Portraits

This past weekend, my talented husband, Ray, finally had a chance to take Luke's 4 year and Aiden's 1 year portraits for me. They turned out great! We attempted to also get one of all 3 kiddos, but that did not work out. :) I can't wait for some warmer weather so we can get some more photos outside! A few of my favorites:

My Cute Little Ones!

Well, I finally was brave enough to take all 3 of my kiddos to have their portraits done - it has been a while, and it always stresses me out when we do it. I also have not had any done with all 3 of them together. They turned out okay. Gummy Bear was not very cooperative - he would NOT smile! The older 2 were great though! Here are a few of the good ones (unedited).








P.S. We are headed to Michigan until mid-July! So excited about our trip!

My Smart Little Cookie

The first quarter of Kindergarten is officially over! Emmy got her first report card sent home today - she is doing beautifully! I am still amazed at how much she has learned over the past weeks. We read the book "Go Dog Go" a couple of weeks ago and she was able to read almost the entire book to me, all on her own. Yes, I have become one of those moms who brags about how great and advanced their child is - but- it was incredible! I am a proud mommy!

Also got her very first school picture....


Love this kid! :)

Christmas Cards Over the Years...

I love Christmas cards, in case you hadn't already figured that out based on my obsession this year for the perfect Christmas card photo. I have mailed out photo cards since Emmy was born. Here is a look back at the pictures I used to make those cards over the years....





Emmy's 1st Christmas, 2004.









2005 - my cutie in her Santa hat









Christmas 2006 - my Christmas card also served as Pooky's birth announcement. I love this one!




2007 - when they both cooperated for the camera perfectly!





And this year's card from 2008 - such big kids now!

My Sweet Pooky Bear!

So... I know I mentioned how difficult Pooky has been when I try to get a picture of him over the pasts few months. And how he freaked out at the portrait studio, and how every time he sees the camera he crosses his arms across his chest and yells, "NO!".

Well, Ray got a new camera for his birthday (thanks mom and dad, we LOVE it!), and it takes really, really, really good pictures. Amazing pictures.

Today while Emmy and I were shopping at Target, Ray was taking pictures of Pooky. He cooperated. And they were adorable. I am thrilled. Thanks, Raymie!

Of course I already ordered my Christmas cards, so y'all will have to deal with non-smiling Pooky on the cards.

But, look at this face.... Don't you just want to eat him up?! Adorable!












P.S. Happy 29th birthday, Ray. I love you!

Thanksgiving Weekend

This past 4 days has flown by - a whirlwind of cooking, eating, shopping, and decorating for Christmas. I can't believe it is already Sunday night.
We did have a great Thanksgiving, we enjoyed dinner at my parents' house, and I did go out shopping on Friday morning (but not too early!).
Thanksgiving Day was gorgeous weather, and we took the kids outside around my parents' house for some pictures - still trying to get that Christmas card shot! And even though I did not get that "perfect" Christmasy shot of both the kids, we did get several cute photos, and I think that I will end up using a few of them as a 3 photo collage for my cards.
We are ready for Christmas!

Happy Turkey Day!

Well, we went to have the pictures done tonight - after many hours of debating which shirt Emmy should wear (which I decided to go red, thank you for all of your help), making sure the the kids were both sparkly clean, combed, ironed, I had packed all clothing changes and accessories - we were ready. The place was packed, we had to wait forever. Finally, it is our turn. The kids looked adorable. Emmy was happy, she sat down just right, practicing her pretty smiles, and Pooky... freaked out. Screamed. Cried. Refused to go anywhere near the studio.
Needless to say, no pictures were taken today. I am soooo frustrated, because Pooky has been impossible to photograph over the last couple of months, and I am feeling desperate to get something decent for Christmas cards. I did reschedule for next week to try again but am feeling very doubtful that it will go any better. Ray is going to try and get some shots this weekend so hopefully I can at least get something for the fricken Christmas card that I am going to get no matter what it takes...

In the meantime, happy Turkey Day everyone! I am so thankful for all I have been blessed with.




Pooky's Thankgiving PJ's - his shirt reads "Who are you calling Turkey? which cracks me up..













My Emmy princess










mmmmm, pie....
(never mind my messy oven, with great pie comes great messes)


















Finally, Emmy made this at church last week. It is a hand turkey, and her Sunday School teacher asked her what she was thankful for, and Emmy said, "I am thankful for my doggie, Chocolate (her Webkinz dog), my Mommy and Daddy, and all of the trees."

All of the trees. I love that kid.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Important! I Need Your Opinion!

I have been meaning to have the kids' portraits done for a while now, since I never did Emmy's 4 year old portraits, and now Pooky is 2, he needs them done as well. Also, I need a photo for the Christmas cards - I usually use a photo I have taken, but Pooky aka Mr. Grumpypants refuses to let me get a decent shot.

So, I am taking them on Wednesday to have portraits done, and I will probably use those photos for the Christmas card. Cool beans.

