Christmas Eve Eve

Another Christmas Eve Eve has been successfully celebrated. This year's movie was Prancer. I still remember seeing it in the theater back when I was a little girl. Kinda different seeing it on this side of the parent/child relationship. The kids were crazy excited all day & once the air mattress was inflated this evening they were pretty much uncontainable in the excitement department. What makes me equally as happy is how excited Joel now gets about our little family tradition. I must also mention that Joel made some really, really good hot chocolate. His secret: a little butter & sugar mixed in. Now off to sleep & cinnamon rolls in the morning! Then Christmas Eve at Nana's, Christmas morning here, and finally Christmas day at Grandma & Grandpa's. Then what comes next....hmmmmm...my birthday! It's a 4 day celebration-a-thon.

Singing in Church

The kids sang in church this past Sunday. They sang Joy to the World & O Come Let Us Adore Him. Emily was so excited & kept asking me if it was time for her to go up & sing that morning. Here is a super cute picture of her in action. (Thanks Cheryl for sharing the picture!)

Gingerbread Cookie Houses

I won a cute house shaped cookie cutter at a Bunco night I went to last summer. I saved it to use to make gingerbread cookie houses with. I like the idea of making actual gingerbread houses, but they tend to be more fun in my mind than in reality, so I thought making a cookie version would involve less frustration & more fun. Add frosting & a variety of sprinkles to choose from and you've got some pretty yummy looking cookies! We had a good time just sitting around the kitchen table and having some creative, messy fun.

Here's a photo of us displaying the favorite cookie we each made.

And this is our token silly face photo. I think it's kinda funny that everyone but me stuck out their tongues.

Swing Lovers

Joel took a great photo of Katherine swinging the other day. It really captures how much that girl loves to swing. Which made me think back to how much all our kids have loved to swing, and still do. From the first time we put them in those baby swings they have loved it. Once they get bigger & can talk they request being swung as high as possible. All that to say it got me wanting to dig & find pictures of Emily & Jonathan when they were little swinging too. I hope you like them as much as I do.

Emily liked to just leave her arms tucked safely in the swing beside her. Even when I tried to show her how to hold on to the chains, she'd just put them right back where she wanted them to be.
Jonathan is my adventurer. He wanted to go fast & high. When the swing reached that point where it makes your stomach drop out a little he'd laugh & do cute stuff like this.
Katherine makes this cute sigh when she swings. It's like this happy little sound that she just can't contain because she's having so much fun it has to get out. She does it with her mouth wide open too. It's pretty cute to see in person.

Halloween

We got to go to two different Halloween festivities this year. One was a trunk or treat at Nana's church and the other was a carnival at Grandma's school. Both were very fun. We went the homemade, dig through our closets route this year for costumes. They turned out pretty cute!

Emily was a bride - her white sundress and sandals, mom's wedding veil, her great grandma's clip on earrings, and a homemade mini bouquet. Jon went as a soldier - camo pants, his baseball cap covered in camo print, homemade dog tags, and face paint. Kat went as a baby cheetah - because she had a cheetah print shirt

& I drew some whiskers on her face for added cuteness.I threw on a cowboy hat and some boots. Joel went as a nerd.

Fun times for all & plenty of candy!

Pumpkin Family

The last 2 years we've painted miniature pumpkins when fall rolls around. Each member of the family gets to paint theirs as they please. This year I tried to find size appropriate ones (Joel's is the biggest, Kat's the smallest). I think they turned out pretty cute. Kat even painted one...with help. We painted the palm of her hand & put her hand print on hers. Then they stay on our kitchen table until they get to yucky to keep there anymore. I think we'll keep this fun little tradition up in the years to come!

Birthday Baby

Katherine Joy is 1! It's so crazy that the year is already behind us. Because It's hard for me to believe that she is already 1 I've entitled this post 'Birthday Baby'. Despite the fact that she will soon be classified as a toddler, she is still my baby now, darn it!

Here are some photos from her birthday party over the weekend. She loved the attention and liked the cake...eventually. As you can see in the photo below the first bite was questionable. However, in the end the cake lost.

Katherine really is the meaning of her name. Katherine means 'pure' & with her middle name you have: Pure Joy. She's a very content & happy baby. Very quick to give a "full body smile." She gets so happy that her little arms and legs get excited too. She loves to laugh & recently has started doing things to make us laugh too.

Happy birthday, sweet Katherine. We love you tons & are so glad you are in our family!

The (Not so Distant) Return of the Backyard

We played out in the backyard the other evening for a little while after dinner. It's something I've really missed these last few months. Summer in Texas kind of puts a damper on outdoor activities that don't involve some sort of water. We only stayed out for a short while because it was still really stinkin' hot & the mosquitoes were feasting on us. But it was fun just to be together outdoors & simply play. It makes me really excited about the cooler weather coming & a break from those nasty insects. Come on Fall!

