I love this little girl

Christmas and a Movie

First of all, I have to say, It's not often that I add a movie to my list of all time favorites, but this one's on it! Go see it. You won't be disappointed. I thought the previews looked kind of silly, but that's not the case at all. I laughed and cried, and the kids didn't even need to get up to go to the bathroom. It's a huge heart warmer, and I'm getting the DVD as soon as it comes out!



The Surprise was a hit!! The boys were in complete shock. It was great seeing their expressions, and their excitement made hiding it for a few days all worth it. These photos were from Christmas morning.

I hope all my friends and family had a wonderful Christmas. I love you!

Hiding the Swingset - Day three

WE DID IT!! The boys are snug in their beds, and tomorrow they'll get a big surprise! I can't wait!

Here's a shot from our family get-together at our house tonight. Heather and Tim came over too! :)

from left to right: Christian, Stephen, Aidan and then Marky.

Hiding the Swingset - Day two

Amazingly enough the kids didn't even bat an eye at the huge white work van in the driveway all afternoon or all the paper covering the windows. We didn't even so much as have one close call! Construction is complete. Now we only have to keep it hidden for one more day. No sweat. I hope.

Hiding the Swingset - Day one

So far so good. Construction was underway at 10:00 this morning. I managed to get the kids out of the house and to my Gungy's before they started asking too many questions. We stayed out all day. We went to the mall with my mom to just kill time. Stephen went home with mom to spend the night, and Christian came home and took a nap. While he was napping I covered the windows with paper and fleece material. I think that should do the trick. Construction will begin again at 9:00 in the morning. I WILL keep this thing a secret until Christmas morning if it's the last thing I do.

Gingerbread Men

Here's my baby boo decorating his gingerbread man. This kid loves to make a mess.

For those of you who might care about camera stuff, I shot these RAW. I've always been afraid of all these different formats, but since my hero, *Jeff Ascough starting shooting RAW, I said, "Hey, what's good enough for my Jeff is good enough for me." (Sorry, sick obsession). So, much to my surprise, I loved the results! I also used JPEG to take a few of these, and the beautiful light that you see was all washed out looking. I did use the flash the entire time. Shooting RAW just looks so much more true to life (duh), and in these shots I didn't lose any of my light - even using my flash! I'm going to have to shoot RAW under some different conditions, but I think I'm sold. The light in these shots was filtered through a window in my kitchen, and the lights in the house were cut off. Anyway, the only draw back is that now I'm going to have to buy some more memory cards. Shooting this new way eats up space like mad!

www.jeffascough.net - my hero

Not much on my mind...

I've been in my pajamas since 3:30. I usually hate to hang out in my pj's - it makes me feel lazy, but today it just seemed like the right thing to do. It's been one of those lazy days.

I'm going to bake a bunch of cookies tomorrow. That should be fun. Seriously.

For Christmas Eve I'm going to bake a pecan pie, more cookies, cheesecake and maybe one more thing. I love Christmas Eve. My family comes to my house and we all hang out and eat and open gifts. It's been a tradition as far back as I can remember. Good times.

We have the kids a swing set. Mike's going to assemble it on Friday. How I'm going to keep it hidden until Christmas day I just don't know.

Mike's home with some Mexican food. I'm starving...

As Pretty as a Picture...

This is Kaytlyn - the easiest child I will probably ever have the privilege of shooting. She happily let me snap away for almost 2 hours without even the slightest bit of complaining! Kaytlyn is the beautiful daughter of my long time friend, Duffy. Duffy was my maid of honor, and more like family to me than anything else. We've known each other since we were about 5 years old - same church. So today I took Kaytlyn's pictures for Duff's Christmas present, and to be honest, I feel like the one who got the present! I've never had more fun on a shoot!

Want to see more of Kaytlyn's shoot?? Sure you do! http://mommamarg.smugmug.com

Painting and Christmas talk

Here are the monkeys painting on cardboard yesterday afternoon. They had fun with it. Stephen got tired first and went inside to watch Noggin, but Christian just wouldn't give it up. He loves this kind of thing. I think it's sweet how much he gets into painting and artsy stuff. Mommy's little artist.

