friday night ramblings...

It's 11:38 pm on Friday night, and I'm sitting on the sofa trying to find the motivation to get up, walk to my bedroom and go to sleep. I couldn't find any, so I decided to blog! When I say blog, I really just mean share a bunch of pictures. :) 

I am oh so proud to announce that I shot all of these pictures in full blown MANUAL! Yep, that's right. No mo' auto! Now, don't look too closely, I have a long way to go. I also have no editing software to clean them up and make them real pretty. But, I am thrilled to be learning how to use the settings on my camera.

And, yes, Ella Claire is wearing a Christmas shirt. I found it in the back of her closet as I was moving all of her winter clothes to the front and it looked so small. I tried it on her and she wouldn't take it off. She has become very opinionated about her wardrobe lately. She either refuses to wear it, or refuses to take it off. I think she is going to be a little strong-willed like her momma. We might have a long road ahead of us!

Don't worry, I don't allow her to jump on her bed. She is my fearless dare devil and has to be closely supervised at all times. She was climbing on all sort of things (our kitchen table and our extremely high bed, included) at just 16 months old.

We took family pictures last Saturday and the photographer kept telling EC that Minnie Mouse was in her camera. So she now thinks minnie is in my camera. :)

I have to interrupt and say that as I am sitting here typing away on the sofa, hubs is tucked nicely in bed. He has to work tomorrow. For about the 5th time now, I have heard this LOUD buzzing sound coming from our room. I went back there to see what it was and the alarm on the clock we have sitting on my nightstand keeps going off. EC pushed a few buttons on it this morning and she must have accidentally set the alarm. We've never used it as an alarm clock and I guess Jeremy keeps hitting snooze!

anyway, back to pretty pics of my babies. :)

I caught a sneeze...

Ok, time for bed! If you have any photography tips that you would like to share, I'm all ears! Have a wonderful weekend!

pumpkin patch 2011

A few weeks ago Jeremy had a rare day off in the middle of the week and we took the girls to the pumpkin patch. I toted Gracie in the sling and tried to take pictures while Jeremy chased Ella Claire ALL around! She had a blast and did not want to leave.

Apparently, she felt the need to rearrange the pumpkins in the patch.

She kept moving them from one spot to another...

Taking a posed picture of this little girl is quite the challenge. I did, however, catch her being still for a few moments and got a few good pictures.

I took Gracie out of the sling long enough for a few pictures.

This little pumpkin wasn't too impressed with the other pumpkins. She just has milk on the brain these days...it's starting to show too. At the doctor last week she weighed 11 lbs 10 oz at 6.5 weeks old. That folks, is the 95th percentile.

So much has changed since last years visit to the pumpkin patch. Ella Claire has surely grown and Gracie has joined us. So much to be thankful for!

Gracie month to month: month 1

Fashionably late as always! It's taken me forever to take and post Gracie's first month photo. I found a little inspiration on none other than pinterest and quickly decided what I wanted to do. Finding time to set up however, was a different story. So I must confess, this first month picture was taken a little late....right around 1 1/2 months. The perfectionist in me will always look at this picture and say "this was not taken exactly at 1 month" but as busy as life is with a 2 year old and newborn, I can easily get over it. :) As a mother of two, I'm learning to let go of a lot of things, but that's a story for another day!

This was my inspiration picture

and my version with my precious little one...

I decided to put Gracie in a chair that we will spend lots of time in, rocking and nursing. I like her blanket with her name showing. I also added the date. I took a few trying to get the best angle and position. So here are a few more of my favorites.

Ella Claire wanted her picture taken too.

Hopefully next months will be taken and posted on time!

This short little post with very few words, has literally taken forever to finish. I'm a late night blogger you know, and a sweet little one month old that sleeps in a cradle next to my bed can't go to sleep. Bless her heart, she has a terrible cold. Her first cold, actually. Just since I started this post, I have stopped to feed her, change a wet diaper, then immediately change a dirty diaper (love it when that happens :/), try to help her breathe better with some little noses saline drops, suction out her nose, hold her, change her sheet because she spit up everywhere (Court if you read this, I spoke too soon about the sheet saver, ha!), and put her paci back in her mouth at least 15 times. Almost an hour later, she seems to have settled down a bit. No wonder I feel like I never get anything done! Hoping we all get a good nights sleep around here! See you later, friends!

Brian & Jessica's wedding week

Time is moving right along...at record speed might I add, and I still haven't posted about the week of Brian and Jessica's wedding. I had imagined I would do a separate post for each the bridesmaid luncheon, rehearsal dinner and wedding. But now that it's already almost been an entire month; I think it might be best to put them all together. Otherwise, it might not get done at all, and that would just be sad.

The weekend started off with a beautiful bridesmaid luncheon at Cafe 615. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Funny that I have another post with a picture of dessert and not my actual entree. I chose pizza for lunch and it was very tasty.

Amazing chocolate gateaux! I was very happy with my choice of dessert; I always tend to choose chocolate. But, everyone that ordered the creme brulee, said it was the best they had ever tasted.

An add a pearl necklace as a bridesmaid gift. So pretty and so thoughtful. Jess also gave us each a monogrammed bag with goodies to use on the day of the wedding. Forgot to get a picture of that, but it is super cute too.

The bride with all of the bridesmaids.

Sisters and best friends.

Jess with her little flower girls.

Later that night we had rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner at Felix's Fish Camp.

Soon to be Mr. and Mrs.

Favors and seating arrangement

Grooms cake

Gold letters on the petit fours!

I love this scripture verse my mom chose for the theme. So fitting for a husband and wife and for my brother, since he's in the metal business.

Malted milk balls for the favor...my brothers favorite!

Poor mr. crab, from Kim's big bateau platter. I think this was a popular choice for dinner. I ordered the fresh catch almondine and chose grouper. It was so good! I don't think I will ever order anything different from the menu.

Gracie joined us for dinner while Ella Claire stayed home with a babysitter.

I could kick myself for not taking more pictures any pictures at the wedding!! It was beautiful! There were pretty things everywhere. In my defense, I was a bridesmaid, Jeremy was best man, EC was a flower girl and Gracie was 2, almost 3 weeks old! We were a little busy.

Here are a few I took before the wedding.

Jess was a beautiful bride! She was literally glowing.

And that's it! I wish I had pictures from the ceremony and reception. But after the wedding, I was too busy feeding a hungry infant and chasing a crazy 2 year old. So sad all the Cooper/Dean wedding fun is over! However, the Dean/Manley wedding fun is just beginning!

fall 2011 headers