Except - I realized that I had no coordinating clothes to put them in. They have very few "dressy" clothes anyway, and nothing that remotely looked good together. So, I went out shopping with the intention of finding a nice red sweater or jumper for Emmy to wear, and a button down shirt for Pooky. Got Pooky's shirt - but could not find anything for Emmy to wear. She does already have both a plain red shirt and a nice white sweater, but I am not sure if they will look okay with Pooky's shirt.... and I do realize that probably either one is fine, but I am feeling panicky and am not sure what to do. So, I am asking you. Which short looks better with Pooky's red plaid shirt? Red or white? Or neither one?? Vote to the right, I need your help to decide!! This is important!!














(DISCLAIMER - I still get to pick whatever I want, but I am curious to see what y'all think!)

Pooky's 18 Month Portraits

We had Pook's portraits taken this evening at my most favorite place, Portrait Innovations. I had told the photographer up front that I did not plan on buying a zillion pictures (like I normally do) so not to waste her time switching between 10 different backdrops and props like they normally do. So, she only took about 20 pictures, and of course they were all gorgeous, and I still ended up with a zillion pictures. A few favorites...

Announcing Bad Photo Day!

I was looking through our ginormous collection of pictures we have taken over the past several years, and realized a few things. One, I am a terrible photographer. I love taking pictures, and I occasionally get lucky with a good shot, but generally my pictures are bad. Two, we have a million bad pictures that I have taken over the years.
Sooooo..... I thought that it could be fun to post some of my very worst photos from over the years, at least those that didn't get deleted already. :) And all of you, my blogland friends (all 10 0f you), should do it too. I am making this Thursday "Bad Photo Thursday", to give y'all a few days to search through your photos for some bad shots - people making weird faces, blurry photos, poor lighting.... whatever you have. I just really want to see if anyone else is as bad at photography as I am. (and yes, I just said y'all).
Get your worst photos ready!

Black and White Morning

It was rainy and dreary this morning, so I decided to take some pictures of the kiddos. A few of my favorites....



































































I love this last one. I went out to grab the mail and came back to these 2 faces peering through the glass.

By the way, once the rained stopped, we had a beautiful afternoon, sunny with temperatures near 70 degrees.... I am loving this spring weather!

Pictures by Emmy

Emmy received a digital camera for Christmas from my parents. She loves it. The quality of the pictures sucks and there is a really long delay, but otherwise it is fine. Luckily, Emmy couldn't care less about either one. She just happily walks around snapping photos of whatever she sees. 90% of the photos she have taken are of the floors, walls, and furniture. And most of those are blurry. But, my kid is happy, and it is kinda amusing to see what she has taken pictures of.




Pook, with me in the background











The TV (looks like Daddy was watching football that day!)










Sideways Christmas tree












Say cheese Mommy!













And lots and lots of these kind of pictures.










P.S. Thank you everyone for your input on the TV button blocker thingy. I do think that we will get one, since Ray has given in. I will let you know how it works!

Our Vacation - Final Recap

I finally have a few minutes to share the details of our vacation to Michigan ~ here is the good, the bad, and the funny, in no particular order..

• Emmy got to ride Aunt Francy's horse, and she loved it!

• Emmy learned the correct usage of the word "fricken".

• Pook pinched his cousin Sophia the first day we were there - for the remainder of our vacation, all he had to do is look at her and she would start whimpering and saying "owie, owie!"

• It snowed - a lot. There was a little over a foot of snow on the ground when we left.

• So, Emmy had plenty of time outside playing in the snow with Sophia and Uncle Huns. They built snowmen, threw snowballs, and got pulled all around the yard in the sled.

• I did not go outside. It was cold. There is a reason I moved to the South.
  

• Emmy taught Sophia how to chase the cats around and scream "Boo!" at them.

• I got to meet up with friends from my old office - I truly enjoyed catching up with all of them.

• It took us 3 hours to open gifts Christmas morning. We actually had to take a break in the middle to eat breakfast.

• Emmy and Pook were spoiled rotten.

• Later that day, we had the extended family Christmas, and the rest of Ray's family finally got to meet Pook for the first time.
  

• Ray and his cousin Austin nearly broke his uncle's brand new 80-inch high def TV. Luckily, it wasn't really broken.
  

• I got to eat lunch at Olga's Kitchen. YUM, I miss that place.

• Did I mention it was very, very cold?

• I had to re-learn how to drive in blizzard conditions.

• I got to visit some great kids consignment shops, and found some awesome deals!

• I got sick from eating raw cookie dough.

• I am feeling a bit more open-minded about buying organic and healthy foods for my family after talking to my sister and brother-in-law, who eat a lot of vegetarian and organic foods.

• We saw an amazing Christmas production put on by a local church - it was incredibly moving, with an awesome choir.

• We went to Chuck E Cheese for the first time, with our friends Mike and Andrea and their boys - we had a fun time.

• Pooky came down with a fever and was miserable to about 24 hours - then he was fine.

Overall - a fantastic vacation! A few pictures:

Pooky Age 12 Months

We had Pook's 1 year portraits done today at Portrait Innovations, and as always, they turned out wonderful. A few of my favorites....











He is an incredible little guy. He still has no fear, climbing on everything, curious about all he sees. He had his 1 year check-up at the pediatrician last week, and he is in the 50% percentile for everything, weighing in at 22 lb 11 oz and measuring 30 inches long.
He is still happy, still sweet.... and such a handsome little man!