Chance.
With the beginning of a new year approaching us...this is my new motto for the year 2012. Taking chances!!!

Tell someone how much they mean to you. Tell a jerk what you think. Laugh till your stomach hurts. Love life.

Regret Nothing. Take chances. Tell the truth. Date someone totally wrong for you. Say No. Spend all your cash. Get to know someone random. BE RANDOM. Say I love you. Sing out loud.

Take Chances. I know I am. I am hoping to make 2012 the best year yet. Wishing and hoping you all have a wonderful and safe New Year!!!!! I am so looking forward to making a new fresh start! Excited to be moving forward...I am thinking about starting a 365 Project...stay tuned I plan to share throughout the coming year!

Thursday's thought.
"This hour too will be more lovely in recollection."~Anna Kamienska

Before we say "I do" ~ Heidi + AJ's Engagement Session.
All I have to say about Heidi and AJ is they were such a pleasure to photograph! I loved spending the cold, frosty morning with you, chatting along the way to keep warm.

You are truly some of the most photogenic people I've ever had the joy of photographing.

Please go be in a magazine. Right now!! AJ, you may want to give GQ a call. I'm just saying!!!

And, Heidi, I just love your smile.

I love how the two of you just work together.

You are so cute together that even furry visitors walking on by want to join in...

Heidi and AJ I can't tell you how much I enjoyed our time together. I absolutely cannot wait for your wedding in July - it's going to be great!!

To view more of Heidi and AJ's e-session, click play below.

Sick Santa.
What kind of sick Santa delivers a game called "Doggie Doo"? I mean really....Doggie Doo?? I should have known. It looks all sweet and cute, right??? The object of the game...

Feed it doggie biscuits and insert them into his mouth with the little plastic bone....innocent enought right? But you do know where I am going with this right???

Because what goes in....must come out!!!

And, the first player to collect three droppings of doggie doo wins....

And, it makes lots of gas passing sounds...and you are just inclined to have to watch and wait because you never actually know how long until it drops out... But sometimes, well, sometimes it just gets stuck and you need a flashlight to investigate. See, I told you what kind of sick Santa delivers such a game???

Christmas morning.
Christmas morning in our house this year started at approximately 7:15...

And, usually it is total destruction in about five minutes....but this year I made it that one person opens one gift at a time. It seemed to work out pretty well...

And, even though it was one gift at a time...it was pretty much still a whirlwind of wrapping paper flying!

So, Christmas morning was once again a memorable one indeed!!!

What is Christmas?
What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace. ~Agnes M. Pharo



Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!!!!!

Merry Christmas Eve.
The lights are on...
The presents are all wrapped....

And, I am going to have quite a few of these!!!!

Have a Merry, Merry Christmas Eve!!!!!

Pure craziness.
I went out tonight to do some grocery shopping and some last minute shopping...and, all I have to say is it pure crazy out there. I am so glad I did most of my shopping online this year. A little click here and a little click there, and I was done!!! I am so glad for the internet and Amazon.com!!

Crazy I say!!! C-R-A-Z-Y!!

Mission accomplished.
I finally got him! I cornered him right after school with his dress shirt still on and no funny faces or googley eyes! Just one of my boy! Mission accomplished!!


Too bad the Christmas cards were already made and mailed out.

The Holiday spirit.
Why do my kids wait till the night before to tell me that their school Christmas play is tomorrow at 1:30??? Um, yeah, I'll be there!!


The holiday christmas spirit has just left me..... just kidding, sort of.

Sunday sledding.
Nana must of known the snow was going to arrive. So for an early Christmas gift the kids got to open early packages with new snow tubes and new snow pants!! They could not wait to bust out the door the next morning when they awoke to all the white stuff lying on the ground.

Coy is my dare devil. While this one below is a little more conservative, laid back and leisurely likes to float her way down the hill

And, this one...was inside looking out the backdoor with the saddest puppy face I have ever seen. I knew he wanted to be out there with all the kids and join in all the fun. So, I opened the door and he busted up the hill.

All in all, it was a great day for sledding.

Guess what we did?
What better thing to do on a Sunday morning? Especially when you get new snow tubes from Nana an Pap last night and you wake up to all the white stuff??

More to come...

Golden winter sky.
Most evenings, I have the best view at the end of the day right on my front porch.

Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such. ~Henry Miller

WARNING...major cuteness overload!!!
Can I just say, I was more than excited when Jessica + Matt invited me back into their home to take pictures of their precious Mia for her upcoming first Christmas. I cannot get enough of this cutie all decked out in her christmas attire. I just love, love, love everything about this girlie!!!

And, what's not to believe?? Mia is truly a blessing!!

It's Tuesday.

We love the things we love for what they are.”~Robert Frost

A Sneek Peak.
A dose of some Christmas cuteness for this Monday morning, because does it get any better than tutus and baby cheeks??

More to come...

It's beginning to look....

A lot like Christmas around here!!!!


Hope you are all enjoying a quite, lazy Sunday decorating and listenting to some Christmas tunes!!

I wonder...
I wonder if anyone else has an ear so tuned and sharpened as I have, to detect the music, not of the spheres, but of earth, subtleties of major and minor chord that the wind strikes upon the tree branches. Have you ever heard the earth breathe? ~Kate Chopin


I wonder...

Dreaming of sugar plums.
Remember yesterday's post when I mentioned a "stress free" holiday???


Well, Sid thinks that is a good idea too, literally!! Actually, he loves the velvet tree skirt under the tree.

Stress free.
This year I said to myself..."Self we are going to have a stress free holiday." And, that is exactly what I am having. So when the lights on the top of the tree would not work and Coy fussed and fussed with them...but to no avail they remained dark.

And, this one insisted on decorating it right away...so I said go for it. Who cares if I can't get the lights to work...because you know what I am not stressing about it. Remember? I am having a stress free holiday.

And, so the ornaments were placed.

And, you know what??

I am loving my stress free half lighted christmas tree!!!