Holiday Photo Shoot

I am very lucky to have quite a few family members with various talents. Of course, these talents are most amazing when I find ways that they can benefit me, am I right? My cousin Nicole happens to be one of those talented people, and her talent is photography. While on the wait list to get into nursing school, she took a liking to taking photos, took some classes, and purchased a bunch of fancy equipment. A hobby became something she actually really enjoyed, and she began taking on jobs for various family members and friends.

This summer, I commissioned her to take Adly's one year pictures. I felt that those pictures were the kind of thing you just have to do as a parent, that I was not really looking forward to. I was grateful to have the opportunity to do the pictures at my aunt and uncle's in a relaxed environment to *hopefully* get some amazing pictures of Adly. Of course, babies have plans of their own and that day in particular, my little princess did NOT want her picture taken. Nicole was fabulous and all of my family spent the session hopping up and down, hooting and howling, making silly faces, trying to get ONE smile. Despite Adly's diva ways, Nicole still managed to get some absolutely adorable pictures.

With the holidays coming up and Adam finally getting some time away from work, I knew I wanted to do some family pictures, something we haven't done yet as a family of three. Nicole has since gotten into nursing school and photography has definitely had to take a backseat. Even so, I reached out to her to see if she could squeeze us in over Thanksgiving and do some family photos. Turns out she had the entire week off and was wide open, so she had no problem with getting in a session with us.

In preparation, I turned to my best friend Pinterest and searched for some good location ideas for holiday photos. A handful of them were in what looked like Christmas tree lots. I then started searching lots around my hometown in Michigan, where we would be for Thanksgiving. Turns out that the big season for tree farms begins the Friday after Thanksgiving. Who knew? So most of them weren't open for our session on the Wednesday before turkey day. However, I was able to find one farm that would be open, called Santino's Tree Farm. In the city, I have to imagine that heading into a tree farm without the intention of buying a tree wouldn't be heard of without paying fees of some sort. So when we got to Santino's and were greeted by the owners, I wasn't sure what to say. I asked if we needed to buy passes to get in, and we didn't. The owners were so incredibly friendly, I gave in and told them what our plans actually were. They were so kind and said they needed nothing from us. They then proceeded to tell us the best places to get pictures and after all that, they offered to drive us out and take us for a hayride! I mean, I was blown away by their kindness. I only wish we lived closer so we could have actually bought a real tree!

We set to our photo-taking and child abuse of having our child run around in the freezing cold without a coat. For the clothes, we went with browns and Adly and I had matching fur vests. I've had my vest for a few years and when I saw one in Old Navy, I knew Adly had to have it! After galavanting around the tree farm and trying everything possible to get some smiles, we decided to head to downtown Frankenmuth, MI for some Christmas-like pictures. Even though there wasn't snow, we were able to find a little town square with huge trees and decorated bridges. All perfect backdrops for some holiday photos with my two favorite people.

To say I love the photos is an understatement. Nicole did a fantastic job on them and I couldn't be more proud to say she's my cousin! While I know she's going to make a great nurse eventually, I think she's definitely got a knack for photography!

Be warned, photo overload begins now.

 My favorite. 

And then lets talk about that family photo fail...the one that happens when the mom lets go of their gleeful child's hand....

Happy Holidays to all!

A Day for Me

Mother's Day.

Suddenly this year, Mother's Day took on a whole new meaning. Last year I was pregnant. The day was spent recognizing all the mom's in my life but to be honest I just didn't "feel" like a mom yet. This year started out that way again. I honestly forgot about the day until my co-worker and dear friend Kari mentioned making something with her students. Oooops! Good thing I have her to remind me of such important events.

This year, my in-laws came down Saturday night to celebrate Mothers Day. All of them were so thoughtful and brought random gifts for my "first" Mothers Day. Adly even helped her aunt Nora and great aunt KK make a pot with her footprints in the shape of a butterfly. So cute!

To celebrate the actual Mother's Day, Adam and Adly had me open the gifts they shopped for which included some new sunglasses and a locket necklace bearing a picture of the three of us. We then headed out to dinner to celebrate. This was a big deal because it was the first time I was out of the house in weeks with the family and in a gasp! public place! But I hobbled my way in and out of the restaurant just fine.

The best part of the day was watching my ever-growing daughter ham it up with everyone in the restaurant. She has become such a personality in the last few months and to see her in a public setting blew me away. From the moment we were seated, she began pounding on the table, talking away. She immediately caught the eye of the owner and a few waitresses. She loved catching their attention, grinning, giggling, batting her eyes, and soaking in all of their coos towards her. She also had a great time smiling and grinning away at everyone seated next to us. Such a little charmer.

I'd say my first real Mother's Day was definitely a success. A big thank you to my amazing husband and family for all the loving gifts, flowers and cards. I certainly felt extra special this year!

DIY Xmas Photo Shoot

I absolutely love to DIY just about anything and love the process of finding out how to create things on my own. However, I'm really not that good at it. I have a short attention span and no patience, so I like to complete projects quickly, usually skipping over important details. Clearly, I don't naturally possess the tools to be a good crafter/DIYer.

This holiday season, I excitedly set out to do a little Christmas photo shoot for Adly via some photography "how to's" I found on Pinterest. Per usual, I didn't pay much attention to detail and just wanted to get it done so I could see the final results. The goal was to have Adam there to help out, but alas, he wasn't around on the day, during the hours I just had to have it done. I'll admit, I have a problem.

Per the tutorial, I used a white sheet we already have here at home and laid it out on top of the bed. I then strung white xmas lights all around our headboard. I had picked up some cute little Christmas decorations to use a props that I found in the trusty Target $1 section (yet, why is it every time I enter that store I cannot leave with spending less than $50!?!).

