tales from a far-land

These photos encapsulate the iconic and almost necessary "toddler with Santa" picture.  I just couldn't resist.  I know it seems very cruel, but I wanted to capture this moment in time.  It is the first Santa picture for both kids.  So, my mom and I headed to the mall on the first Friday in December to capture this precious pose.  We soon discovered, as we had the chance to visit with Santa several times in December, that Madilyn loves Santa from afar, but as soon as it was time to sit on his lap, she didn't want anything to do with Jolly St. Nick.  I cannot blame her.  Who wouldn't be scared of a complete stranger dressed in a red suit with a giant white beard?  Plus, toddlers have an inherent fear of strangers anyway.  She is *so* not happy. As for Aiden, I think his face tells it all.  He doesn't even seem to mind at all.  A kind of deer in the headlights look.  Nor is he even concerned with his crying sister sitting next to him.  Santa, on the otherhan

As you can see, I am trying to catch up on posts for the year.  Here are some miscellaneous photos from November.  Enjoy! At the park Madi enjoying chicken on the bone Aiden in his bumbo Bathtime ...   Time for bed.  Heading up the stairs by herself ... Brushing her teeth Hugging

Thanksgiving this year was a little untraditional for the Farrell-Landers family.  Since Lynsey was in the states presenting at a conference in Washington, D.C. the week before Thanksgiving, she decided to fly over to Arizona for a quick trip home and a little turkey.  Thus, the Farrell family celebrated our Thanksgiving dinner on the Sunday prior to the actual day.  Even though we celebrated early, we still filled ourselves with yummy goodness and felt the warmth of family.  We were lucky to be joined this year by my aunt and uncle from Colorado, Micky, Josh's sister, Alisha and Lynsey's boyfriend from Kenya, Tonny.  It was much fun. Since we celebrated Thanksgiving early, Josh and I decided to drive to California for the long weekend to visit his grandparents instead of having another huge feast.  We packed up the car and our sleeping kids and headed to Calabasas, CA, on Thursday evening after enjoying a bowl full of Turkey Soup.  Thanks, Mom!  The drive was relatively unev

Halloween is one of my most favorite holidays, as you can probably imagine.  Growing up with Halloween as my birthday was awesome.  Candy, presents, a party and trick-or-treating.  What could be better?  Halloween as a twenty-something, still fun as I was pretty much guaranteed a party, but somewhere along the way, my actual "day" got very complicated to celebrate.  However, Halloween with kids is the best combination ever.  I get to celebrate this special holiday with my children and my husband as a family, for now.  Since Halloween this year fell on a Monday, we attended a couple of different celebrations the weekend prior.  The preschool had a Halloween party on Friday afternoon.  Now that is an experience.  A whole bunch of toddlers hyped up on candy running around the preschool.  It was pretty cute to see all of the kids in their costumes though.  Here are our kids ... a fairy and a pea in the pod.   On Saturday night, the Davis family invited us to their Halloween Ex