It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....

(sing it with me!)

Everywhere you go!

Take a look in the five and ten

glistening once again

With candy canes and silver lanes aglow.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Toys in ev'ry store

But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be

On your own front door.

We are a bit late this year, but we've finally got Christmas lights on the front porch!

And we went to a tree farm yesterday to pick out the perfect tree and have it cut for us. We had so much fun looking at all the different types and sizes and finally decided on this rather plump, but very tall tree.

Here she is all decked out!

And here are my oldest and youngest trying to outshine the Christmas tree!

Skunk tracks!!

We joke around that this place should be called "Skunk Island" for all the skunk we see here, both road kill and still roaming around.

There is one that lives under our trash shed beside our drive way. We've seen him twice as he's scurried back to safety when we drive up the hill to the house.

Bren now tells everyone ( I mean EVERYONE...waitresses, the pastor, her Sunday school teacher, any of Madison's friend's moms who come to pick up their daughters, the cashier at the store...absolutely everyone she meets!) that we have a "pet skunk that lives under our trash cans!"

Here is proof that he's out and about at night time!

We found lots of deer tracks too!

We woke up to what seemed to us to be a winter wonderland left behind by a blizzard....but to the locals, it was just a thin dusting that burned off by 10 am.

We had fun though!!! We explored the yard in our PJ's and winter coats looking for tracks and taking pictures of the winter magic!

Madison's friend Erin spent the night and though she was born here, was just as excited to explore as we were!

Bren has a new nick name!

Sassy Pants!!!!

It fits her so well, huh?!

These awesome sets came from the talented Brandi of Iced Couture!!

She's got lots of fabulous designs to choose from. Whether you are a "Haute Momma", a "Preschool Princess", or a if you are cute enough to wear a t-shirt that says, "Lock up your daughters", this site has something for you!

Perfect for those of you looking to put a little bling in your holiday shopping!!

And check out these blinged shoes! Have you ever seen anything so adorable!?

I've still got all of my shopping to do! How about you?

Get this kid an agent!!!

Check him out!!! I had so much fun spending time with this vivacious little boy! He just lit up the camera and really hammed it up toward the end. It was hard for me to choose a few to post here because there are so many cute shots!

Thanks Brandon and Zita for booking a session with me. I fully expect to see Brandon somewhere on the big screen one day!

Baby, it's cold outside!

I don't think there is anything quite as funny as seeing six southerners making a mad dash from the house to the van to go to church on Sunday morning when it is 21 degrees outside!

The van is just a few feet from the front door, but you would think we'd just walked 2 miles in a blizzard from the way we were bouncing up and down and rubbing our (un-gloved....ooops!) hands together once we got in the van!

We just sat there wriggling different parts of our bodies trying to generate enough heat to think clearly, way too cold to form words. I flipped the heat on to 90 degrees full blast and we sat there until the van warmed up. The teeth chattering gave way to comments of disbelief of our ability to handle the next three months!

From the still frigid back seat, Zach said, "Ok, so how are we going to get from the van into the church when we get there?!"

That comment said it all!

I guess for the next three months, our main concern is going to be how to get from warmth, through the frozen tundra and back to warmth again without getting frost bite!

Guess what we got last night?!!

Our first snow!!!
We only got about a quarter of and inch and it was gone by morning. Bren still made snow angels on the deck!

Michael found a leaf frozen solid in a piece of ice!

brrrrrrr!

We are expecting snow flurries for the next three days, but it's doubtful that any of it will result in enough to play in for long.

Christmas mini-sessions!

I thought I'd share a few from one of my recent Christmas mini-sessions.

Aren't these three kids just the cutest?

Little Cody wasn't in a smiling mood that day, but don't you just want to kiss his chubby cheeks?!

Fabo Holiday gifts ideas for your little girlies!!

How cute are these t-shirts from Bailee*n*Brooka*Buggs ?!!

This personalized Valentine (or anytime!) t-shirt would make a great gift for Christmas! hurry if you order now, you can get 10% off by using the coupon on her website!

Not in the mood for love quite yet? Check out this funky Rocker Chick T-shirt!!

Like the cobblers children have no shoes......

The photographers walls have no prints!

I do have four BIG black and whites in my foyer....one of each of my kids and then four other smaller photos on the adjoining walls, but that's it. I'm the worst at getting my own work printed! This week, I rearranged my living room so that it now has more useable wall space. We'll be having lots of family here in February for David's commissioning, so I thought it was time to jazz up the place!

When we moved into the fabulous old house, I did just the minimum to make it feel like home. I felt it was impractical to buy house specific things since we'll be moving so soon. This house has soooo much potential to be an incredibly charming, warm space, but I've put little effort into it. It's been all I can do to keep myself from painting the living room walls or buying rugs and window treatments to fit specific rooms.

I LOVE decorating, but for the past five years, it's just been silly to put so much effort into something that is so temporary. This is a big reason why I am looking forward to moving to Seattle and STAYING for at least three years! I'm going ot unleash my pent up creative energy all over whatever house we end up renting!

But, prints can go anywhere in any house right? SO, I decided it was time to surround myself with my favorite photos. We bought 12 frames months ago when they were on sale at Michaels, and I ordered photos to fill them all! I even ordered a really big 20x24 print of the picture that is now my blog header. I don't have a matt and frame for it yet, but I'm going to Michaels later today to see what it will run me.

I'm sooooo excited! The photos should be delivered today!!

I will take pictures of them on my walls when I get them all up!!

Nothing Gold Can Stay.....

Having a yard full of swirling leaves and almost naked trees, we had to drive all the way to Maryland to get some more of Fall!!

These were taken outside my mom's condo. Such glorious color! I was just in heaven photographically speaking!

Check out this HUGE leaf!!!

Michael earned big brownie points with Bren as he threw leaves up in the air to dance in the wind for her. He had as much fun as she did!

I was waiting for the perfect photo series to use one of my favorite poems:

Nothing Gold Can Stay

~Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

If you grew up in the 80's, you can't help but think of The Outsiders when you hear that poem. It was one of my favorites growing up! Go ahead, admit it!! Which one did you have a crush on??

Me?

I had an embarrasingly huge collage of Ralph Macchio all over my walls in middle school!

Not so much The Outsiders Ralph Macchio though....it was the Karate Kid that did it for me!

Go ahead, post YOUR movie star crush in my comments!