Christmas Photos

I have often lamented that it is much easier to take pictures of other people's children than my own, and that is certainly never more true than at this time of year. Even with a little help from Rob to try and wrangle the boys into sitting still and looking at the camera (both at the same time, no less!) it is nearly impossible. I've had a couple of sessions with them recently in an effort to capture the perfect image, and I think I've come as close as I'm going to get. I've given up hope of the "perfect image" and settled on one that is "pretty good". I committed to a design and image today and sent it to my printer, so there's no going back now. I thought I would share a few outtakes just so you can appreciate the one I chose when it arrives in the mail.

So cute - if only his brother wasn't hiding behind the tree.

Again, adorable - if only his brother wasn't around the corner climbing the stairs.

Letter to Santa

This morning Casey & I worked on his letter to Santa. He colored a picture for Santa, and then dictated to me what he wanted to write. He asked for a Spiderman, a train table, and in a very sweet gesture, something for his brother. We folded them up and put them in an envelope, and his letter is in the mailbox waiting for our postman to take his letter to Santa. If you'd like to write jolly old St. Nick a letter, you can send it to:

Santa Claus

P.O. Box 1

Santa Claus, IN 47579

Make sure the return address is clear and legible, as Santa will write back!

Post-Thanksgiving Post

I do love Thanksgiving - it's my favorite meal of the year. But, whew! After all the shopping and cooking and cleaning and eating, I'm a little glad Thanksgiving is over for another year. The four of us had a nice quiet meal together on Thursday, and we all wore our best PJ's to the occasion (Hey - don't judge! I was too busy cooking & watching 2 kids to get dressed!). By some small miracle Rob's pager didn't go off during our dinner, and he actually managed to spend the majority of the day at home.

I stuffed our bad boy with a bunch of citrus and fresh herbs and rubbed sage butter under his skin, and man, it was good! And I tried the Barefoot Contessa's recipe for a Pumpkin-Banana Mousse Tart, and it turned out even better than I expected - kinda' zingy for a pumpkin-pie dessert. I wish I had taken some photos of the boys enjoying everything, but I was too busy stuffing my face to pick up the camera. I think Casey & I are going to tackle putting up the tree today - we have to strategically place it somewhere in the house where Connor will not try to climb it.

Fashion Fantasy

I'm pretty excited about the new season of Project Runway premiering tonight on Bravo, and to celebrate I'm playing the Project Runway Fantasy game on www.fafarazzi.com. You pick three designers each week, and receive points based on their performances (6 points for winning a challenge, 3 points for crying, 2 points if Tim Gunn has to tell them "Make it work"). I love this show because, as someone who sews strictly by following a pattern, I can appreciate the talent it takes to create something out of thin air. Plus, I love all the bizarre backstage drama that takes place when you toss 15 crazy creative people into a small space and make them compete!

Walk Tall

What's up with the strange furniture configuration in my kitchen? Has some random poltergeist invaded our home and moved things around? Uh-uh. Are we going for some sort of new Feng Shue arrangement? Nope. See that fuzzy little guy in the corner of the photo? That's Connor, and he's been walking tall for a few weeks now and wreaking havoc ever since. He climbs from the chairs onto the kitchen table. He scales the couch and the coffee table. Just this morning he realized he was tall enough to reach door handles and opened the kitchen pantry and began to climb the shelves inside ("If I want those animal crackers, I'll just have to get them myself, damn it!"). We thought Casey was an active toddler - my Mom once likened spending the afternoon with him to trying to care for a spider monkey - but he can't hold a candle to Numero Dos. I can't believe that when we brought him home from the hospital I thought he would be my "laid-back" child. I guess there's always hope that the new baby will be the one to play quietly in the corner and take no interest in pulling out electrical plugs or digging in the garbage can (both current faves of Connor). In the meantime, I guess we'll just continue to try and lock this place down like Ft. Knox and keep saying prayers that our future holds a little less activity and no trips to the ER.

Quick Business Note

For anyone who has found themselves here from the link on my website and are considering a photo session for Christmas cards or gifts, keep in mind that the holidays are rapidly approaching! The USPS deadline for cards is December 20, which means that my deadline for card orders will be December 10. I have lots of great ideas for photo cards, so contact me soon to schedule your session!

Label Me

My brain is already working in a bit of a Christmas overdrive (how can I help it - Lowe's had Christmas trees on display in September!!) and I'm elbow deep in a few projects for Christmas gifts. Now I can't stop obsessing about ordering some of these cute personalized labels to sew into all my handmade gifts. I'm also lusting after this site's personalized wrapping paper and ribbons, but am still in enough control of my sanity to not pay $25 for a single roll of wrapping paper that will only find it's way into the bottom of a trash bag come Christmas morning.

