Early Hanukkah Gift

So, my wonderful parents got me a 50 mm lens for my Canon DSLR as an early Hanukkah gift. I did research and it seemed to be the lens that all bloggers love. I thought it was a macro lens, but turns out it is a standard lens and that everything smaller is macro and everything larger is telephoto. Let's just say that I'm in love already. Phil and I have been playing with it nonstop since it arrived. Good thing we have such great subject matter to practice on.

Last weekend we stayed around town to get ready for the holidays. Our family celebrates both Christmas and Hanukkah, so we have even more decorations to put up and traditions to follow than the average family (lucky Micah!). We ventured all the way out to Carnation, WA to chop down our first tree at a tree farm. The weather held up just long enough for us to find the perfect little tree and it felt so good to get outside and be out in the daylight (yes, it is dark until about 7am and dark again by 4pm here. Ug!). We came back and Phil put up our holiday lights on the new roof line and on a few tomato cages on the deck. We decorated the tree and set out our other holiday decorations (I so wish we had a mantel and shelves in the living room!). We listened to Christmas music. Now all we need is the first snow! It's starting to feel cold enough...

You didn't think we forgot about our Charlie dog, did you!?

Love this little peppermint hat!

At the Christmas Tree Farm

Fun going to a real tree farm!

Why do we have so many stockings? Good question. And how do we decide which to hang?

So, you can see we aren't quiet used to the new lens yet, but here is Micah staring at the lights.

Phil is really good with the camera too. You'd think Micah was born in the bay area with all the SF sports love.

So excited for Micah's first Hanukkah!

Phil did such a great job on the lights!

On Sunday we went to The Urban Craft Uprising at Seattle Center, but came home empty handed. Everything was so cool that it was overwhelming. We did enjoy sitting in the Seattle Center Armory, enjoying snacks and hot beverages (while feeding Micah of course). We love their winter train display and also the fact that there is constant free entertainment on the stage. We got to see a short children's only version of the Nutcracker and then a pretty awesome kids dance group perform.

I think this is my new favorite photo. I think Phil looks like a dreamy model here. ;-) Hands off ladies, he's mine!

Winter wonderland. I can't wait until Micah and Phil can build their own scene together.

Another one of Phil's awesome photos.

We wear Micah everywhere! He likes staring up at all the lights and people.

Micah and I have been having extremely low key weekdays. Wednesdays are our Parent Baby groups, which we continue to be so thankful for. We have made play dates to go on walks with Jennifer (who used to be my coworker) and her daughter Abby (who is three days older than Micah) and their dog Pepper (the dogs are more difficult to take care of than the babies!). Otherwise, Micah and I spend our days doing chores, feeding, reading, feeding, playing on the activity mat, feeding, sitting in the MamaRoo, feeding, sleeping in my ErgoBaby carrier, feeding, and more feeding! Our favorite part of the day is when Daddy gets home from work, showers, grabs a snack, and then spends time with us. We have been making really awesome dinners thanks to my monthly menu planning and thanks to Pinterest for such great recipes. It's amazing how much easier cooking is when there is a plan in place and all the ingredients have been purchased for the whole week. I am inspired by my sister-in-law, Beth, who takes great photos of all the food she makes, but food photography is difficult (since cooking good looking meals is difficult!). Maybe I will start sharing soon. I just still feel like I'm a complete newbie in the kitchen, so I'm not quiet ready to "own" any of the recipes and meals that I make. But I am gaining a lot more confidence now that I have been attempting to cook a lot more. It's actually kind of fun! (How could it not be, now that we have endless amounts of counter space!).

Play time on the activity mat.

A little tricky to capture these tiny feet as they are constantly in motion!

Aren't his Thirsties diaper covers the cutest?

What can I say? He's a keeper!

Do you love this photo as much as I do?

and the photo shoot meltdown begins. haha!

I hope I didn't overload you with images this time, but you know what they say about how much a picture is worth!