Still here...

Still cooking! I had my nst/bpt testing done Monday (and they forgot to do the second part on Monday, so had to go back yesterday to get it done...long story.) Anyways, the baby is still doing well. Scored a 10 out of 10, and still has plenty of fluid to keep-a-growin'! So we are still holding strong. Although the idea of the baby coming early is so tempting in my brain, I do know the longer the baby is inside the better (to a point right?) and I have EVERYTHING all planned to go for the 7th, that an early arrival would throw things off. :) Of course, I also know that I am not the Great Planner, so we will just wait and see what He has in store. :)

On a somewhat different note, my little Beans is starting to have a few meltdowns. Mainly at night, when she is tired, and she is putting two and two together...like, her momma won't be home when she needs her at night. She will be fine, I know. But, just keep my little girls in your prayers as they go through this adjustment time as well.

We have been very low key lately, just hanging out at home, playing games and relaxing with each other. It has been wonderful to just "play" without having to "have" to do something. Well, I would write more, but Cakes just yelled out, "Mom, wipe me!" Which means she stripped down (completely) and went poop on the toilet. Yea! for pooping on the toilet...only change a poopy diaper a time or two throughout the week...now just the potty part! :)

Have a FABULOUS NEW YEAR!!!!!

Blue or Pink...

What is your guess? Like the blog colors??? I would say guess the date, but that isn't really fair, because it won't be any later than January 7th...if I make it that far! I had a twinge of jealousy just a few minutes ago when I found out another prego lady who was due right about the same time as myself, HAD HER BABY yesterday. What a sweet Christmas present that is, huh? Oh well, suppose it is best that my little one is still cooking away.

We had a wonderfully relaxing Christmas yesterday. Cakes actually understood Christmas and the meaning of Christmas this year. "Happy Birthday Jesus" was heard from her several times. Of course, she slipped up a time or two and would say "Happy Birthday Santa!" We all laughed. We had a birthday cake for Jesus and the we all sang. We have a special little song that we sing after Happy Birthday at our house, basically "wishing you one hundred more (birthdays)" and Beans made sure that we sang that part too. It was pretty cute. The girls had a blast, and Beans was SO excited that Santa had left her presents. I think she knew that she had been a turkey for several days in a row. Can't fault her too much though, that is what happens when she doesn't go to bed on schedule and when life gets a little of kilter with all the events.

It has been great seeing my younger brother Lucas, who has been home since the 15th, so we have had several gatherings at my mom's. The last hurrah is Sunday, a farewell party for him. He won't be back until July, so we will all miss him very much. Thank goodness for all the great technology to keep in touch though.

My older brother Ryan, had an appendectomy yesterday. He went to the hospital in the morning with severe pain, and sure enough he needed it removed. What a great Christmas for him...could have been worse I suppose. He is doing well, but please keep him in your prayers.

Today, I was a little bird preparing my nest. It isn't finished, but a great start for sure. All of our Christmas decor is down, packed, and we sang farewell to our tree until next year. Beans of course was very upset...the whole change thing always throws her off. She did a great job helping, and it really didn't take too long to get things back to "normal" in the house. And, before anyone says, "Bah Hum Bug" to me...I have had my decorations up since November 15th...a little early, but I love them so much, and I knew that I would want them down immediately after Christmas...so we did enjoy them for quite a lengthy amount of time! :)

Cakes is still sleeping, Beans is waiting for the computer to play LPS VIP on the computer, and Tom, well my guess is he is still konked out on the couch. Hope you all had a great Christmas, and are still celebrating and enjoying the season.

12 days to go... ;)

Cans, Cookies, and Parties...

Just a catch up from the past two weeks...

The girls getting "cans for comments"...

Making cookies...I would have never finished without the help of my younger sister...thank goodness for snow days...

Christmas with Grandpa and Grandma (they aren't going to be here for Christmas this year...they are waiting to come when the baby arrives...so we celebrated a little early). We had a delicious dinner...bacon wrapped steaks (sorry to any vegan friends out there!), salad, "homemade" bread, sweet potatoes and ice cream for dessert. Of course the girls didn't get steak (they wouldn't have eaten it anyways) they had chicken nuggets and mac n cheese; what kid wouldn't like that dinner!



