S-A-N-T-A

The day before school let out for Christmas break the twins had their party in class. It was pretty low key which I appreciated. No gift exchange they just watched a movie that I sent and then decorated graham crackers to look like presents. Presents that they could eat! But I must say that all those kids loaded the presents up with so much icing and sprinkles and al the other goodies we provided for them to decorate with that most of them could only eat about 3-4 bites before they tossed them. Typical!!

Then the day they let out for break the Kindergarten classes participated in the yearly program and they sang a song to the tune of B-I-N-G-O titled, you guessed it, S-A-N-T-A. It was cute and all those kiddos sang their hearts out at the top of their lungs!! But James was hidden behind somebody the whole time they were singing so I got no shots of him, mouth wide open. Fun times!

2014

Well hello and Happy New Year to all you readers out there. All 3 of you!! Christmas was a success and New Years went off with out a hitch. In fact, New Years Day arrived with a sweet little surprise for us: WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!!!!! Praise the Lord. We were somewhat expecting an offer around the 1st week of January but were not expecting the first day. And let me just say it was rather interesting wheeling and dealing from 500 miles away. But we got it all worked out and that’s all that matters. We sign the contract tomorrow and will have 60 days till closing. Yeah, it’s kind of a long closing but it at least gives us time to pack, have a yard sale and paint the other house. Paint, you say? Well, did you expect any less from us? Have we ever moved into a house that we did not feel the need to paint every.single.room? The good news is this house is much smaller so there won’t be a months worth of just painting 8 hours a day, 7 days a week to accomplish. And we are just renting this house for now so no other extreme makeovers are on our agenda. Just me, a paint brush, a few gallons of paint in various colors and a 2 1/2 year old running around saying “Mama, can I hep you?” Sounds fun, doesn’t it?

We will be in school during this time of course so the normal school routine will be in effect which always throws a little more stress into a busy, hectic situation. Olivia is at the prime of her little toddlerhood and I don’t want to miss any of it. I was blessed to be able to buy a new camera (which has a huge learning curve) and my coveted 85mm lens after Christmas so I have lots of reading (and as always practicing on my horizon.) I want/need to have a yard sale before we move. I’ve already mentioned the painting at the new house but first of all I have to decide on colors. And lets not forget the most vital part in all this, the PACKING of the boxes. Not looking forward to that but I am looking forward to purging our stuff. Something I like to do every January any way it’s just this time will be on a much higher level!!

2 months is a long time for a closing but it’s really not a long time in the grand scheme of things. I mean, think about how quickly November and December just passed??

I plan on making time for this blog like I did before the holidays hit cause like I said, I don’t want to miss a moment of Sassafras’s toddlerhood. And James and Audrey will have a few field trips and things coming up in school that I want record of. I intend to write about our Christmas break which was FABULOUS and I of course have tons of pictures to share. So, sometime this week I am going to be taking another hiatus from Facebook land that could end up lasting through the move. I know, I know. Laugh all you want but it’s seriously the only way for me to not somehow end up wasting much more time on there than intended. And I don’t have time to waste.

Here are a few pics from New Years in Hattiesburg. We stayed with Jon’s sister Emily and her husband Ryan this year (peeps over there are always fighting on who gets to keep us. It’s quite the ego boost!). We had a great time as usual and the kids had a blast. It was the perfect way to round out our magical holiday.

Uncle Ryan

SuSu and her girls with their matching American Girl gowns

Water colors

Somebody got a new camera for Christmas as well!

One of my favorite shots of the week

Sweet, precious almost grown Hughston “feeding” the "puppies"

Aunt Beck getting some quality conversation in

Poor Nenie was cold

 ***Just as a side note for any one who may be interested. I’m playing around with creating my own black and white conversions and didn’t see the huge difference in some of these B&W’s until I loaded them on here. And I didn’t feel like messing around with them any more to get them more consistent with each other. It’s all about those tones. Always learning :)

The Nutcracker on Mulberry

For many, many years through out my childhood and teenage years during the Christmas season, our mother would get us all gussied up and take us to downtown Macon on Mulberry Street to see The Nutcracker at The Grand Opera House. Sounds fabulous, doesn't it? :) It's one of my all time favorite Christmas memories/traditions and ever since Audrey Grace was born into this world (right around the corner from The Grand) I've longed to take her there. I've taken her to the Nutcracker each year since she was 3 here in Thomasville where the Ballet school she attends puts on a show every year but, it's just not the same. Not for me any way and I have a feeling that after this year, she will share my love and admiration for the one in Macon.

