Another week....

Ugh...another week between posts and another week closer to Christmas, which I am not even remotely ready for. I'm not quite sure how some people do it all...getting organized enough to shop early, get all presents bought and wrapped, do the baking, etc., etc., etc...let alone working full time and still wanting to spend some quality time with family. I've done a bunch of baking this week for work--cookie exchange on Monday, and my contribution to our office's "12 Days of Christmas" two-a-day snacks this morning (two loaves of cinnamon pull-apart bread...yum!)--and I am beat just from the lack of couch time I've had! Last night Jacob and I were alone (Craig had a rare weeknight game) and I was feeling compelled to run out and do some Christmas shopping. I had to go out and stock up on butter for my baking anyway, so I figured I'd pick up a gift or two if I could. Of course, it took most of the evening and poor Jacob was off to bed without much chance to play once we got home. I felt so guilty. He was a good sport, though.

I've been trying to no avail to get a good picture of Jacob for our Christmas card. I think I may have to use a fall one, which would be a great one, but seems a little un-Christmas-y. I know a lot of people use the best picture they have from the course of the year, but with how much Jacob grows and changes nowadays, I wonder if the picture will end up too outdated to reflect who he is now. On the bright side, the photo shoot this weekend was good motivation to post more pictures, including some of the rejects. It's been a while. So, here goes...

Here's Jacob on Thanksgiving. I tried to get a good picture of him in his cute outfit, and this was as good as it got. Such a little man.

Jacob likes Craig's hat collection. He will gladly walk around with a hat that's far too big, even if it covers his eyes. And now he can actually say "Amerks", so the hat he's wearing in this picture is extra appropriate...

Jacob has some rather disturbing habits that scare me a little for the future. One of them is putting everything around his neck. Another is the desire to shut himself inside things. I keep hoping he'll outgrow it before he puts himself in danger, but so far no luck. Still, it is cute when he thinks he can fit somewhere he can't. Here he's saying bye-bye as he tries to close himself inside our desk.
On Sunday I was doing everything in my power to keep Jacob in his cute church outfit to try to get a good Christmas card picture. I didn't succeed with that, but I did get this awesome shot of the boys...this one is definitely a keeper!

And now onto the Christmas card rejects. I was playing around with the modes on my camera and had the lights low to maximize the effect of the Christmas lights I was trying to get Jacob to play with. So, these ended up sort of artistically weird, but I do like the lighting.

And yet another attempt to shut himself inside something, this time our entertainment center...

He may not want to sit down and smile in front of the tree for me, but I guess I still got quite a few cute pics. Hopefully one of these days we'll get a mini Christmas miracle of our own and I'll capture the perfect moment. We'll see. But stay tuned for a cute video snippet I caught, too....