I put Adly in a red headband and a pair of white bloomers. I would've loved to have had her in some cute baby leg warmers, but again...the patience. The headband and bloomers were items that I had at home.

Anyways, once the background and my model were set up, I started shooting. Here's another place where I didn't/wouldn't take the time to follow instructions. I'm not a photographer, but I have a fancy camera. That doesn't mean you'll still take great pictures. The lighting was terrible in all of the pictures, so all of them required editing. Next time, I'd make sure we are in a well-lit area and maybe, just maybe, I'll actually read up on how to use my fancy camera properly beforehand.

Thankfully, because there must be other impatient, wannabe photographers out there, there are fantastic photo editing websites. My favorite has become Pic Monkey. It's like a user friendly version of photoshop for dummies, and it's free! Because of this website, my impromptu, un-thought-out photo shoot was saved.

I attempted to make this a "how to" post...but clearly it's become more of a "what not to do". Either way, even if you only own an iPhone, I suggest trying out taking pictures of your little one. Why not? You really can't go wrong, now that you've read all the ways you can!

Happy Holidays!! From our crazy family to yours....

Santa Baby

This weekend we packed up the car and headed to my hometown in Michigan to kick off the holidays.

As I've gotten older and moved away from my home state, Thanksgiving has become our big family holiday. Over the years, we've melded together a sort of holiday tradition that includes bowling with any cousins, aunts and uncles, and friends that are free. After a few games we then head to our aunt Julie and uncle Kevin's house. There we fill up again on leftovers and stay up late playing card games, ping pong, and having lots of laughs. It's one of my most favorite days of the year.

 
Unfortunately, this year was different for a few reasons. For one obvious reason, I now have a baby. But we also recently had a bout of breast cancer strike our family, more specifically, my aunt Julie. She underwent a double mastectomy the day before Thanksgiving in an effort to eliminate all of the cancer. This definitely put a damper on our usual holiday cheer. Not only is aunt Julie awesome, but she's also known as the best singer, clapper, and cooker in our family. (Just kidding of course. She's really not that great at any of those things...though you CAN hear her claps from miles away). Thankfully the surgery went well and she spent the remainder of the weekend being spoiled by her loving husband, kids, family, and hundreds of friends on Facebook. I can't even begin to count the love, prayers, and shout outs she has received in the last week, and that in itself explains why this Thanksgiving was just different.

Despite some of the sadness of the holidays and obvious family members missing from our celebrations, we did have one event that we were very much looking forward to. And that was introducing Adly to santa. So Sunday morning, we dressed her up in her cutie patootie leopard dress and red bow and headed off to the mall. Adam and I fully expected Adly to have a meltdown, crying her eyes out at this strange man with a big white beard holding her. We would giggle and tell the people to keep snapping pics to get the best screaming picture. It would be classic.

But despite our predictions, Adly ended up loving santa. In fact, her favorite part of him was his beard,  which thankfully was real, as she got a good hold of it and gave her best yank. We had decided to go to the local mall in my hometown to avoid the long lines and crowds at malls in Chicago, and I'm so glad we did. The santa was so kind and the elves working the station took their time and let us take multiple pictures to get the best one.

Here's a few shots of our sweet pea's first intro to the jolly, fat man who will stock her tree and stockings full of goodies for many Christmas's to come.

Whooo-Whooo!

Halloween.

A time when everyone gets to be someone they're not. For most girls, it's a time when they get to be the slutty pirate they've always dreamt of. For most boys, it's a time to live out that comic book fantasy of being able to fly and destroy people with lasers.

I greatly dislike halloween. I know, it's terrible. It has always been such a pain for me to come up with a costume. Don't get me wrong, I lived for it as a kid and in college I slutted it up with the best of them. But as I've gotten older, dressing up has just become a drag. To help myself deal with this awful holiday, I've begun coming up with costumes that allow me to attempt to get away with 'dressing up' but not really dressing up. Last year, I threw on a red turtleneck and some red lipstick. Viola! I was the Target lady. The year before, I borrowed my husband's Brett Favre jersey and went as a Packer football player. All this just to fit in with Halloween aficionado's everywhere and not have to be questioned all night, "Why didn't you, like, dress up!?"

Now I have a child. Uuugggghhhh.

That's right. I guess I have to start enjoying halloween on some level. At first I balked at the idea of getting a costume for Adly. I mean, she's 3 months old. She could give two shits about what she's wearing unless it's uncomfortable. More than likely, the whole time she's wearing the thing she's going to be pissed as hell at me. But I caved anyways. And boy, did I ever cave.

I found the cutest darn Halloween costume ever. (Of course, it's from a chain so there will be millions of other kiddo's in it whose parents will be convinced their child is the cutest ever). But who cares. She's my cutie.

Here's the cutest little owlet there ever was. Oh and that brown thing holding her? That's the tree she lives in. See what I mean? Easiest costume possible.

I'm gonna fly away, mommy!

Pumpkins for My Pumpkin

Fall is finally here and that means apples, pumpkins, football, and colorful leaves.

Of course, we couldn't let this season pass without torturing our child by doing things like apple picking on a sunny day, shoving her inside a pumpkin, and surrounding her with large gourds. That's what she's here for anyways, right?

Child abuse at its finest. 

Seriously mom!?! The pumpkins AGAIN!?

You want me to smile?? How 'bout I kick over this here pumpkin instead. Oopsie daisies!

My favorite pumpkin is the one thats naked and in the green.