Christmas card 5

My mom loves kids. Loves them. She's always been known as the person who can put any baby to sleep. Babies just love cuddling with her and feeling her sweet spirit. Every friend I've run into again after years apart asks how my mother is withing the first few catch up questions.

Merry Christmas from my mom & the twins!


Now that we live far away in North Carolina it's so strange to me that my friends do not know my mother. Not at all. Yep, still weird.

Today Madison was all about saying, "I did it" or "You did it." She yells it very excitedly whenever she or we deserve the praise.
Blake was all about doing a board puzzle. He did it many times. He also recognizes when he doesn't pronounce a word correctly & will work on it until he says it right.
They have started holding hands a lot now. I'm not sure if this started when we played Ring Around the Rosie or when we all held hands in a line to check the mail {I thought the man driving by waiving excitedly at us was going to die from the absolute cuteness of our idyllic look}.

Today was a seriously cold day. Wow, was it cold. Like 22 degrees when I headed out to my early morning session. They were all freezing as we did most of the shots outside. The teens were both wearing short sleeve shirts! Oh, but it was so beautiful out. There is something really cool about morning light.

Some friends of mine need prayers right now. Their family has been blessed by a sweet miracle baby who is having a really hard time right now. He is documenting baby Ella's journey with a blog. Please pray that baby Ella will be able to get well enough to head home to her families care. Her big brother and sister would love to have her home for them to help take care of her instead of far away in the hospital. Ella's story can be found here. This awesome & loving family lost their infant son last year who was only 1 month older then the twins. I'm praying they do not lose another baby. Please join me {I know many of you already are and knew about Ella long before I did this week}.

Christmas card 4

Happy Friday! We all had a good day here in the super frozen South. Really, the super frozen temps are now until midday tomorrow. Oh, it will be time to layer my clothes for my early morning shoot tomorrow. I hope they layer their clothes too so they are warm and happy. Happy is good.

Madison figured out how to blow her nose today. Oh my that is hilarious. I've been talking a lot about Madison lately, but our Blake is definitely a rock star. My favorite word he says right now is 'Butsss' or bus as you & I would say it. Three days ago I got out all the legos. They hadn't shown much interest in them until that day. We cleared off the entire coffee table and the three of us sat there playing. I made them several structures & arches & a ton of towers. Then I showed them how they could drive their cars in and around them. Mostly they had fun taking apart my hard work. Since we put the bucket back in their toy corner Blake has made sure to have soem legos out. He makes a long scepter, as Guy calls it, and carries it around with him. He'll take it apart completely then build a new one to carry around for a while. The kid loves to know how things work and likes things put together after he takes it apart.


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Inside spread


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Hope you are almost ready for Christmas and feeling the Christmas spirit!

Christmas card 3

I have no idea why I picked this photo except it looks so perfect to me! lol I think it's the perfect question mark for the quote.


OK, from certain angles I see why some people think they look so much alike.



For those of you who do not read my photography blog here is your warning there are some more pictures of our family on there you will not see here. Check it out! We also aren't very busy right now so any referrals of your friends are extra appreciated! I also might be able to work in a couple extended family shoots when you are all gathered together for Christmas. Let me know if you are interested.

The mini stop sign on the chain was calling to me as we passed it. Guy was up for helping me put the kids behind it then we encouraged them to shake it. No additional effort needed. They had a blast & I got some adorable shots of them playing together. The sign cracked me up. It was really funny for Guy & Leanne who Got to stop for every 'hysterical' marker growing up. We all had a great time on the train & with the return of my wide angle lens we got the self portrait group shot! They loved sitting on the seat by themselves. Madison is getting really good at jumping & actually getting some air. She and Guy enjoyed a cuddle in his jacket when she was tired of riding in the stroller under the blanket as we walked around DC.