Sibling Christmas...what we call it at least. It is the one day set aside that we ALL try our best to make it to celebrate Christmas. It was an absolute blast this year. We started a bit earlier than normal and the afternoon and evening were filled with laughter, good food and lots of love. There were too many pictures to pick through and post, so just a few for you...

I love this picture...Cakes is very anxious to open presents...we still had to eat...but she had hers all picked out...the BIG BOX!

The whole clan -Click on image to view larger
Papa and Mimi (far left)
Front Row: Big Ole Me, Cakies, Uncle Lucas, Beans, Aunt Coli, C-man
2nd "Row": Aunt Kierst, Aunt Linds, G-Bunny, Uncle Bill, Aunt Stacy, Uncle Clint
Last "Row": Uncle Tyler, Miss K, Uncle Jonah, Uncle Ryan, Aunt Beth, Cousin H, Tom and Uncle Noah

Had to put this one...Check out Cakes FAVORITE thing to do...gross... :)

Have a very Merry Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior!
P.S. New favorite song on the right...not my favorite version, although I do love Josh Groban...favorite version would be by Selah.

My Loves...

These are from the beginning of November...again just getting to them. The first two melt my heart...nothing like my girls with their Daddy. :)




On a side note, if you could please keep a friend of mine in your prayers, I would be so grateful. Her husband was deployed for 16 months last Friday, and she found out this week that she miscarried her little baby somewhere between 8 and 10 weeks. She is a sweet, sweet woman, and I know would appreciate any prayers at this time. She has two kids 3 and almost 1, and I am sure they could use continued prayers throughout her husbands deployment. Thanks ahead of time! :)

Off to bed...

Bear With Me...

****Update: The website is back in the saddle again...just wanted to let you know! :)

My website is currently not working...due to the fact that our credit card number changed and neither Tom nor I realized that we had a recurring bill that came from our old credit card to keep the website up and running. Actually, Tom realized it today when I told him that it wasn't working for some reason and I had an email/phone call into yahoo to see what was going on. It hit him then. It should be taken care of soon...hopefully! In the meantime, if you have questions regarding pricing, please email or give me a call. And for those of you who are faithful checkers...less than 3 weeks to go...2 weeks and 5 days to be exact! :) Still holding strong...

Cakes and Santa are looking at the photographer in the studio, and Beans is looking at me...is she trained or what?!?!?! :)

Catching Up...

...with pictures from my own girls. These were taken in mid-November, at my mom's house. We were going on a nature hike in their woods. My dad had just cleared paths, and had taken both girls down on the tractor for a ride. They were both excited to show me the "big" woods. I remember them being SO big when I was little, and spending countless hours just playing in them. They weren't so big this time around, but the girls had a blast running through them.

My crazy little Cakes...

Big girl Beanie...


Love this one for so many reasons...


The poser...always...


Cakies mouth was wide open in almost every shot!

And the next ones... Yep, it is only 7 days til Christmas...and here are Halloween pictures!?!?!?!? This fall was SO busy, that I seriously couldn't spend any extra time even looking through the ones I took of them. Thankfully, I at least did take them!!!! So here are some more catch up...one of these days, I will actually be to the "cans" pictures...which are still in the camera!

The cutest little Minnie Mouse EVER...

...thrilled to be sitting...

...watching the neighbors and waiting patiently to join them...


My Beautiful Mariposa...if you don't know who she is...don't worry, unless you have a little girl about this age, you would have NO CLUE! She is a Barbie Princess...the one she happened to be in love with at the time...of course a NEW Barbie Princess is out, so she of course loves that one...good thing Christmas is right around the corner!


Posing...again. She put her hands like that herself...no prompting! :)


This expression is priceless. This is EXACTLY what she looks like when she is- asking/begging/or right before whining starts- for something. Here I believe she too was wanting to join the neighbors. Many of you in the family have seen this face, and it is SO HARD to ever say NO to! :)

My Two Beauties...

