capturing the sweet life.

Merriment & Contentment

As I sit here and write this post on Christmas Eve, the house is completely quiet.  Jacob is napping and Brian took Natalie out to see "The Princess and the Frog" (such a good dad, taking her to a movie he has absolutely NO interest in seeing).  I've got cinnamon pecans roasting in the oven, so the whole house smells like Christmas.  And I'm finally getting to enjoy some of that Christmas cheer everyone always talks about.  Usually, around the holidays, I find myself so stressed and hurried - between gift giving and getting, traveling, baking, social obligations, etc., by the time December 26th rolls around, I wonder where the heck all that holiday joy disappeared to.  

But this year, I was committed to not letting that happen.  I tried REALLY hard to get all my work done before today, but wasn't quite able to.  But you know what?  That's okay.  It's not fair to myself, my family, and ultimately, my clients, if I'm stressed out and putting work before what's really important, especially at the holidays.  So I got done what I could and will absolutely buckle down and get the rest done before the new year (Erin & Diane - that's a guarantee!).  That way I can start 2010 off with a clean slate.

The REAL purpose of the holidays is to share your lives with those you love - so laugh a little, love a LOT, and enjoy the moment before it's gone.  Cheers!

 

The Smith House at Christmas

I love our house at Christmas time - it's one of the few times that I feel like our house really seems cozy and homey.  I'm a bit of an indecisive decorator most of the year, but come Christmas, I really get into it with lots of little touches throughout the house.  This year I didn't do as much as usual, but here's a bit of our holiday cheer:

  

  

 

     

  

 

    

  

Merry Christmas, everyone!! 

Last minute Christmas gifts from Etsy

I promised some more Etsy finds for unique Christmas gifts, so here's what caught my eye...

How about some super cute fabric buckets from PALEOCHIC Home Decor

Say "Cheese!" -- so cute, from bchildrenswear

What a great idea for travel --  handmadebybritt

Love this creative repurposing of old LP's -- I'll take the U2 one, please!  MockTheRock

These coasters are awesome, too -- ROCKANDROLLCOASTERS  

This is so much cuter than the crummy trash holder I have in my car --  allysonhill      

Finally -- a hip beer cozy.  Who doesn't need that?  pdxSoftgoods

So basically what I'm saying is get thee to Etsy -- poke around for a bit and you're sure to find something for even the hardest to buy for folks on your list! 

Have a Groovy Christmas!!

A little Christmas cheer from the Smith Family!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Just hold still, for cryin' out loud!!

Just before Thanksgiving, my Sister-in-law and niece came out for a fun visit.  Our goal was to take the kids to the JW Marriott downtown for a photo shoot.  Ultimate goal = get the kids together for a group photo of all three of them.

Well, let me just say that wrangling three kids is a heck of a lot harder than just one!!  Maybe I don't have the patience for this photography bit after all!  Jacob just would NOT sit still, like even for a second!  I was sweating, Devon was sweating trying to help me corral him, I think I yelled a couple times.  Basically everything I shouldn't do, I did.  Why do I have so much more patience for other people's children than I do my own?!

Anyways, I was able to get ONE useable group shot.  So, without further ado...

 

I was also able to get a few good shots of my adorable niece, Emily...

  

 

  

 

...some great ones of Natalie...

 

 

  

 ...and even one REALLY cute one of the two girls.

  

But could I get a single, workable, useable shot of Jacob?  Nope, nada, zilch.  Here's some of the unfortunate outtakes...
 
 

The man is on the MOVE!  Lots of blurred shots, clearly he was grumpy b/c there's not a smile to be found, and just a general lack of cooperation on his part.  18 month olds - GEESH!! 
 
 
 

Parental Neglect

Oh, blog, how you've been neglected.

I've been so busy lately that this blog has some serious cobwebs up in here!  My apologies to those of you who check in on a regular basis only to find crickets chirping and dust on the photos.

I've been having lots of fun and getting lots of work done, if that's any consolation!  And, also, my blog isn't the only thing that's gone neglected...

 

Yes, my children have been the recipients of the most awful, dreadful form of parental neglect - FORCED TELEVISION WATCHING!!

(Note: I have NO idea what they're watching here -- frankly, it's a bit creepy, but that just adds to the neglectful nature of this tragic scene).

What has led to this creation of little miniature slug children?  Well, first was Thanksgiving and the travel and family time that comes with that, then I had 4 photo shoots in 10 days, 3 parties in one day (this past Saturday), and last night I taught a mini-photography workshop for my Mothers & More group.  And since I don't have the luxury of a full-time human babysitter, I had to resort to the boob-tube to occupy the children whilst I sat in front of the other time-sucking device in our house - the Mac.

So, in the coming days I've got lots of photo editing to do, which means more time in front of the screen.  But I don't feel like I'm on nearly the strict sort of deadlines I've been on in the past 2 weeks.  So with the arrival of this blizzard/major snowstorm they're predicting for tomorrow, I'm looking forward to having some fun with the kids and trying to reserve photo editing for when the kids are in bed.

As for the blog...well, I should already be in front of the computer, so how hard can it be to just throw up a post every now and then.  Right?!

  

Oh that First Snowfall of the Winter...

On the eve of what's being reported to be a MAJOR snowstorm to hit us here in West Michigan, I thought I'd finally post some pictures of the first snowfall we had last week.  

 

Normally when it first snows, we get maybe one or two inches.  But after an unseasonably warm fall, our first snowfall last Friday actually brought quite a hefty amount of snow.

And it was good packing snow, too!

Jacob wasted no time plunging in - looks like we're in for a winter full of fun!!