This week Greta...

Ate one of Ella's one piece outfits (I love these cuz it's a shirt and pants in one).

Chewed my phone charger into pieces. This is why if you call me, I won't answer.

And last week she shit on MIL's freshly steam-cleaned carpet. While we were there.

She, like Otis before her, is lucky she's so good-looking. And, she's lucky I'm her owner!

Santa Baby

We made our second trip to see Santa at Woodfield Mall on Monday. We invited the two Grandmas to come along. Ella was great. We were in line for an hour and she was happy and chatty the whole time. If you think I'm crazy with the camera, you should have seen Grandma Jeanie! Anyway, I plopped Ella down on Santa's lap and backed away. As you can see from the pic below, she's ready to jump ship. Well next thing you know, she starts crying. The damn photographer is just sitting there and I'm like, "snap away man!" And he's like, "but she's crying."

He finally snapped the camera a second time and we got this little gem. Who doesn't love a funny pic of a child screaming on Santa's lap (right Mandy & Jess)?

So yes, we now have not one, not two, but three pics of Ella with Santa. We're those crazy first time parents that adore their child. I'm sure the next kid won't get this royal treatment.

Did I mention that Santa complimented Ella's pretty dress? ;)

Portrait Innovations got me again!

I went with only two outfits this time. I wasn't going to spend a fortune. When the photographer offered more poses I politely declined. But it still happened. I spent too much! Actually, a hair more than I spent the first time. What the hell?
Here are the 6 poses I chose.
In this first one the tree from our wedding centerpieces is behind Ella. The cute berry clip is thanks to Grandma Jeanie.

Don't worry, they cropped my hand out of this pic. I got a large one of this in black and white to hang (yeah right!).

As much as I like this place, I have to say that sometimes their coloring is off on their photos. The dress Ella is wearing below is a much nicer blue than what is showing...

This last one was my "money" shot. You pick one picture and for $9.99 you get a bunch of that one pose.

These next three are outtakes. A lot of the time, when people talk sweet to Ella, she grabs her head. It's so cute.

I absolutely love the expression on her face in the one below and wanted to get it so bad but if you look at her hand, it seems to be jutting out the center of her body.

I was just thinking...I wonder what Portrait Innovations would do if you went in multiple days and each time only ordered the $9.99 package. Instead of paying so much on one day...

Dickens in Dundee

So every year since we moved to C-ville, Buzz and I have been going to Dickens in Dundee. It's a fun, holiday weekend in downtown Dundee. On Friday night they have tree-lighting ceremonies and "living windows" (people dress old school and do stuff in the shop windows - like make cookies). Usually we only attend that but since we were at Cesar Millan Friday night, we decided to check out Saturday's festivities.

We started with a parade at 10 am

It was like the arctic out there. But still very crowded. I love this because it feels like you live in a small town. Brrr.

There's Santa waving behind Ella.

There was a petting zoo in the park. Notice that isn't Otis. Otis isn't allowed to come to Dickens in Dundee anymore because, and I quote, "Everyone is touching him. I don't like it," complained Buzz. One year he actually left me there alone to drive Otis home. Stink, stank, stunk.

They had a best tree contest. This purple number gets my vote. The local churches had bake sales, craft fairs and hot lunches. You could also make a gingerbread house. The local bed and breakfast had a live reading of, "The Night Before Christmas." Later, we stopped for breakfast because Buzz didn't want to eat any church lady food. This will be so much fun next year when Ella can enjoy it too.

She's a man eater!

Oh oh, here she comes Watch out boy she'll chew you up

Oh oh, here she comes

She's a man eater

Ella loves Lukie!

Peas Please

Dog Santa

Oh, my favorite pastime, taking the dogs to see Santa...As you can see by the look on Buzz's face, he loves it too! We headed over to Spring Hill Mall and met up with the St. Legers.

They (or Nick) are as crazy for their dog as we (or me) are. We have a great shot of Otis and Zoey with Santa from a few years ago.

Even Ella got to come. Check out those boots.

I think this should be the St. Leger x-mas card but Mandy says, "I'm not putting that dog in our x- mas card." Jerk.

Addison loves Santa.

Here is our 15 dollar money shot. 15 bucks for one 5x7 pic. Totally worth it! Yep, we're those crazy dog people.

BTW, don't fret - we'll be taking Ella to see Santa sans the dogs later this week.