The first shot in this set shows the bottom part of our luggage carrier. Yep, the same one where the top flew off while Guy was driving. The shot just under it is of Madison pushing the alarm button in the elevator. Once the kids realized they put the alarm button on the bottom {nearest the kids!!!} in every single elevator we got into, they just HAD to push it. Oh, and the call button for emergencies was right next to it in the hotel elevator. Despite our diligence in watching them they managed to hit it at least once in almost every ride. Leanne even got one once with her booty! :-) What do you do with two one year olds in a subway station next to steep drop offs to the tracks? Make them sit! Don't they look so obedient?

In the last few shots above we have our super awesome stroller! {so worth the investiment & we'll never need a 2nd stroller. How many have you or your friends bought?} holding the two kiddos. Blake did an excellent job of taking a nap on the go. Madison? Not so much. She's a bit like me and can't miss any of the action. Especially if there are yummy snacks available!

Madison cracks me up here. The glasses all askew and her pants sagging big time. Blake was busy eyeing the rocks hoping to get more to throw in the river.

We only have two weeks to Christmas and about three to our next attempt to have a kid. Time is definitely moving right on by which is just fine with me right now. I hope you don't mind hearing all the details {cover your eyes Judy - you'll get TMI notices} of our cycle. It's great for my sanity to share and may help someone else in the same situation.

Christmas card 2

Ooops, I had the card ready, but didn't post it!

We stopped by a cool store front to take a couple of the kids. It was the normal only one kid looking and only one smiling {though I think they are all cute}. I wish I had video of when these card shots were taken. Both of them were giggling.

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Inside spread


Back

Christmas card 1

This week is Christmas Card week. I feel like plugging some of our pictures into Christmas cards & sharing them with you. Since snail mail and I don't get along together these digital versions are from my heart to yours!!
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In the last few days Blake went from occasionally using words to using them all day long! Madison also totally shocked us when she filled in the next number and letter when counting to 10 {haven't even done that much!} & singing or saying the ABC's. Love it! The explosion of skills and knowledge is no joke.


We had a fabulous time with Leanne in DC last week. She had never been there before. Leanne lives in Melbourne Australia and has been visiting the other siblings in Utah for the previous two weeks. Tomorrow she is in for it with the really long flights and she'll skip Wednesday with the time change on her way home! Mum, Dad & her dog Bailey will welcome her home with open arms.



I have a lot to say about our trip to DC. We encountered an example of absolutely FABULOUS customer service from the staff and manager of the Lorien Hotel & Spa in Old Town Alexandria. Upon our original check in we were informed the staff was changing the two cribs over to another room since they would fit better in the bigger room. How sweet & lovely. Our first night there the parking attendant {valet parking only} caused some damage to our roof top hard plastic luggage storage. The damage caused the top section to break off while driving. Luckily the car behind was able to swerve. The manager from the hotel took responsibility with a can do attitude to fixing the issue prior to us checking out. He managed to get a new luggage storage unit for us the next day! He also upgraded our room to a two room suite our last night when he learned the kids didn't sleep well in the same room with us {up 6 times in one night}.



The huge claw foot tub in an even bigger shower room was worth the stay in the suite alone. Leanne, Guy & I all took a turn in the tub {I was even able to comfortably fully submerge my body which is rare}. The view of the downtown street on the second level in our first room was way cool. The kids loved watching the people go by. Every time Blake hurd the bus go by he'd stop in his tracks to let us know another bus went by. He only said it for busses and not for any of the large trucks & street sweeper that went by. Smart kid. The view from the 5th floor two bedroom suite balcony was equally impressive for a different reason.



We had a super relaxing and enjoyable trip with no real agenda & no real sight seeing plan. We used the train, our super sweet stroller and our feet to get around most of the time. Leanne was feeling a bit sick some of the time & we also came down with it. The sick didn't make us miserable and did not affect out fun level at all! It's just a small side note to a fabulous time. I knew it was going to be fun when Guy & Leanne came into the room the first night after midnight {flight came in at 11pm} trying to contain their giggles & after four turn arounds due to more attention paid to giggling instead of listening to the all mighty TomTom.

Here is Leanne's Twilight shot. So not really, but I had to get her Twilight obsession in here somehow! lol