Okay, that is all for now. Stay tuned for more at some point...I could keep going forever it feels like! :)

Cans for Comments Update...

As a family today, we went and bought all the cans for the "cans for comments" posting below. It was wonderful. The girls picked out what they liked, and some that they didn't...(carrots and peas, because other kids would like those). I took some pictures, they are just still in the camera. Tom thought I was crazy to pull the camera out in the middle of the store, so he would ask what I needed and would walk and bring it back to the cart. He couldn't hide at the check out line when I pulled out the camera to take a picture of the cans on the conveyor belt. I am sure it embarrassed him. :)

I have a tug at my heart to give to others often, but especially this time of year. When I was younger, I can remember boxes of food being dropped at our porch anonymously, anonymous envelopes with money, receiving things that were so needed in times of need...like when my dad was off of work due to surgeries, or it being a rough financial time, or just flat out the need because of raising 9 kids on one hard working income. God always provided for us...always. So it was wonderful today to help explain to Beans just how important it is to give when we are able to give. The giving of food sunk in, she truly understood why they needed it. She also asked if we could give toys instead (we did that at the beginning of the month through Tom's work), and I told her that right now food was more important than toys. We need food to live, toys are for fun. She also noticed our church offering envelopes and asked what they were for. We explained that the money we have really isn't ours and that God has provided it for us, and that we need to give some back to Him. Her next question, proving that she is truly understanding, "If we give it back, how will we have money for our food?" Good question little lady..."He only asks for a small bit to give back to Him. The rest is for us to use to live with." No more questions...just a lot of thinking from my little lady. So all of this to say "Thanks" for all of the comments because not only did you help provide to our community, you also helped make a teachable moment more concrete for my little girl...who is growing before my eyes.

I do hope to get the pictures of the girls from the store posted some time soon. I will leave a few more of the cutie Miss C...she has had a lot of face time on here lately...due to the fact that she is my last session this year...and that she is so darn cute!!!! I am finishing the editing process of this session today...only a few orders are out and then I am officially on "maternity leave". Enjoy your day!

Laughing at her mom...

Love these next two in this finish...and her cute little smiles...


and I love the serious faces that she makes...I know the momma loves her smiles (which are too cute) but her serious "thinking of what to do next" expression is beyond adorable!

Confession...

I used a pre-made Christmas card this year...they came today...I am not a huge fan of them! The pictures of the girls couldn't be cuter...but the colors are different than what they appeared to be online. I went the cheap and easy route...and I won't be doing that again! It is worth the time and effort and the wee bit more (okay quite a bit more) money for me to do them myself again next year. Of course, I will still be sending them out, because I can't throw that moola down the drain! :) Oh well...the easy course was my way this year, and really I don't think I could have done it differently!!!!

Thanks for ALL of the comments (even the creative ones by Diana)...can't wait to get the canned goods and deliver them tomorrow! Now to those new commenters...I know you are out there, and I KNOW you can comment!!! ;) Have a great weekend!

Cans for Comments...

Okay folks, I am doubling the amount of cans for any comments today! So far, not too bad with comments...but maybe this will be a little more enticing for those of you who haven't commented yet, and for those of you who have, please feel free to comment again! :)

Miss C...is as cute as can be. I have had the total privilege to capture this little lady for the past year. She was my first session in 2008 (my "real" first session) at 6 weeks old, and she stole my heart! She has the sweetest parents, whom we just did a family session with on Saturday. Miss C was a one year old at heart...making her mom sweat chasing her to get her back to where she needed to be...(fyi...one of the reasons why I love location sessions...they are free to roam and I just follow...but with waddling around this 36 week pregnant body...location setting wasn't happening...thanks S and J for coming here and helping!!!!) It was only suiting to end this year with Miss C...I am sure I will post more sneak peeks of this little lady and any other favorites that I come across. I also am hoping to be able to blog (well, Tom or I) at the hospital after our little one is born, so those of you who have followed us and prayed for us through the pregnancy will know what has been cooking in me (a baby of course!) and what the name will be. The name thing is a difficult thing...Tom and I don't agree on too many things.

