the best of the worst

I think this Santa picture (read: FAIL) could win the award for The Best Worst Santa Picture EVAH. What do you think?

I think the arms really add the most dramatic effect.

Ellen has a part of her show called Bad Paid For Photos. Do you think Ellen would show it in her fabulous hour of much needed break from Kai-Lan, mommy entertainment*? Because I think she should.

If only you could see that his shirt says "I'm Santa's Favorite".

Because obviously.


*I most certainly DO NOT let my kid watch endless hours of Ni-Hao, Kai-Lan, a show about a little Chinese girl who has no parents, a grandfather who is sometimes nearby, who talks and sings with jungle animals and a monkey that plays the turn tables. Nope, I most certainly do not.

And I most certainly didn't laugh my ass off when I saw what the picture lady caught on camera. What kind of mother do you think I am?

life in motion

Back in June I had emailed Lyndsay Stradtner with Life In Motion Photography to set up a family/ 1 year portrait session. I had been drooling over her work for quite a while and was so anxious when Matt gave the go ahead was informed that we would be doing this session in November. I searched and shopped for just the right clothes, just the right colors, and just the right styles for months. Got Steven's hair cut the month before (which was almost too early- it grows so fast!) and got my hair cut, too. Everything had to be just right. This portrait session was all-consuming weeks before the blessed event even took place. And it was sooooo worth it. Lyndsay has photographed many of my friends and she did not disappoint. She was amazing and we loved her. And Steven loved her. See?

Although the session itself was a breeze, the week leading up to it was not. Matt was out of town, and wouldn't ya know 2 days before our shoot Steven gets his first bloody nose and fat lip...

We have definite routines we do everyday and while Matt was out of town I was trying to keep everything as normal as possible. Daddy has bath time and the ritual consists of Steven and Daddy run naked (most of the time it's just Steven that's naked) from dinner in the kitchen to the bathtub. This particular time I think he was over excited and did a perfect face plant right on the tile. Poor baby. Lots of tears, a little blood, and some fast swelling. I got ice on it right away, but it still swelled up. I panicked. I had a flash forward of having to call Lyndsay bawling, asking if we could reschedule. I know she would have if we had needed it ('cause she's awesome like that), but the next day the swelling was way down, and by picture day it was just about gone. Whew!

I'm so in love with the shots of all three of us. We look so put together, composed and at ease. If only we looked like this all the time! HA!

This is my favorite shot of Matt and Little. Love my boys!

And this is probably my most favorite picture ever. I have so few pictures of just me and Steven, mostly because I'm the one behind our camera. This shot warms my heart each and every time I look at it.

I made another smash cake for Little to dig into. He thought it was yum.



And our awesome end-of-the-night-very-cool-Austin shot.

So, a huge, heartfelt THANK YOU to Lyndsay at Life in Motion Photography!! We LOVE our pictures and we I can't wait for another baby for a reason to schedule another session with you. ;)

For an adorable slide show of all our images put together by Lyndsay, click HERE (and make sure your sound is on!).

Pflurries in Pflugerville!!

Austin got SNOW FLURRIES today! We had been reading about it all week on weather.com and they were originally forcasting quite a bit (up to half an inch!) but it ended up not being much of anything. :( I know you people up North are probably snorting you're laughing so hard, but this never happens! Oddly enough, we got a flurry shower this same week last year when Steven was just a few weeks old.

So, naturally we had to rush Steven out into the 30 degree weather for some pictures. I'm not sure if he even realized it was snowing, it was so light. He had trouble moving because of the massive amounts of clothes he was wearing, but he soon got the hang of it. If you look reeeealy close you can see our tiny flakes.

*Tips for moms who have toddlers who won't wear hats- put their mittens on first. Then they can't figure out how to pull their hat off....or at least mine couldn't. Either that or he was so distracted by the mittens he forgot about the hat.

Proof that there actually was frozen precipitation

a beachy thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! This Thanksgiving was Steven's first time to the beach. The Sternad family has made a tradition of going to the coast every Thanksgiving and this is my second time to go as part of the family. I have to admit, getting used to going to Luby's was hard, but the food is pretty good and it's always packed!

This was Steven's second Thanksgiving. If you'll remember last year...

Awww, so tiny.... Ahem. Where was I? Oh yeah....

Steven LOVED the beach. LOVED. IT. The birds, the shells, the sand, the water, all of it.

I'm so glad we brought his wagon! Riding in the wagon was the way to walk to beach.

Here all of us are (well, except for me) walking back to the condo during a beautiful sunset!

Evidently, Steven is master of chasing birds, but I didn't get to witness it. Someone (and I won't name names) decided sleeping at the beach is for the weak, so while mommy and daddy tried to get a few more hours of sleep Nana and Grampy (thank you!!) took him down to the beach where all the bird chasing happened.

The water was a little chilly, so we made our dip in the ocean super fast! He just giggled and squealed- I can't wait to take him when the water's warm! And please excuse the way his mother looks. Apparently she hasn't seen the sun (or the gym!) in quite sometime.

Splash, splash, splash

Gobble, gobble, gobble :)

par-tay!!

Steven's Frist Birthday party was this past Saturday! It was so wonderful and we had so many family members come! Some even drove all the way from Dallas and SW Houston just to celebrate with us and we were so thankful they were able to be there!

The day was perfect- everything turned out so well!

Here is Steven playing in the car that Great Grandma Barb got him. He LOVES this car!





Here is Matt and Steven with Aunt Phyllis and Aunt Tammy!

Uncle Jon!!

Singing Happy Birthday!

What is this....

Seriously, mom? You want me to eat this?

Well, alright.

YUM!

Squishy!

I make a mess and they laugh? More mess it is!!!

SOO messy!!

The colorful aftermath...

Presents! Mommy and Daddy got him a Tickle Me Elmo and he loved it! Mimi got him a playscape for the yard. As soon as the HOA approves it, we will have it installed! I'm so excited!

Nana and B got him an All-Terrain Radio Flyer Wagon and he loves to be pulled around in it!

Kissing Elmo

The weather was so perfect, so we spent a lot of time outside playing catch...

...and riding in cars

Here is some video from his smash cake. I would say he's a smash cake pro, wouldn't you?

Make sure you turn your sound up for this one- you can hear him squealing!

Overall, the day could not have gone better! Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with us!

Happy Halloween!

This weekend was Steven's first Halloween! It took me forever to decide what costume to get him, and since we have a history of 80 degree Halloweens I thought just a pants and jacket costume was a good idea- and that's why he was a fire fighter! And he was the cutest, most handsome fire fighter I have ever seen. :)

We went Trick Or Treating to a couple houses and we had a great time. I think next year will be even more fun! The weather was perfect and I'm really glad I didn't have him in a fluffy animal costume, even though I found some super cute ones! I think he would have been too hot.

Steven was too funny- the first house we went to he got peanut M&M's (NO- he did NOT have any) but he wouldn't let go of that little bag of candy all night! It was so funny. B traded him his M&M's for a Twix and a KitKat and he loved them too! He would put the candy up to his nose and actually smell it. And if you tried to take his candy away he thought it was hilarious. Too cute.

Here we are on our way to our first house.

With his M&M's

Here he is with Daddy watching all the other crazy dressed people. I think he might have been a little confused.

The awesome pumpkin Matt carved!

Candy!

CANDY!!

I LOVE CANDY!!