Happy New Year!

Posted on December 31, 2009

Our dear and cherished friends came up for a short visit (too short) from Houston and we SO enjoyed having them! It also snowed two of the three days they were here, which believe me, is very exciting if you live in South East Texas (just see how excited they are)!

I’ll post a longer post and more pictures next year! Hah!

Have a happy and safe New Year!

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Merry Christmas to All

Posted on December 25, 2009

I only have a minute as I am enjoying my family too much to spend much time on the computer.

The best $4 we spent. Foam swords…

Our sweet girl…

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We did, and I can’t help but be in awe and wonder of what Christ has done for us! Merry Christmas!

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Laura: Natural Born Reflector Holder

Posted on December 24, 2009

lalacoll

Laura is Mary Anne’s equally gorgeous and sweet older sister. I like to think of her as my younger sister and if I had a younger sister I would hope she was just like Laura. I mean really, what’s not to love? She is smart, witty, well-read, confident, brave, and I admire the heck out of her! She is also a natural in front of the camera…

Not to go on and on about how great Laura is but I just have to mention how good she was assisting me with the reflector. She’s a natural. I would say “Make their eyes POP!” and without further instruction, she would. I wish I could take her with me to every shoot!

One of the great things about Laura is we are pretty much long lost book/movie twins. I mean if I like it I can pretty much bet she will like it and vice-versa (I admit there have been a couple exceptions, but very few considering!). She is also a great writer and should start a blog so I can absorb all the witty goodness that comes out of her mind.

Laura you rock. Seriously. Thanks so much for making that day so fun!

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Mary Anne: What’s the deal with the horns and whistles?

Posted on December 22, 2009

It has been weird watching Mary Anne go from a little girl into a full fledged hottie. The coolest thing about it is that she is one of those people that doesn’t know just how gorgeous she really is. So her disposition is perfectly sweet and unaffected. She is like a package of sweet tarts, without the tarts or some fresh squeezed orange juice (because orange juice is all sunny and sweet). You get the picture. Maybe this is why my son loves her to the moon and back. His number one complaint since we moved is ” I want May bat!” which roughly translates into ” I want Mary Anne back, because I miss her sooo much!”

Anyway, where am I going with all this. Who knows. But here she is. In all her sunny and sweet glory…

I did not have to retouch her skin one little bit, it really is that perfect…

Ummm, yeah!

I am use to the honking horns, cat-calls, and whistles while doing shoots anywhere near traffic. But this session was defintely a record breaker with 7 horn honks and 2 cat-calls/whistles (not to mention the man who came up and said she was beautiful, as well as the other man who came up to Meredith and told her to keep bringin’ the energy. The joys of city shoots!). Now Mary Anne, please go change out of that dress before I have to beat some one up!

Mary Anne, you know I love you so! Thanks so much for being such a little (big) treasure in my life. I can’t wait to do your senior session, engagement session, maternity session, newborn session…

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That time we made the Gingerbread House

Posted on December 18, 2009

Gavin loves to make Adalay laugh. His latest routine is to spin he in her high chair while she cackles hysterically. When that wears out, he will jump up and down in front of her while saying “Chee-Haw, Chee-Haw”. I have no idea what that means but she thinks it is a riot…

Yesterday, while picking up some gift wrap at the store, I passed a cute box proclaiming itself to be a gingerbread house kit. What fun! I threw it in the cart with visions of baking gingerbread dancing through my head.
I was a little disappointed to open the box and find a pre-baked and assembled house (although the size of the box should have been enough of a clue that no baking was needed); all we had to do was apply the cement like frosting. No matter, Gavin loved mixing-up the frosting and watching me struggle to get the stuff to stick to the roof (that stuff dried fast!).

From naked to sugar coated in about 25 minutes…

Adalay watched for a bit before deciding she would rather nap.

adachair

I crack myself up…

How long will I keep laughing at that?

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Bought, Read, Heard, and Watched

Posted on December 17, 2009

I am hesitant to make this post. Because, well really who cares what I like? It seems a little presumptuous and vain for me to think anyone would want to read about things that I am interested in (outside of photography, because, I guess this is suppose to be a blog about photography. Ha!), but blogs when you think about it, are just a little bit vain (just a little). Also, when it comes down to it, it is my blog and I can post what I want, right? Right! So with that distorted disclaimer I am going to post some things may help you finish off your (almost) last-minute Christmas shopping.

You can click on any of the pictures to go straight to the product’s web page. I made shopping so easy for you!

A perfect gift for the Green or cheapskate momma. The thing that kept me from cloth diapering G was the initial start up cost. Cloth diapers are scary expensive when comparing them to a box of disposables (which of course, you know, cost more in the long run). Enter the Flip diapering system, I bought this as well as Econobum several weeks ago and so far they have worked great (no leaks), although I haven’t tried them at nights. The covers are awesome and I use them over all my fitted and prefold diapers. I am so glad that the maker of these diapers saw that parents were wanting a cloth diaper that was reusable as well as economical.