My sister, my niece and my mother accompanied us as it just would not of been the same with out them. And we had a wonderful time! It was a crispy cool evening outside with a jam packed house inside and the dancers were extraordinary. A few Principals (I sound like a ballet guru, don't I?) come down from the Atlanta Ballet every year to dance the big parts and they move across that stage so effortlessly it leaves you feeling like you could get up there and twirl your way through the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Hannah and Audrey were twirling their way up and down the stairs during the intermission, giggling like silly little girls. It was sweet.

Right before it started, as Audrey was looking around the theater, she grabbed my arm and squealed with excitement "Mama!!!! Thank you so so so much for bringing me here! This is awesome!!" Best Christmas present ever for this old mama right there. Hands down.

However, it was much longer than the ones she's used to and right around the 1 1/2 hour mark she started to get fidgety, wondering when it was going to be over. She was sleepy too as it was wayyy past little chica's bedtime. She told me one time that she might fall asleep on the way home! But she didn't. Her and Hannah giggled the whole trip back :)

p.s. an 85L is on my Christmas wish list. Only having this 50mm is starting to get on my nerves...

The Christmas Rush...

Is on!!!! Today my Christmas rush started. I have a list a mile and a half long and only 1 week to finish it. Can I get it done???? Only time will tell. Will I ever prepare better for Christmas??? Only time will tell that too. But so far I haven't lost my cool. I think the children's excitement this year is helping. James and Audrey are at a new phase of Christmas joy and it's one that I am really loving. They know most of the words to our favorite Christmas jingles, they keep asking me what I want for Christmas, they are looking oh so forward to going to the country this year, and even though the twinkle in their eyes for the season is a slightly different (in a more mature way) one than their baby sister's, it's still the joy of my Christmas to see them so excited!! Olivia is 2 1/2 and the joy in her little heart for all things Christmas is magical. The years of 2 and 3 are my absolute favorite age for Christmas time. They are aware of what is going on but still so innocent that EVERYTHING excites them. And with Olivia that excitement reaches the highest degree. She LOVES to sing Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman and her favorite version of Jingle Bells is Dolly Parton's. I think because you can hear children's voices in the back ground. She's not a huge fan of watching Rudolph but she loves Frosty. J&A were the same way. We made ornaments at story time yesterday and then all the children went to the front desk and sang Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas to every one. She didn't bat an eye and sang as loud as she could!!

We have an Elf on the shelf and while it's fun and all, I think that next year Fiskal will be taking an extended vacay at the North Poll. It's just so time consuming and darn it if I don't forget to move him almost every night. And the whole 'don't touch him he's magic thing' doesn't exactly work for us. James wants soooo bad to believe that he's real but he's so smart, he knows he's not. So he tries to convince himself (and every one around him) that he does believe Fiskal moves around all by himself. It's hilarious to watch. And Audrey, she's the same way but she's not so determined to make her self believe it. She saw his tag the other night and was like "Mama I saw Fiskal has a tag on him so....is he really real?" Good thing she can't read "made in america" yet :)

We are going to make and decorate Christmas cookies tonight for our Fun Family Friday activity and thank goodness we already made gingerbread houses at my mom's 2 weeks ago. I don't exactly have the best track record with those things. I always put the roof on backwards or use the roof for the walls or what ever else I can do to mess it up. Poor Matthew got stuck with me as a "builder" at Mama's and after he loaded his roof down with candy and icing, it collapsed. That's when we discovered I had put the roof on sideways....

I can hardly believe Christmas is almost here!!

1 Camera, 2 Girls, 3 Shotguns, a Dear Head and a Wedding

A few weeks ago I had some friends ask me to shoot their wedding. It was kind of a last minute deal as their engagement wasn't exactly a long one. I almost didn't do it, I was that scared. After a few hours of going back and forth and having the cons heavily out weigh the pros, I said yes. And from that moment on for the next two weeks I was in a cold sweat non stop. I ate, slept and drank weddings. I ate, slept and drank all things photography. And I was constantly wishing I had just let the fear eat me and said NO!!!! But at the same time I knew it was an incredible experience for me. One that I had basically been handed on a silver platter even if that silver platter arrived on the late, late train :)

I was a nervous wreck the week of and my poor family had to just move out of my way. I wasn't grumpy but I would go through periods of not really talking (I know, right!) and my sister got 1,000 articles of clothing ironed and a sparkly clean kitchen and a couple meals out of my anxiety! She said she wished I shot weddings every weekend. Ha. Ha.

I was scared out of my mind for a few reasons:

1. I HAD NEVER PHOTOGRAPHED THIS LARGE OF AN EVENT.

2. I DID NOT HAVE THE EQUIPMENT TO REALLY DO IT. Especially the ceremony because it was indoors.

3. I HAD NEVER PHOTOGRAPHED THIS LARGE OF AN EVENT.

4. I DID NOT HAVE THE EQUIPMENT TO REALLY DO IT. Especially the ceremony because it was indoors.

5. Even though I've been shooting in manual for over a year now I really just started feeling like I actually have control of my camera and it's settings. Like 2 weeks prior to them asking me. That's not very long. Not very long at all.