Tricks & Treats

Halloween 2007 was a raging success, and we have a pumpkin jar full of candy to prove it! Our brave knight and cookie-inhaling dragon had a great time at their first Halloween block party in our new neighborhood, so check out the photos here of last night and Casey's preschool Halloween party to see all the fun.

Sir No-Pants-Alot

A sneak-peak at Casey's chosen Halloween costume. I'd say a half-naked knight is a step up from a fully-naked boy, wouldn't you?

And here's another sneak-peak, this time at Alderman Baby #3. Just like it's older brothers this baby was very active during the ultrasound, and we even caught a glimpse of the baby sucking it's thumb (this scan is actually a profile shot of the baby and the blur just above the face is it's little hand). And since I just finished an interesting article about birth order, I don't want to leave Connor out, so here's a shot of him enjoying the pumpkins on Mom & Dad's porch last week during our visit to Alabama.

Best Friends

We said goodbye this morning to our good friends Amy & Abby who came to visit from Nashville. The Hills used to live across the street from us in Louisville, and Casey & Abby were best friends who played together almost every day before we all moved. It's been a little while since we've been able to visit with them and I was a little worried about how they'd get along. My fears were put to rest within 5 minutes of their arrival as the best friends picked right up where they left off and spent two solid days laughing, playing, running, and just generally enjoying each other's company (and us Mom's enjoyed having a little "adult time" too!). Many tears were shed as they pulled out of the driveway, and Casey just said to me, "I'm so, so sad my best friend left me."

Boooooo!!!

I finally had a chance to watch the season finale of "Top Chef" and I am so bummed that my girl Casey didn't walk away with the big prize. And to make matters worse, they chose Hung as Top Chef, whom I detest. Besides being completely obnoxious, apparently Hung is best friends with the equally obnoxious Marcell from Season 2. Boooooo!!!! Booo to you Top Chef judges. So the elevation got to Casey in the last challenge - isn't the fact that she kicked ass and took names all season enough to win the whole thing? If I ever make it to Dallas you can bet the first thing I do is get a table at Shinsei, where she is executive chef.

The Hodge-Podge Post

It's a rainy, overcast day here in Indy and although it looks like fall, and although it feels like fall is almost here, we're supposed to have a high of 78 today and they're saying we'll be pushing 90 by the weekend. So in the spirit of the randomness of the weather this time of year, I have a slightly random post today.

Pictured above is the sad remains of my tomato plants from this summer. They had to come out of the ground to make way for the new landscaping, and I felt it was really too late in the season to attempt to replant them in containers. There were several fairly large almost ripe ones left on the vines, but before I could get to them the landscape guys had made off with them. I had no idea I had to keep such a careful eye on produce while workmen were at the house, but you learn something new all the time. Anyway, the landscaping looks great and we're very pleased with it and the accompanying irrigation system (I need to take some better pics, this one doesn't really do the yard justice).

I celebrated my 32nd birthday over the weekend, and I keep having an internal discussion in my head about that number. It just doesn't seem right. 32? Really? Are you sure? OK, well, if you're sure. I received some really lovely gifts - these beautiful flowers from the boys, this awesome coffee mug from Christa, a great slow-cooker cookbook from my in-laws, and a much needed donation to the "Baby #3 winter maternity clothes fund" from my parents.

Mom also gave me these wonderful facial wipes from Boots (Target carries them now). They are the perfect skin care solution for a tired, lazy woman such as myself who can't even summon the energy at night to wash her face with soap and water. I highly recommend them.

We continue the ongoing discussion with Casey about what he wants to be for Halloween this year, and this morning when I posed the question he declared "Naked!". Somehow I don't think that one will go over so well. Halloween on Bourbon Street? Yes. Halloween at Christian preschool party? Not so much.

Driving Me Crazy

The commercial for the new iPod nano features a very catchy song that manages to wedge itself into my brain and stay there for days at a time. I finally relented and found out from the apple site that the song is "1234" by the band Feist. Not that it offers any relief from running a constant loop in my head, but it is nice to know who created this annoying yet addictive tune. And by the way, while browsing the apple store last week with my Dad to drool over the new iMacs, I caught a glimpse of the new nanos in person, and they are super cool.

One!

It's hard to believe, but Connor turned one last week! He was super cranky early in the week before the big day, which I chalk up to either teething or a minor 1/80th life crisis. But since the big day, he's been an absolute joy to be around. He's smiling and laughing and pointing and clapping and making sounds that resemble actual words. He is on the brink of walking, and in fact I'm keeping the video camera charged up and ready at all times because it seems that at any minute he could take off. He has the funniest little personality, and I can't even describe it, you just have to spend some time with him. Casey enjoyed his brother's birthday as well, especially the special "birthday muffins" I baked for the occasion.