Saving the planet, one poopy diaper at a time, not your thing? Maybe you could just read about saving the world (weak tie-in, I know). A friend recommended The Hunger Games to me a couple months ago and I intended to eventually, maybe, if I ever had the time, read it. Finally, she set the book in my hands and said to read it. And I did. For about 6 hours straight. Then I slept several hours, woke up, and finished it. Yeah, my kind of book. Action, adventure, well-rounded characters, and a compelling and smart plot. Ummm, so, SO loved it. I got the audio version at the library for Dustin to listen to on his long commutes and he loved it, which is rare for anything I recommended to him. So if you have a reader on your Christmas list this may be one to try.

I was attempting to Christmas shop today and I heard a Christmas song that I had never heard before. And I liked it, I really, really, liked it. After escaping the madness of the mall, I googled the lyrics and found out the song was by Reliant K and called I Celebrate the Day. Low and behold there was a free download of it offered here. Ha, so you can give that to someone for Christmas and not spend a cent. What a deal.

Lastly we rented the new Star Trek and the animated movie Up (for Gavin of course), and yeah, Holy Smokes, both of these movies had me crying in the first ten movies. Hello?! I swear I am not a crier. I am pretty tough at least I was before kids. Now that I have kids I am much more empathetic and compassionate toward my fellow parents. Although before kids I was the perfect parent. Really, I was good.

Anyway, I digress…

Loved both of these movies. Up was so sweet and had much more of an emotional punch than most kids movies. Star Trek, I have always been a fan of the original series (I can admit that now that I am (somewhat) mature adult) and I loved that they are starting the franchise over with a new cast. Great story, well-cast, and directed by none other then J.J Abrams (creator of Lost and Cloverfield). I am looking forward to the next in the series.

So, I hope this did not bore you to death. And maybe, just maybe, it will help you get a gift for that person that is impossible to shop for (or you could try a gift card, those are always winners with me).

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Meredith: Bringin’ the Energy…

Posted on December 16, 2009

This session had been a LONG time in the making (I think our first date was set up in July). For various reasons it was always pushed forward to another day. So wouldn’t you know it, the day of the session I woke to rain. Drizzly, nasty, foggy, rain. Plus, I had a cold that made me talk like an alligator (if alligators could talk). I considered canceling but decided to just bump it back a couple hours, hope the weather clears, and go for it. The rain stopped the fog thickened, and the alligator stayed. It was perfect.

I had such a blast with these three ladies! I mean really, that was so much fun!

I am breaking the session down into three blog posts because there are too many images that I love. Plus, they each deserve there own post, right?!! Umm, yeah!

First up Meredith…

I love it when people crinkle their noses when they smile and laugh. If I see you are a nose-crinklier, you better believe it will be my mission to get it on film (or more likely, digital CF card).

So where did you get those glasses? So cute, and the lenses are AMAZING! It is almost like nothing is even there.

Meredith! I am sooo glad you came with us, it was great getting to know you better and I am so pleased that I was able to take your pictures!! Keep bringing the energy girl!

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A Family: And Baby makes three…

Posted on December 15, 2009

I was so glad to meet the much anticipated Baby Jordan, he did not fail in meeting all my expectations, too cute! I do believe he has a future in football or maybe a ninja…

A little mad, a little happy, and a little happier.

Lauren, the enamored Mommy…

Thomas, the proud Daddy…

Lauren and Thomas, I am so proud of you both and I do so love you guys! I wish you all the best with your new, sweet, boy. I can’t wait to see Jordan again (and get more pictures, of course)!

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I’ll be back…

Posted on December 11, 2009

We are out of town for a bit and I wanted to leave this sweet family with a sneak peek…

I’ll post more from their session as soon as we get back from Houston.

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A Family Session: Cool Hand Luke

Posted on December 10, 2009

We did Luke’s newborn session several months back and I was thrilled to hear from Courtney about doing another session with her sweet family. It was amazing seeing how much Luke has grown and changed in just 10 months, and it was especially wonderful seeing how smitten his parents are with him…

So after about 3 minutes of our session (which, by the way, is totally normal for his age. Any age in fact) Luke decided that he was SO unimpressed by me. He became Mr. cool, calm, and collected. The look he humored me with was half pity and half “are you kidding me”?

After that he made us work for every smile we could get

but we still got some…

We went to a nearby park for some just Luke shots…

Luke has a beautiful Momma.

Courtney and Ryan, thank you so much for inviting me into your home again. It is such a joy to watch you with Luke. I look forward to another chance to hang out with you all!

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