"I see Santa"

Hadley's been saying "I see Santa" meaning I'm going to go see Santa! We've been talking about it a lot so she understands what we're doing this year..... in hopes she could be calm and not freaked out. Well she still freaked out turns out. She did like him when mommy sat with her. Last year we did the free Bass Pro Shop Santa. This year we went to my sister's in-laws housing development where they had a santa and a professional photographer. It was also free and such a great set up! So thank you Frank and Cora!

Hadley was excited to see Santa but she did NOT want to sit on his lap by herself. I had to get "the shot" so I dropped and ran after we sat together. It's very similar to last years. One day she'll like him :) Until then, we can enjoy her being traumatized. Hopefully she won't need therapy for this.

Hadley's cousins Max and Colette went after us. Max has been SOOO excited to tell Santa what he wants for Christmas (a shoot gun and bow and arrow haha typical boy). We thought this year he would make it without crying because he understood he needed to tell Santa something. Well turns out he also just wanted his parents and to TELL Santa his wishes NOT sit with him.

Colette was the winner! She was happy as can be, that is until she actually LOOKED at Santa. But she lasted a very long while so she wins! She's also 6 months old and just now entering stranger danger so she was just at the right time.

not exactly happy but not crying
and I will just add, my red hunter rain boots like amazing with the backdrop haha
it did actually happen to be raining that day

checking him out

mommy don't leave! (mom of the year here people) 

and the money shot

and now for Hadley's cousins

Starting to lose it

getting closer

and GONE

 and now for baby Coco Bean 

happy as can be

Oh wait, you're not my mom...

and DONE

*update* James took Hadley to build a train at Lowes this past weekend and SANTA came to visit!

She wouldn't go alone, but at least now James has a picture to match me and Hadley's (as he was at a guard drill weekend for our Santa festivities)

Christmas Card and Hadley's 2 year photo shoot

Most of my Christmas cards are mailed so I thought I'd give you a preview! If you're coming to my blog for the first time, welcome! Click here to find out what we've been up to the past couple of weeks! Also, feel free to go back in the blog and read from the past posts from the links on the right.

We took family photos for Hadley's 2nd birthday pictures and we always use these for our Christmas cards too now. We took them in GA at a park at 9am and it was like 25 degrees with LLP. Seriously it was freezing! Hadley didn't cooperate too much and we didn't get that many photos but these ones did turn out! 

I really wanted this picture to turn out but it looks like I'm saying "ew you smell" or something, not cool.... wish photographer would have fixed me

Love how Hadley's birthday is in Fall so we can always do fall pics

hadley loves her mommy

Just me and my gal pal

I guess she likes daddy too :)

This was the only one we got of her holding her "2" sign.... she kept throwing it!

 and yes I know it's backwards..... sums up the 30 minute session

Having some fun!

Isn't she just the cutest!

This was in front of an old mill, pretty cool

Now we need to get settled somewhere and order these pictures to hang up with last years photos! Let's look at one from last year and see how much our big girl has grown!

She didn't even have curly hair! How crazy is that.... still so cute! We were holding her up because she wasn't walking well. Now she's sprinting haha

Whirlwind past couple weeks....

Well actually months!
I will take this time to update everyone on what's been going on with us and why we have been real infrequent blogging!

I'll start from beginning in case we have new readers.

James got out of the Air Force early via VSP (Voluntary Separation Program) and we listed our house for sale. We tried on our own for a couple weeks but realized we needed more foot traffic and we also had trips away scheduled so we got a realtor. Three short weeks later our house got 2 offers on the same day bringing them to a short bidding war. The winner was a young military couple who offered $100 over asking price! I picked our list price and was very pleased I was spot on. We did pay 2k of their closing but no big deal considering they offered full price! WOOHOOO. We are Facebook friends now and I knew of her based on our small base community. I was pulling for them in our bidding war :)

They house is officially not ours anymore. We even came out in the green, banking $302 dollars :) We will get a little more due to our escrow so it worked out very well. We closed in 3 weeks after they submitted the bid and packed up our entire house.... and yes ran into many problems.
The Air Force would have paid to move our stuff and all that jazz but my husband wanted to "bank" the money and do it himself.... I'll keep this story short.... Needless to say, he would NOT recommend anyone do this.... packing up took way too long and apparently we have way too much stuff..... It didn't all fit in the biggest u-haul 26 footer. We had to change plans and get a trailer add-on for him to pull and leave my car (for now). I drove James' truck and James the U-haul with trailer add on.

Hadley loved playing in the u-haul

We then took our stuff to a storage unit where my sister lives around Atlanta area and are staying with them until we leave for training for James for his plane at the Air National Guard (which is part time). While we wait for that he's also waiting to hear back from some major air lines to hopefully get an interview there. All of this is a wait and see process which I'm not good at but I'm trying! We are very relieved we don't have to worry about our house selling and having that payment so we are very lucky. This makes 2 houses successfully bought and sold in the green. My quick two cents.... if you're wanting to buy.... don't buy the most expensive house in the neighborhood unless it's completely unique and if you won't be there a while (like us) buy something you are going to completely update so you can have quick appreciation. We are still waiting to see how things pan out with jobs as to where we will plant our roots next.

We don't have our normal routine from where we go with our fun playgroup and bop around town to library fun activities. With the holidays coming up we are just out of our schedule. Hadley turned 2 and is enjoying time with her cousin max, when they're not fighting over toys :) She's loving being with her new baby cousin Colette and can't get enough of her. We've also been able to visit James' family a couple times since we are closer.

We will be getting our homemade crafts ready for Christmas coming up and just doing holiday stuff the next couple weeks! Can't believe it's already December and we have a fun/active 2 year old! Happy December everyone.