Christmas is almost here! I'm starting to feel just a bit of pressure - not much though, I honestly don't have that much to do in comparison to some people, but I have just enough to feel a little pressure about this time of the month. I have gifts to wrap, food to prepare and a Christmas Eve party to host. And then, of course, there are all those little details that seem to add up. It's a hassle, but I just love the way it all comes together so beautifully in the end. Not long now!

My Stephen

September 2005 - 2 years old

November 2007 - 4 years old



Here's my Stephen - my first baby. I was looking at pictures just this morning of my little man when he was 2 years old. I can hardly believe how much he's grown in such a short period of time. A couple of years ago I thought he was already a big boy, but now I see so clearly just how little he really was. Part of me wants to stop time and hold onto him just the way he is today. Stop all this growing already. It makes me sad, proud and nervous watching him grow. He's becoming a boy. He's not a baby or even a preschooler anymore. Where did my baby go? Time just won't slow down, and I can't hold onto him the way he is - I have to let him grow. Soon he won't sit on my lap, soon he'll be too heavy for me to pick up, soon he won't let me snuggle with him the way that I can now. I don't know if I'm ready to let these things go. Today, though, I can hold him tight and snuggle him to pieces, and that's just what I'm going to do because time just won't slow down.

Carpe Diem

Maternity shoot

This is Lynn and her boys - her third one is on the way, and he's due any day!! This was a special shoot. Lynn's a special lady, and this is her last baby. The day was slightly overcast, but that was OK because I didn't have to worry about avoiding bright spots and positioning. It was a fun day and a great shoot.

Thanks Lynn!!

Check out Lynn's blog and website!!!! Cut and paste - do it! She's a local doula and a very cool gal!

http://brambledoula.wordpress.com/

http://www.freewebs.com/raspberrymoonbirth/

Special People

Above are a few of my favorite pictures from a shoot I did last night for some friends. I've got a few sessions in my pocket now, and I'm finding that each one is totally different, but they're all equally as fun. Working with kids is a challenge. They tire so easily. This sweet little one did get tired, but she hung in there longer than most kids seem to. She was a trooper and so c-u-t-e! Her parents promised her one "silly" shot for each serious one she took. The silly ones were my favorites, of course. I love doing this picture taking thing. It really makes my heart happy. Tomorrow afternoon I have a maternity shoot on the beach - those are my absolute favorites.

I went shopping for gifts for the boys this morning. I know I said I was done, but I guess what I should have said was that I was done with the hard part. shopping for friends and family is difficult for me, but shopping for the boys is a lot of fun. I think that might be because I hardly ever buy them toys except for on Christmas and their birthday's, but the fact is I love to buy them toys. I just never do it. They get more than enough from my mom throughout the year, so I must refrain. But, at Christmas time I get to buy them fun stuff, and I just love it!

That's all for now. :)

'Tis the season...

I'm beside myself with giddiness. I'm enjoying my life to the fullest. I shouldn't be so negative, but I keep wondering when something bad is going to happen. Things can't really be all this good, can they? Next semester starts in about a month, and then it's back to the office, but for now I'm soaking up my freedom like a sponge. I love being at home. Having to go back to work as an intern has really helped me to realize just how much I enjoy my life away from the hustle and bustle of the business world. It's just not for me. I feel complete at home taking care of my family. I thank God so much for the opportunity.

I finished my Christmas shopping this morning. I'm all done an entire 20 days before Christmas! (Bravo, Margo. Thank you.) We put up the tree yesterday. It's artificial. I don't particularly like it, but the kids think it's "boodiful". There's just something about a live tree in the house that makes Christmas special. I don't know if it's the smell or what, but the fake tree is just so...well...generic - that's the right word. It does the trick though, and I don't have to bother with watering it.

The boys have been getting along a little better since my mom told them about the talk she had with the big guy. Apparently Santa told her that Stephen and Christian will not be getting any gifts for Christmas if they don't start getting along. That seems to be doing the trick and will get me through the month of December if nothing else.

Speaking of Christmas gifts, the boys will be getting a wooden swing set for their big gift this year. I'm really excited to surprise them with such a fun present. The trick is going to be getting it assembled on the day before Christmas without them seeing it. That's going to be tough because it's going to be in the middle of our back yard, and the boys spend most of their time in the living room which has 5 huge windows overlooking the exact spot where the set will be located. Hmmmm?

I suppose I've chattered on long enough then. The boys are sleeping, and I think I might take a nap myself.