Halloween 2015

Halloween has come and gone.

The holiday season has officially started.

This year Lo decided she wanted to be a police officer and MW well he was all over the map, but he finally settled on Michelangelo the Ninja Turtle.  I love these costumes because they were so easy, and cost me practically nothing. The largest expense was MW's turtle shell. Everything else we had lying around the house.

 The week before our local HS did a trunk or treat. Look more TMNT!!

 Getting their faces painted.

 I was impressed by this girl. The other girl only wanted to do pumpkins or ghosts, this one googled images and was pretty talented. MW got the bat sign.

 Games!! With lots of great cheap trinkets as prizes...my favorite. :)

 On Sunday we decided to take it easy. I wasn't feeling that great so we turned on Vampire Dog on Netflix and ate pizza. It was a really nice and relaxing morning.

 Of course the weekend wouldn't be complete without a trip to Target, where it just so happen to have a little trick or treat party going on. WIN!

 Halloween.
Trick or Treating Grammy and Papa.

Our neighbors got together to do dinner and then treat the 'hood. Quite a assortment of kids!

 READY TO GO!!!

 It was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL evening. No wind, no rain and the temperature was comfortable {read not freezing}. I mean it is October 31st, so I did expect it to be less than warm.

 At one point we headed over to another friend's hood to finish out the night. 3/5 of my favorite girls.

 This one was D-O-N-E done. He couldn't be asked to go to one more door to save his life. Oh MW!

Now, for the officially Halloween photos. We did them after family pictures last week. We had to test run the costumes because while I had a good idea of how their costumes would flow, I hadn't really thought it all the way through. Lo's turned out a lot cuter than I expected.
My Little Police Girl.

 TMNT!

 Ought oh! Someone is in trouble!!

 No fear. I have captured the bad guy! MW's face in this photo is perfect. He looks so defeated.

 Oh no! He escaped. Watch out Officer Lo!

 Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you had a fun night getting lots of free candy. Let the holiday weight gain begin. HA!

Family Photos!! {insert all the praise hands}

Happy Birthday to me. 

Finally got my birthday gift from last year. Family photos.

Last weekend I had my sister come over to take our photos. She and I are in the process of trying to launch our own photography and design business. I love the editing and creating side of things and she loves film and photography. We are a perfect pair. 

We planned on Saturday morning and praise Jesus it was overcast which helps with lighting issues, but it was a tad brisk and momma was in short sleeves. Brrr. Hello Fall--again. Anyway, after I spent an hour scouting out locations in a nearby town on Friday, we stumble upon this area that ended up being perfect. 

I got several photo poses off pinterest to re-create. Those photos had these perfect angel children in them...I knew my kids wouldn't quite pull off that look, but I wouldn't want them too.

Photos should reflect your family dynamics and personalities. Photos tell stories. That is why I love them so much and spend countless hours scrapbooking and documenting. I want our family to shine through. And I think we do a great job of capturing just that.

Micah is a stinker and very hard to photograph. He can't sit still, or be normal and all the photos that the rest of us looked top notch in he has in some way "messed" it up. However, I just started looking at the photos as who we were and that is Micah. This is the stage he is in then fine--go with it. Honestly, when I am old and gray I will look back and laugh at his little personality and just miss it.

This photo captures my kids brilliantly and it is the first time I can see that they actually swam in the same gene pool. HA! They love each other fiercely. Sometimes a bit too fiercely, but at the end of the day they are still BFFs.

Oh this photo. I have re-created going on 4 years now, and I plan on doing one until they are 18! {or longer if they will let me...} Just something about watching them grow. While this one has always been my absolutely favorite 

MW 14m Lo 3

this one just may bump it from the top spot...

These two have such a special bond. It is the epitome of a father/ daughter relationship that most strive toward. I pray it is always that way.

I love this photo. It turned out better than I expected. I want to make a canvas print of it and hang it in our entry way. As a beautiful reminder of what our purpose is on Earth. That we would strive to go deeper than we would on our own.

Gosh I think she is so cute.

This girl. She loves me, but not the way she loves her daddy. She teaches me so much and I love the way she thinks and her creativity. We have that in common. Really we are the same person which is probably why she and I don't blend as well together and why she is so drawn to her daddy; and him to her--he is her calm in her chaos; it is why I love daddy.

And then there is these two crazies. Two clowns trapped in the same pod. They both just think they are hilarious and always up to something.

My boy. He is just my little buddy and we do everything together. He brings laughter into my world when I can't seem to find anything to laugh about. He loves me so much. I never wanted a boy, but man I am so glad I have one. My world would be a little less bright without him.

Trying so hard to smile "normal" bless his heart he is Chandler Bing. {Friends reference}

Now to print and hang...a task for another day. Thank you for stopping by and checking out our photos. 

Rewind {September}

I wanted to do a quick recap of randomness from September.

First up random photos.
Last year for my birthday I wanted to get our family pictures updated. That was nearly 1 year ago {this Sunday} and still I have no photos. I didn't even take the time to take proper 4 year photos for MW and 6 year photos for Lo. It's my own fault for just not making the time...I just kept putting it off. This year I am planning on getting them done next weekend. I do them myself in case anyone was wondering.

Moving on...my kids over heard this and were subsequently looking at the last photos I had of them in our large collage frame and they decided they wanted to re-create those. How could I say no...this was totally spur of the moment and I didn't expect Lo's to turn out so cute.

First up MW:
Here he is at 6 months with this tie. Ginger took his ONE year photos in this same time and I plan on doing it again when he is 5, 5th grade promo, 8th grade promo, and a senior.  Even though we are still a few months out from 5 we gave it a practice shot.

Not exactly what I was looking for, but how can you not love that face?!

There is another photo of Leighton in the frame of her looking just like this. I for the LIFE of me can not find it on my computer, so this is a poor fb quality one. :( 

MW re-created for me. HA!

Then there is Sass. This is one of her 4 year old photos. She will be 7 in February!!! TEARS.

She doesn't really seem that different looking to me. Just a little sassier. :) This is straight out of the camera and I think she looks super cute.

Bouncing on my bed. What the kids love to do most. We should think about getting them a trampoline for Christmas...o wait! WE HAVE ONE! That they seldom use because evidently our bed is way more fun. I saw a photo like this on some photography blog/site and wanted to re-create it, but here is where actual photo skills come into play, that I don't have. Oh well, it was fun. She loved doing her flips on the bed. With her guard dog. HA!

School picture day.

Growing up so fast. And becoming a little lady.

Her school does Pawsitvie Awards for 2 kids from each class each month for being good role models etc. Lo got one right out of the gate this year. She had no idea and I surprised her at school. She was so confused why I was there.

Always the nervous nellie in front of a crowd.

faces of others kids intentionally distorted.

Well that is all that has been going on lately. Just living life and trying to enjoy it. The years are passing quicker and quicker.