The Toddler Chronicles

I found my old point and shoot camera and decided to let Austin have it for a toy, because it's almost 10 years old and I never use it.

The results are pretty hilarious...

"Here's my house! Oh look, and it's Daddy!"

"Daddy does important things"

"Dis is my finger... it gets in da way a lot"

"Oh! Henny's skunk!! HENNY! Get da skunk, Henny!!"

"Hey, Mommy, dat MY camma.."

"cheese!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Daddy is silly... say cheese Daddy!"

"Dis Mommy's plant"

"dis our floor... its messy. Dose big fans are LOUD. Dey are here cuz we had water dammage..whatever dat is"

"Ees Mommy!!"

"I yike Mommy and Henny"

"here is my shoe. I sit on da counter!! And Mommy's pink pants. Daddy thinks dey are fancy"

"Mommy says dis ring means Daddy loves her. I like to try it on"

"My toys! Dere is my boo bat!!"

"Mommy is silly!"

"Oh! Gubble Buppies comma onna next!!"

"I hear it's cool to take pics of your feet on da carpet?? I can do dat."

"Dere's my kitchen and pay food! I make you a dough-dough sammich"

"I yove my Daddy!"

The Glynn Family Tree Trimming Extravaganza!!!

I have been thinking a lot about traditions lately, probably spurred on by the fact that Neal and I are soon going to become a family and that’s when most people start new traditions.

Some of my tradition-pondering has also been spurred by all the other blogs I read, and all the posts lately of what traditions these girls have within they families and within their marriages… and I realized I was envious of all the traditions floating around out there that revolve around Christmas.

I had certain Christmas traditions growing up…. My family always celebrated on Christmas Eve with a huge buffet of appetizers and drinks and opening presents, and there was the making and delivering of dozens of cookies each year, and the anticipation of our Advent Calendars so we could get that piece of candy each day.

I want to make sure Bambino’s childhood not only honors my (and Neal’s) family’s set traditions, but is filled new traditions Neal and I start that will be unique and special to our little family.

I am so determined to do this I literally sent Neal an email outlining my plans to kick off some “Glynn Family Traditions.”

Hey, I’m organized. I can’t help it.

And maybe a bit anal.

But don’t judge. It’s the holidays.

Thank goodness he loves me…

Anyways…

One of the traditions I want to start is making a big event out of getting and decorating our Christmas Tree. I LOVE Christmas trees… the smell, the lights, how they make a room look magical when they are all lit up.. so that was my first thought when I started scheming on traditions we could start.

So I’m proud to introduce… the 1^st Annual Glynn Family Trim-the-Tree Extravaganza!!!

<drumroll……>

Ok, first off.. we had to get a tree! That’s usually a pretty important piece to the puzzle. If you don’t have a tree, you are stuck with our pathetic version of a “tree” from last year:

uh, yeah. It's just down-right sad, isn't it?? 

So this year, for the real deal, we ventured out one Sunday with McKenzie and her lil’ family to find the perfect one:

Hunting for something just right... and small enough.. and cheap enough...

 Conquering it, slaying it, and showing it who's boss...

Then we got down to the business of decorating! We made a fun dinner, put on a Christmas movie, and got down to decking the tree out! I can't wait until next year when Bambino can "help" us with the tree decorating!


Behold!


(ooohh fancy fish-eye lens on new camera!) 


**disclaimer- a fancy new camera does not a photographer make.. as you can very well see! Be nice.. I'm learning still and I'm lucky I remembered to take the lens cap off**

And a quick tour of the rest of our Christmas decor (because I have been waiting to decorate my first real house for Christmas ever since we moved in last March!)


The birdhouse from our wedding even got decked out with a holiday wreath...

The mantle... (just ask Neal about my obsession with the mantle... I begged and begged for the TV to NOT go above our fireplace, despite how "totally sick it would be" just so I could have a mantle to decorate for the holidays... the hubby gave in on that one!)

The banister.... (thanks to my Momma for the awesome light up garland!) This is where the fur children's stockings went.. including a teeny one for Bambino!

So how's that for some holiday cheer around the Glynn casa?? 


I hope everyone has a jolly, cozy, wonderful holiday!! Blog at ya next week after some major holiday food eating, movie watching, game playing and lounging around!


Merry Christmas!!

**GULP**(!!!) and Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!

That is how I feel about our new “baby…”

We took the plunge and bought a nice camera!

Ok, it’s not like professional grade $5,000 price tag kinda nice… but compared to my little plasticky point-n-shoot and our phone cameras, this thing is a freaking Lexus.

Neal and I knew that we wanted to invest in a nice camera for when Bambino makes his arrival, and had been shopping around and looking at different kinds and decided on either a Nikon P500, or a Canon of some sort, because of the great reviews for Canons.

We got a really great deal on our Canon SX40…. It was on sale, plus we had a giftcard, plus there was an extra savings certificate at Fred Meyer, plus my employee discount, and we got a hell of a deal…

But there was still an anxiety “gulp- Oh god” moment by yours truly.

Ever since we found out we were pregnant, I’ve had one thing on my mind- save money, save money, save money, save money.

I turned into Ms. Scrooge and pinched and saved every single dime we possibly could, and grumbled and griped and even yelled when things like car maintenance bills sprang up and had to be paid. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are supposed to be SAVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn you car and your stupid squealy timing belts!!!!”

When I’ve got a nest egg saved, I protect it like a dragon- with tooth and claw sharpened and ready to attack. I even snarl a bit…

Don’t. Take. My. Savings.

Or you will be sorry.

*snarl*

So to even spend what we did (after the sales, savings certificate, gift card and employee discount) on something that we didn’t NEED, but just wanted and knew we would appreciate having, was really hard for me.

As soon as we bought this camera my mind went back to running numbers… “ok, we’ll have “x” amount to save with Neal’s next check, and “x” amount with my next check, and we can cut back a bit here and here and here and save “x” amount…”

Yes. I obsess much.

Only because I have a goal in mind for what I wanted our savings to be when this baby arrives, and you can damn well guarantee I’m going to reach it.

This is probably the point where Neal is rolling his eyes…

So I will say, I am excited (truly, I am!) to have this nice camera because I’ve wanted one for pretty much forever and I know I’m going to love having all the nice quality pics of our little family…. So “Yeah!!” on that aspect of it!

This thing might become surgically attached to my hand.

You have been warned.

Now I just need to figure out how to use it...