Sunday, December 21, 2008

King of the Potato People


A week ago last Thursday, Renae dropped Felix off at my work for the last half hour while she went to a meeting. I gave him a pencil and paper to keep him occupied and when he finished his picture he tells me "Look dad, I drew a picture of me". His first self portrait. Sorry my photography isn't very sharp, Felix is the little mass in the lower right hand corner. His aunt Lisa says that Felix is at the stage where he draws "potato people".
The next day Natalie came for a visit and Felix drew these creatures for her:

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Xmas Photo Fun








Dana had this great idea to take a Norman Rockwell type photograph for our Xmas cards this year. Then, as he bitterly let me know last night, I took it over and become some crazy control freak! Surprise, surprise. Anyway, Felix was a little reluctant to wear the tuxedo I had found for him but his obsession for all things black won him over and he donned the suit and joined us in our home made portrait studio. Dana and I did our best to remain in character while Felix did his best to squirm out of the shot or grab at my 'nurses'. Luckily, we had secured my brother, professional photographer Tyler Wilbourne, to take the photos and we managed to get a few shots worthy of Dana's Big Idea. Here are a few of the rejects that I still adored. The prize winning selection will arrive in your mailbox next week.





Dana insisted I couldn't post the blog until the cards had gone out so I hope you are enjoying them now.



Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Prepping For Santa

This year we got our Christmas tree from Felix's BFF's grandmother's (did I use the apostrophes correctly?) tree farm. Charlie's mother has taken Felix there on days she watches him for us, so, being familiar with the layout, Felix was able to direct us to the perfect tree. This was our first year getting a tree without Natalie and/or Megan. We definitely missed them and the way they would name the tree before we hacked it down. Anyway, while driving out there we would ask Felix if we were going the right way. He'd look out the window, consider the terrain, and then inform us that we were not and that we had to turn around. When we did make it to the farm, upon pulling into the drive way, he did let us know that this was it. Later that day we saw Kelly (Charlie's mother) and told her how Felix kept informing us, when asked, that we were not going the right way and that we had to turn around. She thought that was very funny and told us that is because she always accidentally drives past the farm and then has to turn around.

As you can see, Tru is wearing a hooded sweat shirt. Apparently he decided to turn off his super-skin for the day, maybe it wasn't working, who knows. I'm just glad he wore something. Though I suppose I should just accept that he'll know when he is cold enough to wear a coat.

Renae and I had so much fun decorating the tree with Felix this year, he really enjoyed being a part of it. We figured out ways to have him involved in every part, from putting up the tree, picking which lights to use and stringing them, and then which decorations he wanted to put on and where. It reinforced something I've always believed: kids want to be involved and they want to be an active participant in their parents' lives, not just the other way around.