iPhone Photo Update

When my dad was in first or second grade he came down with the chicken pox on the first day of his Spring Break.

He recovered just in time to make it to school on their first day back after vacation.

I kind of feel like that's what happened to us this week. I've been sick, Andrew's been sick and even poor Caroline hasn't been 100%. Luckily Brian seems to have dodged the bullet.

I had thought we'd get so much done this week and we had some fun stuff planned, but I've barely made a dent in my to-do list.

I've tried to power through and I'm in the middle of a serious get rid of everything we don't need mission. Wish me luck. Our house is so dang full of stuff that it's going to drive me insane.

Now, on with the photos.



So this was a funny story - or not. It took a long, long time to clean that one up. And we didn't make any cinnamon rolls this Christmas.



Wrap, wrap, wrap.



Merry Christmas!



So we let Andrew watch parts of Elf and he loved it! I think this will be a new family tradition.



My new slippers from my sister.



Doing a little editing. I still have so much to do!



On the road to Houston to see family. This day marked Andrew's first trip to a public bathroom. And Brian took him because I was nursing the baby. Y'all, this might be the best ever reason to breastfeed.



And we made it back home. I love this view of Dallas.



This might be my favorite photo of the two of them yet. And Andrew asked me to take it!

I had a Blurb book made of all my Instagrams over the last three months and I'm in love. They made it so easy, linking straight to your Instagram account.

It's been so fun to look at these little glimpses into our daily happenings in print.

Happy and Healthy New Year to you all!

xoxo

Merry Christmas!

We've had a wonderful Christmas Eve; Santa came to our house a day early this year.

Last night we left him cookies and milk and read Andrew's Nativity storybook. He's so interested in baby Jesus sleeping in the hay.

This morning Santa brought the much hoped for tool box and a really nifty construction site with a remote controlled car.



He was so happy. I'm loving celebrating Christmas with Andrew this year. His joy and excitement are contagious. He kept saying, "this is so cool!" and then this afternoon he said, "Mama, I'm so glad Santa came." Me too, buddy.

Sweet Caroline has developed a great love for toys in the last week or two and she was super interested in a very hungry caterpillar that rattles and squeaks and scrunches. We'll have to hang on to that one.



We have another family Christmas celebration tomorrow and then Brian is off work and school for one whole week.

I'm so looking forward to spending some time at home together and tackling a few projects around the house.

Here's wishing you all a Merry, Merry Christmas!

My Two

Seriously? They're mine?

Oh, the love. My heart might just explode.



Y'all, these two.

This morning I was singing Andrew, Bandrew, Bo-Bandrew, Fe, Fi, Fo, Fandrew, Andrew and he just laughed and laughed.

"You silly Mama!"

Then he turned to me and said "You're my mama."

Yes, sweetie, I am, and I always will be.

Christmas Cookies

Ah, Christmastime. It totally snuck on me this year. I'm sure y'all are surprised that I don't have every gift wrapped and waiting under my beautifully decorated tree. But, unfortunately, no. I'm way, way behind. Once upon a time I was organized and on-time.

And then I had children.

At this point I think I'd pay someone to finish my shopping for me.

My biggest issue is that I've never bought a double stroller and taking both kiddos to the mall is so, so hard without one. So I've done quite a bit of shopping online. It's saved me, for sure.

I really need to start organizing and wrapping very soon though.

But today was chocolate chip cookie day!

I asked Andrew if he wanted to make cookies for his sweet MDO teachers and he couldn't wait to get started. He was so excited to get going that I came downstairs from changing Caroline and found him with a box of baking soda, a mixing bowl and a tube of red food coloring.

Y'all, that could have been such a disaster. But miraculously the food coloring was all contained in the bowl.



He loves to hold the mixer, but he accidentally pushed it up to the highest speed and it jumped around in the bowl a bit. I quickly turned it back down and he looked at me so seriously and said, "that was kinda scary."







These cookies were made with love, if not a huge amount of hygiene.



Caroline got to supervise for us.



It sure looks like I've been letting her snack on chocolate chip cookies, but I can assure you that's all milk.