By the way, I love that we have all these great pictures to look back on. Not only of important events, but also the everyday stuff. It's pretty great being married to a photographer. I just wish he'd been in one of the pictures. I'll have to hijack the camera next time & give him a taste of what it's like to be on the other side of the lens too. ;-)

Hero Worship

Emily LOVES to play "teacher." She emulates her teachers from school on a daily basis. Often several times a day. Sometimes it feels like all day (you get the point). I asked her on the last day of school back in May if she was going to play teacher every day all summer or if we could do other things too. She said she didn't know, she'd think about it. We'll a little way into the summer she stopped. It was a nice break...because, without missing a beat she picked right back up where she left off on the first day of school. ;-)

Don't get me wrong. I don't totally despise this adoration of teachers played out. It just wears on a mom when it's done so very consistently. I'm a good mom...I even become part of her imaginary class several times a week.

The "Hero Worship" blog post title comes from something Joel wrote on the questionnaire her teacher had us fill out this year. He wrote something like "don't be surprised if Emily hero worships you." It made me laugh, so I borrowed it for this.

Here are some pictoral examples of Emily in action. This first one is her blowing her imaginary whistle to get the attention of her imaginary class. (There is not a real whistle in this photo because I value both my sanity and my hearing.) I do like how it accentuates her dimple.


This next one is her yelling at one of the children in her imaginary class who is not following directions. She looks very focused, doesn't she?


This brings us to the question of if there is anyone that Jonathan "hero worships." The answer is...yes, garbage men...not to the level that Emily is dedicated to perfecting her inner teacher, but he does think they are pretty stinking cool (no pun intended). We played outside this morning & stayed out long enough to watch them come by our house. Joel photographed him waving to the garbage man who very politely waved back.


One day I heard quite a racket in his room. I went to check on him & he informed me he was playing garbage man. He'd been grabbing & throwing his toys to one spot that was the garbage truck. He would then run over & grab onto his play easel like it was the back of the truck. He even threw his back leg out. I asked him why he was doing that & he told me it was like what the garbage men do. If you ever watch them in action they do usually leave one foot dangling off the back of the truck. He's a very observant little guy!

Last Day, First Day & Old MacDonalds

It's back-to-school time again. We (Joel & I) did WAY better this year - no tears!

In honor of the last day of summer break we filled up our little backyard pool the night before & let all 3 kids splash around together.

Then Emily woke up this morning super excited about heading off to 1st grade. She went right into her class ready to go! Here are some pics from this morning including one with her new teacher. We already really like this teacher a lot & are excited to see how the year progresses. A few highlights of the year for her already: she has her own desk and her own locker! It's the simple joys...

Then after school Joel wanted to take her somewhere to celebrate so we headed up to the local McDonalds (affectionately known by my kids as "Old McDonalds").

And, finally, just because it's too cute not to share: a picture of baby Kat. Gotta love those baby blues!

Little Photographer

A little while back Joel invited the 2 older kids to go out in the backyard & take pictures of our bamboo with him. Emily wanted to play inside instead, but Jon took him up on it. He excitedly grabbed his little camera and went outside. Joel snapped these pictures of him in action. I love them. He looks so stinkin' cute & very focused. Who knows, maybe we'll have another gifted photographer in the family in the future.

VBS 2010

We just finished up VBS today. The kids did great. This year was a nautical theme & they did an awesome job with decorations! Emily's favorite part was, as always, singing and dancing to the songs. If you look closely you can see her in the last photo below. Jonathan said his favorite part was playing. And Katherine got lots of love in the nursery by a very sweet lady named Mrs. Judy. I was an assistant to one of the teachers this year. It was a good time for all & we look forward to next year & a new fun VBS in 2011!

Swim Lessons 2010

We just wrapped up swim lessons for this summer. This was Emily's 2nd year & Jon's 1st. They both worked very hard and progressed a lot over the two weeks they had lessons. Emily started in the shallow end doing basics & ended with swimming to her teacher, Mrs. Mary, in the deep end and jumping off the diving board. Jonathan started with no real swim experience and ended with being able to kick, "reach & pull" with his arms, put his face under the water, and jump in. He also conquered his fears of floating on his back and going under the water. Here are some pics from their last day:


This is the kids in front of their swim charts. We made it to keep track of each lesson they successfully completed. Their reward is a trip to our local family water park next week. They've very much earned it & we are very proud of their hard work.

Trash the Dress

In the last decade or so there has been a new thing pop up in wedding/bridal photography. It's called a trash the dress session. Basically it's a photography shoot with the bride and sometimes bride & groom after the wedding. The whole point is to get some shots in places that you would never dare to before the wedding for fear of messing your dress up - thus, the "trash the dress" title. Some brides get really crazy & go roll in mud or throw paint on their dresses. That's not my style at all.

In honor of our 10 year anniversary I thought it would be fun to get my dress out of the box it had been in for a decade & let Joel photograph me in it. Big props go out to Candice who graciously did my makeup and hair. The pictures would not have looked even half as great without her help. She did such an awesome job! A big thanks to Nathanael too who came along to help out. And, of course, thanks to my hubby who did such a great job taking the pictures & telling me how to pose. It was a really, really fun experience. Here are a few of my favorite shots: