highs and lows of 2013

At the start of 2013 I was feeling kind of .....bummed. The past couple of years had been filled with life changing events, getting married, first pregnancy and birth, new house, mission trip to Uganda, another baby! It was the greatest years of my life. And looking at the upcoming year of 2013 I realized it looked like it was going to be a slow non eventful year. I was sad.
Gosh am I silly! Here is my list of highs an lows of the past year:
LOWS:
-My husband lost his job
-My babysitting kids families moved and/or were without work so they didn't/couldn't use me to watch their kids.
-Health scare with lil Stella
Highs
-My husband found his dream job and is happier then I have ever seen him!
-Since it was just my kids and I we got to spend lots of quality time that I will cherish forever! Lots of great memories.
-After lots of testing and my baby getting poked over and over everything came back normal and the doctor diagnosed her with just being a smaller healthy person.
-My photography has been exploding!  Lots of new exciting opportunities came my way. I feel like I have a grip on my style and where I want things to continue.
-met amazing people and friendships grew stronger. I feel so blessed for all the wonderful people God is putting in my life.
- started babysitting again at the start of the school year and my heart grew bigger to fit more adorable sweet babies
-we remodeled our kitchen and it's beautiful!!
-Julia started a new soccer team and she has made some great friends that I know will last a long time! I feel like it has helped her channel her anger and we have been spending a lot less time arguing.
-I fell more crazy deeply in love with my husband

looking back 3013 was a great year! Maybe nothing that happened was huge or life changing (besides the amazing job for my hubby) it was exactly the kind of year my family needed.


Now to share with you about my hopes and goals for 2014!!!
- Disney world! We have been promising the girls for so long but this is for real happening!!
- more work on the house. Bathrooms!!
-new camera! You have no idea how excited I am!!!
-more personal photography projects and charity work.
- get out of my comfort zone and do some model work!
-weekend getaway with my husband
-renew our vows for our 5 year anniversary
-enroll Julia into a better school.  She deserves the best and works so hard for it.
-expand our family!!!!!!!!!

I have no doubt that 2014 is going to be a great exciting year filled with love, happiness and lots of memories!
HAPPY New Year!

top family pictures of 2013

It's so crazy how fast this past year went!

I can not believe it's time to reveal my top pictures from 2013!

 I wanted to try to post just 10 pictures but I can't my kids are just so darn cute!!

these aren't in any real order because that would be even harder to pick my most favorite!

first up is my header picture for this blog.

I saw this idea on pinterest but I tweaked it to fit my girls.

 

Second:

I may or may not have signed Miss Belle up for Ballet just to get these pictures.

She did seem to enjoy it but after a month of lessons, not really learning much because she wanted to goof off and do her own thing and getting the bill we decided to hold off on any more classes for now. but my pictures are forever :)

 3rd: I just am in love with the over grown weeds and sunlight. two seconds later Stella started screaming because mommy sat her on hard grass and a ton of tiny nat like bugs were surrounding her! hey sometimes my kids have to suffer so I can get my shot. :)

 4th: same day as the above shot, same yard and same bug problem but again totally worth it! this is by far my favorite picture ever of my Miss Belle!

five: a while ago our dog Jerky ran away. my husband was very upset driving all around town looking for him. he said "We have to find him, he might be the only brother the girls will ever have!" gosh we do love our Beef Jerky! and the next morning we made a trip to the SPCA and he was sitting there waiting on us. Thank goodness!

 6: just a little day of makeup and dress up led to a little photo shoot and my favorite picture of me and my girls.

 7: I wanted to take this vintage bus home so bad!

 8: last minute walk to the playground in our pjs. why not?!

 8: she's growing up so fast and so beautiful!

 9: Belle's obsession with Dumbo inspired her circus theme birthday pictures.

 10: seriously the lighting is perfect!

 11:our Christmas card picture

 twelve: caught her sneaking a taste of the icing!

 13: I love this man so much!

There you have it! my top favorite pictures of 2013! hope you enjoyed. what was your favorite picture of you family from the past year?

The Christmas Story

I have shared this in the past but it's just tooooooooooo cute not to share again!

 

We got lots

of memories to make in the next couple of days so things might be a little quite here...

I will be back so enjoy your time with your family!

Merry Christmas!!!

Cookie party

My mom wanted to start a new tradition and have a cookie making party.

We all brought something to make and decorate with.

put on some Christmas music and unplugged the smoke detector. (it goes off every time we cook at mom's house!) not safe but we did have an Army fire fighter on hand if anything was to happen.

The kids loved it and I think they secretly ate more cookies then they were supposed to!

o-well good memories and time spent with loved ones

THAT'S WHAT CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT!

here's a short slide show....enjoy!

 

Make your own free picture slideshow

Do you see what I see?

I really try to keep Jesus in every holiday activity we do. I want my kids to fully understand that Christmas is about Jesus. It melts my heart to see lil Stella walking around with my Nativity figuring of baby Jesus and she hugs him and kisses him. Belle is always reminding me about Jesus birthday and how he wants to give us presents! Julia is doing things every day to help someone else. she's worked during her recess to help the lunch ladies clean up, buying a rose for a random person at the grocery store, visiting the nursing home and passing out candy to our neighbors. My girls have hearts of gold and I am so proud of them!
One of the things we did last year was to make a short video called the little drummer girl
This year we added new kids to our group and so we needed a good song that could include them. So we did the song "do you hear what I hear?"
The kids had a blast creating thier costumes, picking out thier parts and acting out the different scences.
I don't think there is anything better than watching children reenact the nativity story!

Tori

warning!

picture overload going to happen on this post!
I just give up, I can not possible even pick a favorite picture from this season so you going to just have to see all my favorites! 

Tori is gorgeous! and I had a blast with her she had so many ideas and was so brave to willing to do anything I asked to get some amazing shots!!!

seriously love these!