A Very Merry Christmas...{My LIfe}

...was had by all.

The last week is pretty much a blur. We spent about 12 hours in one day baking & making all different kinds of little candies. I ♥ all the kitchen time, especailly when my girls are able to help & Fum-Fum (my girls' affectionate name for Grandma) gets to come hang out with us.

...the girls were very good taste testers, here they are sampling the Peppermint Marshmellows...

...finally getting around to getting frosting on the cookies, we had 2 different kinds of frosting, because my nephew is allergic to milk. We did a buttercreame for some & a glaze for the others...

We did things a little different on Christmas Eve, and took a little driving tour to deliver gifts to my husbands family. Making a couple of stops, then looking at a few light displays. Our plans of driving around looking at lots of lights had to change slightly, the little town we were visiting didn't have any power.

It was the worst Christmas eve dinner I can remember having, the past 3 years we've held some sort of event at our home, where I made a huge dinner (thanks to Granny for teaching me how to cook for an army). The first year, my father-in-laws pump house caught fire in the middle of dinner (OPPS), the following year my mashed potatoes ran over in the oven & those caught fire. Glad we're past that, but BLT's for dinner on Christmas Eve, just seems wrong!

We definately made up for it on Christmas day though. We along with most of my family joined together at my sister's mother-in-laws home. It was a great day. LOTS of food. Turkey, Ham & lots of fixins...desserts.

It was little Grace's first Christmas, and I think she enjoyed herself. Although she didn't want anything to do with unwrapping gifts, she really liked playing with her sisters new gifts. It was a different experience than Anna's first Christmas for sure...she was still just sitting/crawling. Grace was pretty much into everything!

...The girls enjoying their quiet Christmas morning, gift opening was followed by homemade fresh blueberry pancakes, with sausage & eggs....

...Grace showing off her new boots...

I hope that you all had a great Christmas as well. Shared with family, friends & lots of love. ♥

My last official session of the year...{Family Session}

was this past Saturday (and this post is a bit late, I've been incredibly busy with Christmas preparations).

I got the opportunity to photograph our Pastor & his beautiful family, while their boys are home from college for the Christmas holiday.

Thank you for a great session the rest of your images have been posted.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.

It's beginning...{My Life}

...to look a lot like Christmas.

Things have been incredibly busy, but I've managed to take a few photos, just of my kids being kids. I did have a session today, I will post their sneak peak later, after we have a little family time today.

...first snow at our favorite home ever...

Although we hardly ever have a White Christmas, it did snow last week, of course, not much & it didn't last long. It was snow none the less though, and Anna was excited to get out and make a snowman, except it was so cold & dry, the snow wouldn't stick together.

...the little snow monster (before Mom-o-the-Year realized the hat was on backwards haha)...

Anna really likes to go visit Grace in her crib when she wakes up, usually from her nap, because Grace gets up first. I think the real reason for the visit is to teach her all the things she shouldn't really do, but are so much fun. Like jumping on the bed...

...the little monkeys jumping...

...taking a break to give mom a sweet, innocent look...

She doesn't spend all her time being onrey & teaching her sister the things she shouldn't do...sometimes she's even nice to her little sis.

...Oh how time flies, they are getting so big...

Speaking of time flying...in about 3 months Baby Brody will be making his debut! I can't believe how quickly it is going, better start shopping for the little guy.

...the countdown is on, only about 13 weeks left...

We've spent lots of time the past couple of weeks packing my husbands grammas belongings & getting her ready to move. We've spent the last couple of years helping care for her, she lives on her own, but her eyesight is declining & needs more assistance than we can give. So this morning, he drove her down to meet his aunt where she will be living. Not everyone made it to her last night up here, but we took a photo anyways.

...Me, Grace, The Hubs, Mother in Law, Anna, Gramma, Sister in Law, Nephew...

♥♥Sending lots of Christmas love & wishes for hope, joy & peace to all of your families. ♥♥

Trees, projects and cupcakes, oh my! {My Life}

It can only mean one thing.....the Christmas season is here & in full swing!

Beyond getting photo orders in & cards designed for my wonderful clients, I've been busy at home as well.

We attended the Holiday Parade the Saturday after Thanksgiving to officially kick off our Christmas season. The following day we picked out our tree, although we didn't get to put it up for a couple of days because our stand was too small for the large crooked tree (which didn't look so crooked when we got it).

...our big beautiful, crooked, tree...

The girls helped decorate & Grace attempted to eat all the shiny or sparkley balls (shatterproof, bought on sale last year at 75% off, who could resisit). Anna, the girl who only wants a big horsey for Christmas, got to put the first ornament on, & she chose none-other than her green Lil' Pony.

...the little PeeWee enjoying getting into lots & lots of stuff, the Bug putting on her ornament...

...the trees first ornament, 1 of Anna's favorite things...

We started a family tradition last year to give homemade gifts. This year we've expanded on it & have several projects in order, complete with an organizational binder full with instructions & recipes that we will be using to help us on our "Homemade Famliy Christmas". Anna is very helpful when it comes to projects, also a bit bossy...but what 2 1/2 year old isn't!?!

...working on a project with Momma, of course, still must pose....

We've been watching Christmas movies & reading Christmas stories. The movie we must watch at least once per day, according to Anna, is Annabelle's Wish if you haven't seen it before, I highly reccommend it. It's a cartoon, full of the Christmas spirit & the gift of giving.

...all ready to head to the Chirstmas Parade, first time wearing barrettes...

We made some Gingerbread Cupcakes (in the recent Taste of Home Healthy Cooking magazine) , the recipe just calls for some low-fat whipped topping to frost them, but I had some extra cream cheese & ♥ cream cheese frosting, so I whipped up a small batch & topped them with that instead. They turned out really yummy, despite only having 2/3 the required amount of molasses. Of course Anna only wants to lick the frosting off & eat the cute little snowmen (which she either calls: snowwhites or frosty's).

...the yummy Gingerbread Cupcakes...

Alliance Properties {Professional Business Session}

Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of photographing, Jasmine, from Alliance Properties. She is getting her business up and running & needed some professional headshots to use on her webpage and other advertising.

Thank you for another great session. Your images will be ready soon.