Leaves and Christmas trees...

We got out and played in the leaves the other afternoon and these are some of my favorite shots of the kids. They had so much fun rolling around, sliding and throwing leaves! The weather has been great this week for getting outside...Brock could live outside so he has really enjoyed it!

We had to rethink our Christmas decorations this year...We always put up a tree but I sometimes put garland around the doorways and put my village out, and all the little snowmen and candles and knick-knacks everywhere...Well, the tree has been up 2 and a half weeks and less than 24 hours in,when it only had lights, watching Brock's amazement with it I realized the Christmas balls were definately out and so I traced their hands on craft foam and they serve as the filler and then I put ribbon down the sides but he keeps removing the ribbon to wear as a scarf...Every year since we got married we have gotten meaningful ornaments to reflect the past year whether we were pregnant or had a new baby or bought a house or whatever, sooo I knew I would just cry if he dropped one and it broke, but i thought i could just put some filler stuff on the tree and make do for this year....well, Sunday night he was playing in the floor and all of a sudden out of nowhere he jumped up and tackled the tree!!! Laying it into the wall! Thank goodness i hadn't put those ornaments on there!! Well that decided it no ornaments! So I jumped on walmart.com and ordered prints of the kids doing random stuff (swinging, playing, riding on toys, etc.) and picked them up the next day, mounted them on cardstock and they are now my decorations!! He is learning not to take them off but its not the end of the world if he grabs one before I can get to him and I think after looking at it for a few days its my favorite tree we have ever had! It just makes me smile looking at it! Every time I walk by and catch a glimpse of Haley swinging (her most favorite thing in the world) or Brock standing in his daddies work boot or them hanging out with the Uncles or Dylan, I just love it! I think this is going to be my new tradition, by next year Brock will be old enough to leave the family tree alone but somewhere in my house from now on I want a tree to have pictures reflecting on the past year...