Videostravaganza Day 5

Here's Caleb attempting to crawl. Sorry for the fuzzy picture; my phone doesn't take great video in low light.

Definitely more of the motivation and drive Mandi says is in this kid in abundance.

Scott's career as an architect

This is what Scott did during the program part of the ward Christmas party. He definitely enjoyed running wild with the other kids during dinner, and once the singing and trumpet-playing started, the rest of the children were all successfully corralled into being reverent. But not Scott, no sir. He still insisted on sprinting laps around the tables and loudly clanging on the volleyball standards.

So I brought him into the nursery room, or as he calls it "his church class" and we built a tower.

The hits keep coming

Caleb playing with his Grandpa Johnson. Here are some additional photos from that afternoon.

We'll sure miss the Johnsons when we move. We couldn't ask for better grandparents and aunts and uncles for our boys.

Videostravaganza week continued!

Today's video is Scott decorating the tree. We weren't sure if we should bother putting the tree up here in our Idaho Falls house, but Scott had a great time and it was a nice evening.

Videostravaganza week

This week we'll be posting a video a day from the last three weeks or so. Today's offering is Caleb trying to drink from a glass. This kid wants anything we're eating, and is becoming increasingly frustrated that he can't eat and drink everything we do. Reminds us of another little boy we know.

Such aggression at such a young age. Or as Mandi says, focus. Determination. Drive.

Bonus Scott stories!

1. Scott after fake coughing: "Mommy, I got a throat in my mouth!"

2. His latest adjective is "beautiful." As in "Mommy, what a beaauuutiful dinner!" or "A beeaaauutiful band-aid to feel me better" or "a beeeaaauutiful drink of water."

3. "Dashing through the snow, on a one horse open sleigh, o'er the fields we go, laughing all the way! Ha ha ha bobs on tailing ring....." Jingle Bells is currently his favorite song. Any song we hear is definitely Jingle Bells.

4. Today he told Mandi he wanted a sticker not on the back of his hand, but his wrist. What two-year-old differentiates?

5. Thanks to a recent tirade of Mandi's after not being able to drive into our garage, as far as Scott is concerned, the snow is now stupid.

I want that

{insert lady from Napoleon Dynamite's voice here}

Dear Santa,

Could I have this for Christmas? And a 20x28 frame from DI, spray painted black, to put it in? Don't worry about writing in the information, Santa, because I know your small-muscle coordination is infamously poor. I'll do it, and it will be fun (find the image download here).

And while we're on the subject, here's a couple other things I'd like/need:

Thanks, Santa.

Love,

Mandi

Do you hear what I hear?

It's viral marketing time! But it's for a company I love, so I'm more than happy to share. :)

In the past, we've tried emailing yearly updates and mailed Christmas cards separately, but this year I'm excited to combine the two with one of these great designs from Shutterfly:

I like the modern color palette of this one.

This one simplifies the sometimes-gigantic task of writing the family letter to ten top things. Simplicity: I love it. Less stress for me. :)

This design has more space for text for those of us who can get a little long-winded (ahem).

But all-in-all, you can't beat Shutterfly's site. It's great to navigate, and you can limit your search of their literally hundreds of designs (and I'm just talking Christmas cards here, not even including all their other cards and other products, like these awesome calendars) by features such as color, number of photographs, and designers.

Plus, they're always running great specials. I've ordered cards from them many times, and not only has the price been very right (we're talking way less than Wal-Mart, even with shipping), but it's a personalized, high-quality keepsake that I didn't even have to leave my house for. How can you beat that?

And let's not forget the simplicity factor. You just upload your photos, choose your card design, and personalize with your text. Awesome!

Well, keep watching your mailboxes to see which design we choose. Feel free to leave your current mailing address in the comments if you'd like to receive one.