First Day

What has two arms and was excited about the first day of preschool? This guy! We were running a bit behind schedule, so I only had time to snap this quick photo of Casey before he headed off to school, and this was his chosen pose for the occasion. Rob had a rare day off work and was able to join us to drop off Casey, who happily hopped right out of the van and headed inside with his teacher, stopping only to look back when we called out to him. He must have had a great time, because the only time tears were shed was when I picked him up and it was time to leave. Tommorow he has his first "show & tell", and is planning to take his bug catcher cage & tools to show his new friends. On the one hand, he seems like such a big kid going to school with his backpack on, and on the other hand he seems so small still. It was a strange brew of emotions for me yesterday - a little pride mixed with a little heartbreak as he headed into school, and I know that this is just the first of many first days like this.

We Are the Champions

On Sunday we took the boys to the Children's Museum, which was awesome. I think we're going to get a year membership, because there is so much to see and do there that we will be returning frequently. There were several highlights, not the least of which was getting to touch the Colt's Super Bowl trophy and have our picture made with the trophy. The lighting was poor in the room and it confused my camera (one of my least favorite features of my camera) but it was still fun. Casey loved the train exhibit and said his favorite part was the dinosaur exhibit, even though the dinosaurs scared him (in a good way, he later explained). I loved the Chiluly glass installation, and am anxious to go back and really spend some time in the areas we didn't cover well. I had heard so much about this museum and how wonderful it is, and so I was so glad that it lived up to all the hype.

Satisfied

Did you know Snickers has a limited edition dark chocolate version? Me either, and let me tell you it totally validated a trip to Wal-Mart over the weekend when I discovered it in the check-out lane. It was like a little bit of chocolaty heaven, and it made me wish every candy maker out there would dip their most popular bars in dark chocolate. Just imagine - 3 Musketeers, Reese's, Butterfinger - all in dark chocolate! I plan on hunting down a stash of these Snickers and paying homage to my late Nana Casey by hiding them at the top of my closet and enjoying them only after the rest of the family has gone to bed. Mmmmm....

And look! I have roses in my backyard. I know next to nothing about caring for roses, so I'm going to have to coax Mom back up here to help me out.

We had our first Parent's Meeting for Casey's new preschool last night, and I'm not sure who is more excited about preschool, Casey or me. I ordered him his first official backpack from L.L. Bean this morning because I am convinced that the Bean backpacks can survive a nuclear holocaust and that he'll probably be able to use it as a diaper bag for his first born child. I have to admit there is something so incredibly satisfying about back-to-school shopping and I am totally living vicariously through Casey while stocking up on socks, jeans, new tennis shoes, construction paper, tissues, and all the other preschool essentials. His classroom is decorated in a frog theme and I already love his teacher, and I can't wait for him to meet her and his classmates. I keep singing the song from "Billy Madison":

"Back to school, back to school.

Gotta' show Dad that I'm no fool."

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Just a reminder that college football kicks off tonight. The Cards will stomp Murray State tonight and the Vols take on Cal Saturday night. Aaah...college football is back, and all is right with the world again.

Little Smile

Ok, so I ask you: Who wouldn't have baby fever after spending a few minutes with this guy?

I Do & I Don't

I just finished editing and loading the photos I took this past weekend of the wedding of a sister of a close friend, Terri (did 'ya catch all that?!). Shoo! It was a bit of a workout for me as there were nearly 200 photos to edit down, and I'm not used to working with that volume. I also learned quite a bit in the process, most importantly that I do love photographing people, but I don't neccesarily love doing it on their wedding day.

Even the most laid-back of weddings become a bit hairy down the stretch, and there are no do-overs in wedding photography. I definately prefer the pace of working with kids and babies taking their portraits. Kids can certainly be unpredictable, but you almost always have a second chance to get the shot right. If you miss the first kiss or blur the cutting of the cake, well, you're SOL. But I did enjoy watching a young couple start a new life and family together, and to help document that special moment in time for them.

Anyway, I'm pleased with how the photos turned out, and I hope the couple are as well. Every wedding I attend now brings back memories of my own wedding, and things I would do different and things I wouldn't change for the world. I do love our photos from that day, both the professional album and the candids turned in from friends and family. I don't think I would alter any of them a bit. It almost cracks me up to go back and look at them now, and to think those two people had no idea of the journey they were in for together, the journey that we are still pleasantly traveling together.

I had a newborn session this morning, and let me tell 'ya it's a good thing I'm pregnant because I have a terrible case of baby fever. He was so cute and pink and little and soft I almost couldn't stand it, and I am now impatient for the arrival of our new little one, even though the baby wont arrive for another 5 months or so. I don't think I ever expected to be pregnant at this point in time, but I do think we are very lucky to have this little blessing. Funny thing how those two little "I do's" turned into so much more...