The Cardboard House

We got Hayden a cardboard playhouse and he just loves it.  He wants mommy & daddy to play in it with him all the time.  He says "house" and grabs our fingers and pulls us in.  He likes to make us stay in the house and he goes out and brings in one thing after another (mostly toys.)  It's hilarious.

He would open the window and say "hello!"  It was too cute

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

Happiness and Cheer

This past weekend was fun and full of Christmasy (is that even a word?) activities.  Saturday night, my friends and I had a little get-together at our friend Taryn's new house!  She just moved in to a beautiful new home and she graciously hosted a cookie decorating party for us!  We surprised her with some housewarming gifts as well.  It was a wonderful time & we had a blast (as we always do when we get together.)  I took lots of pictures but neglected to get the group shot I was so looking forward to getting  :(  It totally slipped my mind.  I guess we were just having way too much fun talking and laughing to stop and take a picture together  :)  I did, however, get plenty of random shots!

She had festive decorative touches all over the house...

She was such a wonderful hostess!

We had a nice dinner and then Taryn opened her gifts!

Cookie time!  :)

Mixing Christmas colors...

Kyla had a bit of a mis-hap with one of her cookies...

She made it all by herself!  ;)

A cooke that Taryn made and was particularly fond of!

Candace gave me the idea for this cookie...

Some of our creations...

I'm so thankful for wonderful friends.  I love having girl time with them!

Thankful

So, technically it's the day after Thanksgiving (a.k.a. Black Friday) but I am planning to dive right into my Christmas decorating and my blogs will be consumed with that for a bit so I didn't want to forget my blog of thanks. 
Unfortunately there are many things in life that I simply take for granted.  For instance, my health, home, family, friends, cars, etc...  And sadly, though I have a lot, I often want for more.  A bigger house, bigger car, newer home furnishings, more money, etc...  It's so easy to compare what I have to others who have more and feel sorry for myself, yet if I compare what I have to the many that have so much less than I do, I quickly realize how blessed I truly am!  And though I have moments of selfishness, I know that I really am very blessed with much more than I deserve. 
God has given me so much but here are a few things that top my list!  A wonderful, patient and understanding husband, a beautiful, amazing little boy who has changed my world and the opportunity to live my dream of being a stay-at-home-mommy.  This is something that has not always been easy financially, but it is very important to us and God always provides.  I cannot tell you how thankful I am for the opportunity to spend every day with my son who grows WAY too fast.  I don't take for granted this precious time with him.
 
I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving and took some time to thank God for His many blessings. 
I wish I had something eloquent and profound to say in closing, but it's 3am and I am just exhausted!  Did I mention I spent 3 hours in the craziness of Toys R Us (most of which was spent in lines) for a Christmas gift for Hayden?  It wasn't all bad, I had my sweet hubby to keep me company and we kept each other entertained.  ;)
p.s.  Sorry for posting with no pics, it's terrible of me to do so since I myself do not like reading a blog post that does not include at least one picture.  Forgive me!

Round 2!

Ok, I have a problem.  Not sure if you would call it perfectionism or just crazy, but I obsess over things if I think they are not 'just so.'  Like for instance, if I re-decorate or re-arrange something in the house, I will not rest if I think something is 'off' about it.  It drives me insane because I can't just let it go.  I have to keep messing with it until I am satisfied.  Sometimes it means staying up half the night, making an extra trip (or two or three...) to the store, having Jeff help, searching on the internet for hours, whatever it takes.  Well, the same applied to our Christmas card photos this year.  I was so upset about Hayden not cooperating and our outfits not really matching that I decided I had to re-do them.  So, I set out to find new outfits for all of us and begged my sweet friend Taryn to take them.  She happily agreed (being the sweet soul that she is) and I was excited to have a second chance at our family photos. 
Um....the only thing that went better this time was the outfit situation (we coordinated better this time.)  Hayden on the other hand...was in no mood for pics...again.  Taryn was trying desperately to make him laugh, smile, look at the camera, etc. but he was very resistant!  We did, however,  manage to get a few where he was not crying or flailing.  Here are a couple that I didn't use for the card, but turned out cute :)


As you can see...he was resisting in this one  ;)

(sigh) I know I'm a total nut, but I guess there are some things I will just have to let go of since being a mom.  One of them:  having perfect family photos  ;)

The Reality of Family Photos with Children :)

So, I was pretty excited to do our family Christmas card photos today. My friend Candace, who is a photographer, and I decided to do a little 'trading' and take each others family pictures so we met up at the park with our families for a little photo session. Sounds easy enough, right? ;)