I'm planning to do sprinkle cookies for Santa with Andrew on Christmas Eve. I'm so excited about it! He's been talking about leaving Santa cookies all month and I want him to get to help make them.

I'm not much of a baker throughout the year, but there's just something special about making treats on Christmas.

What's your favorite Christmas baking treat?

Chilly Days

It's been chilly and wintry here this week. I love it!

You northerners are going to laugh though because our Texas chilly is 45 degrees and looks a lot like your fall. :)



I'm having a hard time finding time to do much shooting these days. My two little ones keep me so, so busy, but a couple times this week I grabbed my camera on our way out the door.

Our trees are so pretty right now, and their colors really popped against our gray, cold skies.

Andrew thinks it's really funny when I jump out of the car with my camera to take pictures of trees.





He asked me to roll down the window so he could see them too.



{Yes, that's baby spit-up on my boots. Why do you ask?}







This chilly weather is helping me get it in gear for Christmas. I'm almost finished decorating and my Christmas cards are almost ready. But don't even ask me about my shopping...it makes me kind of panicky to think about how much I have left to do.

Wide Angle Andrew

I rented a wonderful, wonderful lens last week - the Canon 35mm f/1.4L.

I was planning to do a Christmas card photo session with my family and thought it would be nice to have a wider option than my 50mm. I also had a newborn shoot coming up so I decided to rent it for 10 days.

And they were 10 very happy days.





That sky! Those colors! These are pretty close to SOOC. I was able to get a lot more of his surroundings in this shot than I would have with my 50mm.



I think my regular web sharpening was actually a little too sharp on these because they were already so crisp.









Oh my, the eyes.

It was a sad, sad day when I dropped it back off at FedEx.

*sniff, sniff*

I have included the lens on my Christmas wishlist which I've shared with Brian. And he's a wonderful, amazing, generous man so I'm hopeful. :)

Memories Dreams and Reflections

Did y'all see Ashley's Memories Dreams and Reflections list for 2011?

I'm totally going to participate. I just love the idea of having all these photos together to look back on in years to come.

Here's the list of photos to find in your archives from 2011:

1. Me! - picture of yourself (you don't have to show your face). What are you most proud of accomplishing in 2011?
2. I Love You - picture of your husband, boyfriend, children, pets, etc.
3. Still Laughing... - a moment you're still laughing about now...tell us a story.
4. Winter Wonderland - a picture that reflects Winter.
5. Birthday - share a birthday picture (your own or someone you love).
6. Friends - a picture with friends (this could be your friends or your children with their friends).
7. I Was Inspired... - could be a picture of your inspiration (person or thing), or inspired by...
8. Spring Fever - a picture that reflects Spring.
9. Travel or Vacation - a picture taken on vacation or on a recent travel experience...even if it was only a few miles away.
10. Summer Days - a picture that reflects Summer.
11. A Day In My Life - a picture of a typical day in your life.
12. All Smiles - a picture that makes you smile or of smiling faces.
13. Autumn Harvest - a picture that reflects Autumn/Fall.
14. Family or Home - a picture of your family or a picture that represents family/home for you.
15. Celebrate! - a picture that reflects a celebration.
16. Let's Do It Again... - a picture of something you'd like to do again soon.
17. I Miss You - a picture of someone or something you really miss.
18. Beautiful - a picture of someone or something you find beautiful.
19. Dress Up - this might be a picture from Halloween or not...but someone who is all dressed up!
20. Macro - share your favorite macro or close-up image.
21. Holidays - a picture from the Holiday of your choice.
22. My Favorite - share your favorite picture or memory from 2011.
23. Don't Ever Change - something you love about yourself, someone, or something that you never want to change.
24. Just Because...So There! - share any picture(s) that you really want to share, but doesn't fit in any other category.
25. Hopes and Dreams - share what you hope to come or dream for 2012. Feel free to share an image of your choice.

And I'll have my post with my 2011 pictures up in the New Year. I think I better get started now!

I'm pretty sure this will be my I Love You picture:



Happy Saturday, y'all!