bond

it is the most amazing feeling watching my daughters bond and become best friends.

it's my absolute favorite part of being their mother.

knowing they will always have each other

to love

confide in

share

trust

support

and of course borrow clothes from.

& yes I know things will not always be rosey.

I mean one day there will be 4 teenage girls under one roof!

that's why these pictures were a must have 

my girls loving on their real baby Hazel.

 

 and then we can't forget their brother...............

where would we be without our guard dog?

our christmas card

a favorite Christmas tradition my family LOVES to do is our annual Christmas card picture.

OK well maybe my family doesn't LOVE it

 but I sure do!

 I think they just go along because they know how much I LOVE  it!

I start thinking of the concept months in advance.

it's always a little bit of a silly pose.

here are the past years:

2010

 Miss Belle was just 4 months old!

 

then we did this take on a silent night in 2011

then we welcomed Stella in 2012

 I was so excited Brian agreed to wear the Santa suit last year

and then again this year!

now I have to start brainstorming for next year's Christmas card,

it's never too early :)

home school preschool senses week

we learned all about our 5 senses this week

I found really old Jimny Cricket videos that really do a great way of explaining our senses

each day we tackled one 

(but we ran out of time for hearing, sorry ears)

Tuesday we did touch

I blind folded her and had her hold her hand out to touch a textured object.

she had to describe it to me and then we glued it a picture of my hand.

in this picture she is tracing the letters, that was not part of the assignment but she is really excited to be able to write actual letters and words. 

so any chance she gets she does this.

 The next day we talked about sight

then we made a chart of colors and she had to play I spy and find a toy for each color.

Smell was next

for this day I found this recipe for a pumpkin scented play doh.

this was fun but it crumbles easily and I didn't want to sweep my floor twice as much as I do already so after she lost interest I snuck it in the garbage. shhhh!

 since the smell and taste were combined in the Jimny Cricket video we didn't watch one on friday.

we made a chart of the different taste and tried a little treat from each group. she had to describe the taste and then color if she liked it or disliked it. of course she hated everyone EXCEPT sweet!

In her workbook we moved on the letters Dd and Ee 

and practiced a lot of matching and sorting like animals and their home, objects and what room in the house they belong and what clothes you wear during different weather conditions.

it was a fun week. and she knew most of this information already but to really focus on each senses (except hearing) I think was fun for her.

If sometime this weekend (doubtful) we find some extra time I will find a game to go over hearing because now I feel guilty we didn't cover it.

apples

If you have kids then you know the first question they ask after walking into the door from school is

"Can I have a snack?"

why are they always hungry?

when it comes to food and drinks I am pretty strict with my kids and babysitting kids.

we drink lots of water and the fruit basket is always full of apples or oranges and they can have free range of whatever is in there.

but the rest of the kitchen is off limits unless told otherwise.

I like to think it's my way of ensuring they eat healthy but really it's also because it saves us LOTS of money!

these kids would eat and drink everything in a matter of minutes if I let them.

last week I bought a new bag of apples to fill up the fruit basket.

the very next day all the kids were complaining that every single apple had soft spots on them.

ughh!

they wouldn't eat them and I just bought them

so I had to figure out something to do with them besides throwing them all away.

pinterest to the rescue!

I found this idea here

 it's super easy! after you prep you bake for an hour.

now my oven is in need of a deep cleaning so no pictures of it but here is a picture of a ceramic oven I made back in high school.

I have kept it for so long because I think it's just so cute and I am proud of it :)

the kids LOVED it even though all the brown sugar makes it less of a healthy snack but it's better then tossing them. and my house smelled so yummy for a while.

follow my pinterest boards here!

I was going to quit photography

 

I had been a photography lover since I was a kid and whenever I had a few bucks I would buy a disposable camera.

I would covet those 24 images and only hit the shutter button when I knew it was a picture worth taking. 

when we would go to the grocery store I would always sneak off to the developed film boxes (remember those?)

now I am not sure if I broke any laws and admitting this will probably make me look like a crazy person 

but

I used to look through the other envelopes other people had developed.

I just wanted to see what everyone else was taking pictures of.

what was their eye seeing ?

what things did they want to remember?

luckily my innocent eyes never saw anything I shouldn't have seen.....eeek nude pics

and luckily now I have pinterest and facebook to do my weird picture snooping obsession :)

I took a photography class in high school 

worked at sears portrait studio for a few years

and then begged my husband one year to get me a big fancy camera

he did

and I was so excited!

but I had no idea how to use it.

I read tons of books and websites

watched thousands of youtube videos 

took a few classes in college and on the internet

but mainly the best way for me to learn was by just doing it.

trial and error.

I practiced and practiced

and I loved every minute of it

I felt like it was my thing and I wanted to soak everything in

I look back on some of those beginning photos and I can't help but laugh at myself.

for example:

 

This was Miss Belle 4 years ago

I had this brilliant idea to put turkey feathers on her bare bottom to make her look like a turkey for her first thanksgiving.

I was so excited about how this picture turned out.

but now after all that I have learned this picture is ummm well bad.

the selective color is really cheesy

my poor baby is not posed in any flattering or comfortable way

the backdrop has a huge gap showing the floor

the crop is cutting off Belle's head for no reason

BUT I still really thought the idea was brilliant

so I wanted to try to recreate it using Hazel and all the things I learned over the years:

 now I am not saying this picture is perfect but I am much more happier with this one than the old one.  Photography has really helped me in so many ways. it has been a huge part of who I am. it's amazing to me to see my older work and my newer stuff and how far I have come. it is a confidence booster and I needed that because

I stated a while ago that I was taking the end of the year off from my photography business.

 but what I didn't share was the fact that I was feeling so burnt out and tired that I wasn't sure if I even wanted to start it back up.

I never wanted my photography to feel like a job or talk myself into doing a session

it was nothing someone did or said

 it was just me missing the fun I used to have.

there was a lot of factors that just made me feel down about it

then

I see all my photographer friends posting all their new pictures and it does make me miss it.

 I have had a lot of distractions with the new baby and lots of family time.

I have gotten to do a few personal projects and started brain storming new ideas for future projects.

I want to stretch myself and do more art work along with the normal family, baby, senior sessions.

I want to do more charity work

and  really see things grow and reach the stars I have been nervous and doubtful I would ever reach.

I have been so blessed with such great support from each and every one of my photography clients and jobs. I am excited to get back into the groove at the start of the new year. I have some big changes coming. 

I am going to take this time off to spend time with my family but also really reflect and work on myself and grow my photography skills and plans. 

I just wanted to share with all my photography friends and clients, that I miss you and I am coming back!!!!!!!!!!!!