I've been looking forward to doing these photos and spent a lot of time planning and purchasing our outfits, imagining how cute they would be and what our cards might look like this year. But, the reality of it was far different than I picured (isn't it always?) For starters, I was disappointed that my red scarf was not the same red as Hayden's shirt/vest and mine actually looked orange in comparison...of course I did not realize this until afterwards when I looked at the pictures. :) But, that was the least of my worries. Hayden was in no mood for pictures and was pretty uncooperative. He would not be still for 1 second so I could compose a half-way decent shot and refused to look at the camera and stop biting on his nail for the family shots. Poor Candace had the same issues with her little man not cooperating. We both quickly realized that this was not going to be an easy task, nor were we gonna get the shots we were hoping for. Thankfully, I think we both managed to get a couple where the kids aren't trying to escape or looking angry.

After Candace and her family left, I attempted to get some shots of Jeff & Hayden together and Hayden by himself. He let me get one or two of him with Jeff but the cutesy little sitting-nicely-and-smiling photos I had envisioned proved elusive. Hayden had made his mind up that he was not in the picture-taking mood (this had been a trend lately.) He was in the same 'mood' when we had his 18 month/Christmas pics as well as the Strasburg pictures.
Anyhoo, I guess that's life with a toddler ;) I'm posting a few 'out-takes' of some of the photos that won't be making their way onto our Christmas card this year. As for the ones that will, I am keeping those a surprise for our family and friends that will be receiving them in their mailboxes. :) So, make sure I have your address so you won't miss out on our little card this year <3 Out-takes from Scarbrough family Christmas pics:
Take one:

I look ridiculous but I was trying desperately to get him to look at the camera...
(Photo captured by Candace Wilson)


Take two:
Attempting to get him to cooperate for a family pic...
(Photo captured by Candace Wilson)


Take three:
Yep.


Take four:
Not. interested. at. all.
(Photo captured by Candace Wilson)

Awe, it was fun times :p (Oh, and notice the difference in reds? Ugh, its killing me!) I may have to go black and white...hmmmm.

Halloween Weekend

We had a great time this weekend dressing our little man up in his costumes and using him to get candy letting him trick or treat! :) He looked totally adorable in both his costumes and seemed to enjoy himself although he doesn't yet understand Halloween. I think next year will be a lot more fun for him and I'm already excited about it! he he.

On Thursday we took him to Boo at the Zoo and he was Spiderman...

Then, for Trunk or Treat at church, he was a giraffe...



Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween as well!

"What's in Your Bag?"

Hey guys! I am linking up with Roo and her "What's in Your Bag?" blog party at Nice Girl Notes. Let me start off by saying that I did not 'stage' my bag before doing this (as tempting as it was to do so...) I just grabbed it off my vanity seat in the bedroom, unloaded everything & started taking pics! The contents of my bag varies day to day. Today wasn't anything too interesting, weird or random. But it's not unusual for me to have a snack container filled with animal crackers, a paci, random toy or even a sippy cup in my bag. Today, you can't even really tell I'm a mom from the contents of my bag :( (Except for the massive amount of junk in it...and the pictures, of course.) Ahhh yes, the pictures. I keep a bunch of 'em in my wallet so I can whip them out & brag on my little guy but he is usually with me so I hardly ever take them out. Kinda sad. Anyway, enough of that. Here is what's in my bag. Don't judge ;)

First, this is the pile of trash that was in there! (And this is not including the junk in my zipper compartment, but that has 'girly' stuff in it & I didn't want to embarrass any guys that happen to stumble across this blog (or myself for that matter) so I did. not. go. there.)

And here it is...all piled up on top of my bag!

And just for kicks, here is an itemized list of the contents of above picture:

Checkbook (that I NEVER use aside from bill-paying--which is done from home and I hardly even use it there since most of our bills are auto-drafted, yet I insist on carrying it 'just in case.') wallet, spiffy new handheld video camera, cell phone, deodorant (what? I'm a heavy sweater.) Midol ('nuf said) tanning goggles, keys, V.S. lotion (Heavenly-one of my hubby's fave scents. I wore it on our wedding day.) pens, lip gloss (a must, I literally panic when I swap purses & forget to throw a couple in the bag i carry that day. I probably have like 30 tubes of the stuff) cash (I almost never have cash & when I do, it is gone in no time!) hand sanitizer (another must) bobby pins and sunglasses.

The pics that I carry in my wallet...