My sister being the wonderful person that she is graciously offered to be at my beck and call on the day of the wedding and do what ever I told her to do. We made a deal that as long as I didn't bite her head off, she wouldn't get her feelings hurt. And as long as she understood that if I was short in my answers or directions that I was not bitting her head off it's just that when I am focused I am short and to the point. SO when I was short and to the point she didn't get her feelings hurt. And we worked VERY WELL together and I cannot stress enough how vital she was to the success of my first wedding. I learned very quickly that you must have 2 sets of eyes, hands and ears to pull a wedding off. If she had not been with me, I would of tanked. And tanked so low that I most likely would of never made my way to the surface again. We could be a jam up photography team. Jam up. And yes, I am tooting our own horn :)

On the way to the before wedding location we were driving Jon's truck because he had the kids and was going to meet me at the church after the wedding so I could go on home because he had a preaching appointment the next day. Well, remember how I posted earlier about my husband keeping his deer stand warm during Thanksgiving break? Uh-huh. All of his guns were in the cab of the truck and the head of his 180 lb, 6 point buck was in a cooler in the back. Red neck much?? We were cracking up laughing at our selves the whole way there. Talk about arriving in style. Then, as soon as we got to the groom's grandparents house, I.freaked.out. It was a beautiful house with a nice, big pond out front and hundreds of acres of farmland surrounding it. Farmland. Yep, no shade and at 10:15 in the morning the sun was high and bright and I panicked. I didn't know if I wanted to cry or puke and told Bets that 'I was just kidding. I'm not really the photographer for this wedding. Lets go.' But I pressed on and just started praying for the Lord to send me some clouds. And HE did. For the rest of the day. Even though flat light isn't like beautiful golden sunlight it was 10,000 times better than harsh, bright light. Maybe even 10,001 :)

Photos courtsey of the brides father!

Overall, I was pleased with my work. The wedding party was super easy to work with and I had a great assitant that made the whole process go smoothly. There were no major catastrophes. She helped me check off the list of groups and poses we wanted to get and brought the ipad so we could remember to get a few special poses that had caught my eye on pinterest. I nailed focus on just about every one of my shots which was the most important for me since you cannot fix that post processing. But doing this job did let me have a peek and just how much goes into wedding photography and how much more I need to work on. I do know, however, that had this wedding party not been long time friends of mine I would of never attempted it. It would not of been fear that stopped me but good sense!! They knew first hand exactly what they were getting since they have seen my "work" on Facebook and I don't think they went into this blindly thinking that I am some big time photog capable of producing lots of jaw dropping images. It was nice though, to have someone think enough of my "work" to want me to capture such a special day for them. I had a blast and even though I don't know if wedding photography is a path I want to choose to travel down, this experience did not leave me swearing off weddings for the rest of my life!! I call that a successful shoot!!!

And one last thought, my sister and I knew we had no idea what we were doing but vowed to march in there and take control and put on the best act of our lives. And we pulled it off. Several people said they had no idea that this was my/our first wedding, that we were SO professional. Bam. Nailed it. Thank you Lord, cause we prayed hard!!!

Merry and Bright

Christmas cards are done and I ordered them just a moment ago. After I spent all day on them. I decided to go with a different company this year so that my colors wont be distorted, I hope! And I like to wait until the last minute to do major projects and I really like to make things super duper difficult. It's just how I roll. I actually started with my idea for taking the pictures 2 weeks ago but my 50mm lens is so tight that I just couldn't get the right light with the set up I wanted inside so I waited around until another idea struck me and it did yesterday afternoon: Go.Out.Side. I don't color my hair blonde for nothing people!! I had to make a few minor substitutions but the over all effect I was going for worked. It's something that I've been itching to do for years now and now I finally have it out of my system!! The weather was perfect yesterday so I knew I had to jump on it then because it's supposed to actually feel like December around here starting tomorrow. We shall see! The kids were actually so cooperative it was almost like aliens had come down and taken over their little bodies or something, haha! And after we were all done and cleaning up they were begging to take a picture themselves so being the wonderful mother that I am, I let them. And I'm thinking I have a new bribery tool :)

A few favorites

This is one of my favorite pictures from the Thanksgiving holiday because she's just so dern cute!! She rode this thing constantly and it totally shocked me since it makes a pretty loud noise and she's the kid that still hides from the vacuum cleaner :)

Then this one, for obvious reasons :)

And this. She was all about some Tammy last week! Nonie and Tammy were really the only laps she was interested in sitting in. And mine of course. Always mine :)