Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Gratitude....

I am thankful for 3 little faces to kiss each morning. I am thankful for chubby little toddler hands, for the opportunity to teach those hands how to hold a spoon, a crayon, play pat-a-cake. I am grateful for the sounds of my babies playing, and singing, and laughing. I am grateful to be home all day to cook, and clean, and kiss, and hug. I am grateful for dirty hands, feet and faces that have enjoyed the beautiful earth we have been given. I am grateful for bath water splashed everywhere in the bathroom, and the sudsy smiles that greet me. I am thankful for the memories I make everyday with these little souls who will only be little for an instant.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Family Pictures Fiasco

I love pictures of my family. Everyone scrubbed clean in new clothes, hair just perfect, pretty little smiles. I love fun pictures all over the house that remind us what a cute happy family we are. However, I don't always love the road that it takes to GET family pictures. Figuring out what everyone will wear, going to a million stores to find just the right outfits, doing the girls hair in a pretty soft hairdo and then stressing about them not ruining that pretty soft hair before the photographer even takes the first picture. In my life there is always a baby in the picture...which means an inevitable runny nose and lots of effort to get said baby to look reasonably happy and to stay in one place without crawling off (or walking off, or running off). There is always a grumpy toddler (and sometimes a grumpy husband!). There is always bribes of candy, fun, McDonalds, Saturday afternoon football (for Mr.Wonderful of course)...whatever it takes to get the joys of my life looking joyful at the same time. There is a litany of NO's on the drive over....no fits, no fights, no crying, no fussing, no whining. So I finally got all of my ducks in a row. The outfits, the hair, a fun new photographer. My bribes were in place, and my happy little campers came through in the end. The girls were great (ok, one pouty face picture from little Miss.Drama hardly counts right?). Mr.Wonderful came through wonderfully. Linc was our little bump in the road but we managed to get a few shots of him smiling whilst running away from the camera (what else would make a little boy so happy?). A big thanks to our awesome photographer Steve Watson who I highly recommend...a man with 4 children of his own and plenty of patience to deal with my crew. Also a huge thanks to my darling husband who puts up with my high-strung personality and perfectionism at picture time every year...he was a gem (and he even got to watch his Saturday afternoon football!). Enjoy the pics...there are more at stevewatson.smugmug.com.

Cute little stinker

Blondie being sweet

My favorite family pic...love the corn!!

The Princesses

Very Vintage

Isn't he handsome??

How did I get so lucky with those 3?

Anna is great at posing for the camera...

And last but not least...Miss.Drama decides to pout! But not to worry, with a promise of candy she snapped right out of it on the next shot (I am a shameless briber on picture day).

About Me

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Phoenix, Arizona
I am a stay at home mom of 4 beautiful, energetic children. Anna is 6, Hallie is 5, Linc is 3 and Port is our newest addition. Randy and I have been married for 8 years and love every minute that we get together.