It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Because of H1N1 and just my general germaphobic nature, we opted not to get Christmas portraits done at a studio this season or to sit on Santa's lap. Instead, I decided to play around with the kids at our house with our own Christmas tree. They did so well and looked so cute. I may try it again in a week or two and try to get some different poses. Brooklyn loved being a "model" in her own home.

She is still a bit shaky holding him without the couch arm but did pretty well.

My Princess
Handsome little thing, isn't he? We then loaded up the fam and headed to K-vegas for Brooklyn's school Christmas program. Last year, she made it on stage for 1/2 song before leaving the stage in tears (that was 1/2 song more than I thought she would do though!). I did not have high hopes for this year, but she had been saying for weeks how she was ready to sing on stage with her friends. She had been practicing her songs everyday and was doing soooo well with the words. Here is her class on stage:
And here is Brooklyn on Nanny's lap. :-)

She did not even make it on stage this year. About 1/2 hour before the show, Brooklyn declared that she was not getting on the stage. She said that she remembered how she cried last year and did not want that to happen again this year. I didn't push it. I asked her if she still wanted to dress up and go. She said yes, she wanted to see her friends (and get the goodie bag- she's no dummy). We went and sat in the front row, and Brooklyn took pics of her friends with my mom's digital camera. :-) She was so happy- you would have thought she actually performed. Ha! Chad was so disappointed. He just doesn't understand how, with us as a mom and dad, she can be so shy. I just say give her time. I mean, with a "show choir mom" and a "lead singer dad," she'll come around.

Or, we'll just hope Jake is a bit braver. :-)