Enough rambling...here she is...One Year Old...

love the dress!!!!

I totally think this one is so precious...I love her stare and expression and the blur on the bottom half of her...oooo, she is cute!

and the cute parents of the beautiful little lady...

Alright, back to the girls...taking Beans to the doctor's today...again. We have been there ALL TOO OFTEN the past 3 weeks. I don't think I shared our crazy story from Monday, but I am not writing about it now! :) Have a great weekend!

Cans for Comments...

If you are a frequent reader of this blog, and I know there are several out there, I am doing a "Cans for Comments" sort of food drive. For every comment that is left between today and Friday at midnight I will donate a can to our local food bank. Bean and Cakes will LOVE doing this! And I will selfishly love your comments! :) If you are not sure how to comment, at the bottom of this post, click on the "comments" and you will be taken to the comment page. From there, post your comment in the available box...even a "Hi!" will work! Then you need to choose your identity! You can choose anonymous and leave your name at the bottom of your comment, or you don't even need to leave your name. It really is pretty simple, and I would love to hear from you also.

I also have to say that THIS WAS NOT MY IDEA! I am joining many other photographers in doing the same...you can check them out here.

Alright, so if I am asking for comments, then I need to leave you with a few pictures (feel free to comment on any post on the entire blog...they will count also!).

These are of Mr. J from last week. I am usually not a props type of lady, but these turned out super cute. I told his mom that I wanted to try it, and if they didn't turn out how I liked then she would never see them. Well, I think they turned out pretty cute...I think the subject is the cutest though!

Have a great night!

Some favorites today...

...that totally popped out at me! I LOVE Miss N's little hat! Totally adorable, and I totally thought it was hand made...it is from Old Navy! Super Duper Trooper Cute! So here are a few more that I love...

...love this expression...

...I swear she is thinking, "This lady is still taking pictures!"...

...and then we have this. I seriously debated on whether to post this one or not, but I kept laughing every time I came back to it. I even asked my husband if he thought it was too inappropriate (maybe I should have asked my mom?) and he said go for it. How often do these things happen that you catch on camera???? This picture was taken near the end (right before the vacuum came out) and this one, well, I think we all know what she is thinking!!!!!

Hope you weren't offended and hope you at least got a little giggle. :)

8 DAYS old...

...and OH-SO-CUTE! Makes me totally anxious for my own little one! Mr. Baby J...was so good the entire session. Got a few shots with wide open eyes, and then off to sleepy land he went. He stayed sleepy as long as he was covered with his little blanket, and his Momma was able to talk him sweetly back to sleep when he began to stir. Too precious. His grandma came to the session also (at my house) and my girls loved chatting with her. They were all so sweet! :) Thanks for the great session M, and it was great to put a face with the name that I hear of often! :)

Here they are...
can you believe all the hair?!?!?!? It looks like he has a little man haircut! LOVE IT!

I LOVE the flaky skin in the next two shots...such a sign of a newborn that passes too quickly...

You didn't think that I would leave the piggies out of a sneak peek, now would you? :) Could have kissed them all over...but I refrained! Didn't want them to think I was a total crazy lady!

I love the sweetness and peacefulness of this next one...

As of now, my last session is Saturday. I am getting larger by the second...at least it feels that way! :) I will ONLY be doing newborn sessions before the baby comes (less than 5 weeks), so if you have a newbie, give me a call or shoot me an email. Also, if your newbie is due in January, call/email me soon so we can set up a time before your little one arrives, and I can get it on my calendar also. Those of you without newbie's, your session will have to wait a bit...I am thinking the beginning of March, BUT we will see as the time gets here. I of course will keep posting about my own little ones, and will make a big announcement when things get swinging again in the spring. I want to thank ALL of you who have given me the opportunity to have a session with you and your kids this past year. Your support has been unbelievable, and I truly never imagined that this business would have blossomed the way it did, and it wouldn't have without the support that you all have given me. God is good, all the time, and He has truly blessed my little life with so much.

Alright, back to work...rest time is close to over! :)