Our Entryway

I wanted to share with you what we did for the section of wall between the door and the stairs. I had this portrait that we had taken last year by Rachel Clare made into a canvas from Costco.

 I was very impressed with the quality of the canvas and how it turned out. Of course, it also helps to start out with a great picture! I wanted to incorporate the same color that I painted the kitchen wall so I painted this 4'x5' rectangle on the wall and then my wonderful husband added white trim around the edges. Very easy and it adds so much to this wall where as just the canvas would have looked plain and small on this big wall.

Overall, I am really happy with it and I'm thinking of doing something fun here for the holidays but we'll see if I get around to that this year! I have more plans for the area to the right of this, a mudroom! I am desperate for a place for the kids' shoes (I include my husband in this!) plus jackets, backpacks and all of that other stuff. But I have to take it one project at a time right?
Right now we are actually in Lake Tahoe with some great friends so hopefully next week I will have some pictures to share from our trip!

Class Pictures

 I was blessed with the opportunity to come in to the boys' preschool class and take school pictures. We turned it into a fundraiser for the class and overall it went very well considering I had 23 kids to shoot!

 Of course, the two kids that gave me problems were my own, but I think that is because they are so tired of me taking their picture all the time! Zachary was pretty good although that face in the picture above is pretty funny!

 These are the kinds of pictures that Gabriel was giving me...

 A face only a mother could love, right?

 Zachary was pretty cute although then he started laughing and I got...

 this one and...

 this one, the little funny boy!

 I do love this face though, classic Zach complete with sweater that he continually tells me has a rumbus on it, they are learning a lot in preschool!

I had each kid start off with a picture of them holding this chalkboard sign that we wrote their name on with the year. It is not only great for the parents to have the child's name and the year on it but then it also helped me when editing and copying the pictures to know who was who! I just got to do the other preschool class' pictures so maybe my friend will let me share a few of her son when I get them edited!

I'm BACK!!!

Okay, so I know that I have been MIA for a long time now. I have had several really tough months and the thought of opening up my heart on here has been too much to handle. But I am ready to celebrate the holidays and then start the new year fresh, but more on that another day! For now, let's just pretend like I was never gone... ok? 

Ever since I took that online Photography Class by Maggie Holmes my photography skills have improved so much and I have now officially gone professional! It's a scary thought for me but when I am behind a camera I feel at home and there is something about watching people through a lens that makes my heart sing. So let me share with you some of the photos that I have taken over the last six months and kind of fill you in on what has been happening in our lives...

 This is once again that gorgeous couple that I have had the opportunity to shoot several times. We have this plan to take photos every 3 months for their first year but November got too crazy for everyone... boo! I still want to take some and just pretend that it is November.

 We shot these out in Barstow at the Harvey House. This building has beautiful architecture and was a lot of fun to wander around and find new places to shoot.

 Sometimes you don't even need to see faces to feel the emotion, and that is something that I love to capture!

 As we walked down this little walkway I saw this arrow painted on the pillar and instantly had the idea for this picture, it is so perfect!
Next we jump to Halloween and my adorable children, I know I'm biased, but they are pretty cute!

 Zachary was Bumblebee from Transformers and they were obsessed with their costumes for weeks wanting to wear them, I have learned my lesson, next year I will not buy them so early because they don't understand.

 I love this one of them walking away holding hands. It is not very often that I get to capture the connection between these two. Usually the only connection that I see is one on top of the other while they wrestle.

 And here is my Optimus Prime. Every year I find it funny that Gabriel picks the lead character and Zachary always picks the sidekick or secondary character, when in real life normally Zachary is the dominant one.

 Kaley was Hermione and she loved having the robe and tie which came in handy when the final movie came out on Blu ray and we were able to dress up to watch it.

 Madison was my beautiful Cleopatra and I had so much fun doing her hair and makeup for this.

We went to the pumpkin patch with the playgroup that I have been taking the boys to  and we had a great time.  I took each of the kids over to the pumpkin field and shot some pictures of them. They were surprisingly very cooperative.

Kaley was pretty cute as usual.

Madison picked out the perfect shirt since it matched the tree almost exactly!

And my Gabriel always has so much personality!

Madison turned 9 in October and Kaley turned 7 in November. I have never really done a big birthday party for them and their friends so this year we decided to do one big party for both of them since they share quite a few friends. I will share more on the party another day, but I these are the photos that I took and printed to sit on the mantle above where they sat to open presents.
Well, I guess for now that is it although I have so much more to share, I promise that I won't be gone for long!