year Marty was super excited about getting dressed up for Halloween. However He was super indecisive. For the longest time he would not give us an answer when asked what he wanted to be for Halloween. Then one day he pulled Robot out of the air. So here I am running through all the craft supplies I have and trying to figure out how I can whip up a robot with out breaking the bank or any fingers. Finally I had a plan and all it would take was a short trip to the "Man Store" (Home Depot) and we could make this work. 

Then as it so often happens with a two year old, his mind changed. OK, Bob the Builder it is. 

Which makes perfect sense if you have spent a second with our mini handy man. I mean the kid has more tools than George does. 

In fact the only thing we needed for this costume was the overalls and the tool belt.

So here he is as Bob the Builder!

For little Miss I wanted to try my hand at making a tutu. I have been toying around with adding DIY kits to my store and wanted to make sure that they really are easy to make. 

Easy and Super CUTE!!!! 

Just a few yards of red and black tulle and Wha Laa! Her little Puff clip is from the scraps and was just a simple.

I added the red onesie and black tights along with her red patten leather Mary Jane's. (Thanks Nana!)

As we all know Lady Bugs have spots, so I added hearts to her shirt. 

She does look a bit like the Queen Of Hearts, which I mean really, She Is. 

At 6 months old she is still rocking the 3 months clothes and blowing Raspberries!!! 

Super fun stuff especially with all the extra spit from teething. No teeth yet but they are so close.

We visited the Pumpkin Patch again this year and got some great shots of the kiddos.

The Princess in the Pumpkins. 

Marty love climbing over all the hay bales and I think he hit every single pile. Plus spent a good amount of time checking out the generator for the lights!

He is a special one alright!

Oh my, he sure is handsome!

The Haul!!!!

 Soooooo Strong!!!!!

 Hanging out in the back of the car with all our new Pumpkins!

World Series Champ DIY Tutu Giveaway!

Every year for as long as I can remember there has been Baseball on my Birthday! World Series Baseball!!!! Growing up it was always on in the back ground of birthdays and family get togethers.

*******As part of the celebration I am doing a GIVEAWAY!!!!*******

The first person who can give me the new World Series Champs and how many games it took to do it in, will get a DIY Tutu kit in your teams colors!!!

Orange and Black for Giants or Royal and Red for Rangers.

These tutus are great for dress up, play and Pictures!

Made of yards of tulle with an easy on and off elastic waist band. 

Each kit comes with a easy full color photo guide and all the supplies you need. No cutting or measuring required! All you need is a little time and you have a hand made tutu for your little Bat Girl! 

Sizes Newborn to 2 years

Open to US residents, 18 year or older only.

To Enter:

Leave a comment with your email address and the World Series Champ Team with the number of Games 

Example: SF Giants 5 of 7 games

One Entry Per Person

Contest Ends when the Champs are crowned!