Christmas Card 2007....

And here is the final product. You can see we DID get a pretty decent picture of the four of us. Jake's not smiling but you can't have everything. Overall I think it turned out pretty good.

Christmas Card Photo Shoot 2007......

Ever since the boys were born, we have a tradition of having a photo shoot on Thanksgiving Day for our annual family Christmas card. My sister is gracious enough to take a whole bunch of photos of us so we can choose the perfect one for our Christmas card. I always try to coordinate our outfits and this year we dressed up a little more than usual. We took about 15 pictures and it's quite challenging with little boys (all kids, I'm sure) because they don't always want to look at the camera or smile when you want them too. Here are a few of the pics that didn't make the cut. Aaron and I look pretty much the same in all the pictures but you can see the different moods of the boys. It's a tradition that I hope to carry on throughout the years.

Garrett's Preschool Thanksgiving Program......

Garrett's preschool had a Thanksgiving program. The parents were invited to the program and then we had lunch with the kids. Here is Garrett at his program with his Indian hat and singing on stage.

The Boys.....

I took this picture of the boys in November. I liked it so much that we made personalized stamps for Grandma and Great Grandma with it for their Christmas present. It's rare that we get a photo of them with such great smiles.

Linayah's Birthday Party....

Our friend Linayah turned 2 in November and we were invited to her Birthday party at Gymboree. We had never been to Gymboree before but we loved the experience. It's basically a big room with lots of stuff for the kids to play with and climb on. We also sang songs and played with a giant parachute. This place caters to babies and toddlers but even Garrett & Marissa had a great time doing all the activities. Even the parents had fun doing the activities with the kids.

Target & Ruby......

And finally, after all the excitement on Halloween night we stopped by Target to visit Grandma. Grandma puts out the cards for American Greetings at the local Target. She took advantage of the slow night at Target to organize her cards and get ready to put out the new Holiday cards. We stopped by to say hi and show her the kids' costumes. She was pleasantly surprised. We also stopped by the Halloween display to take pictures next to the scary skeleton. And we always take a picture of Ruby on Halloween because of her "black cat" status. We pretend it's Ruby's birthday on Halloween.

Candy Time & Jake's Other Costume.....

Here are the kids enjoying their candy treasures and we thought it would be funny to put Marissa's princess crown on Jake. He didn't seem to mind.

Trick or Treating...

We always go trick or treating with Marissa in my parent's neighborhood. The kids love this part of Halloween although they DO get a little spooked from the scary stuff. We try to stay away from the "scary" houses and costumes. We usually make it around the block and then the kids are ready to go home to eat their goodies.

Our Superheros.....

Here are the kids in their costumes. Garrett was Mr. Incredible and Jake was Superman. Garrett went back and forth trying to decide what he wanted to be. He couldn't decide between a Toy Story character or Mr. Incredible. After we showed him a picture of the incredible costume, he made up his mind.

Jake, on the other hand, really had no idea what we were talking about when we asked him what he wanted to be. Aaron and I decided that he would make a good Superman.

Halloween Spirit....

Halloween was on a Wednesday last year so I was home with the kids. I dressed them in their Halloween shirts and made them pose for more pics. I gave them each a mini pumpkin and a ton of Halloween stickers. Their mission was to put as many stickers as possible on their pumpkins. This project kept them busy for a good hour. They really enjoyed it. Here they are showing off their pumpkins.

Pumpkin Carving....

Here we are carving pumpkins. Garrett & Marissa enjoyed getting their hands all gooey from the pumkin seeds and Jake wasn't quite sure about the whole process. He might be more interested next Halloween. Lita dressed Mugsy in his own Halloween costume, a pirate. I think Mugsy was embarrassed because he wouldn't look at the camera.

More Pumpkin Patch Pics.....

These were taken the night we carved pumpkins at Lita & Lito's house. We always carve pumpkins at their house and take lots of pictures of the kids. They got the kids these matching shirts so of course we had to have another pumpkin patch photo shoot.