my sweet boy reading his leap tag junior christmas book before bed on christmas eve

we baked cookies for santa (ok actually we just broke the cookies off of the pack, placed them on the tray, and put them in the oven. one of these days i will become more domestic & actually bake. and yes, they were horrible, but santa took one for the team and ate them anyway!) rivers even thought to check the plate in the morning, which was adorable & even still today is talking about santa eating the cookies he baked. that sweet boy of mine remembers everything!

and proof that rivers really is santa's favorite...

christmas morning - he walked out and said, "oh my!" in the most amazed little voice you could imagine.  it was priceless!  the first thing he went to was the leap frog computer, which he actually picked out himself at toys r us the day before.  we had gone to shop for his cousins and of course he wants everything he sees.  i gave him the laptop to keep him happy & quiet while i shopped, but he was having such fun with it & he had just received some money in the mail from his great aunt & uncle (thanks alice & larry!), so i went ahead and got it for him.  i did, however, not let him have it back after we left the store.  i think he thought it was gone forever, so he was sooooo excited to see it again in the morning!  he even remarked that we had bought it from toys r us!  (he remembers everything!)

then we moved on to the next fun things that caught his eye!

and then it was time for a cheerio & milk break along with a little mickey mouse club house...

and this was about the time that gigi, papa, and uncle alex arrived.  he was so happy to see them & to show them everything santa brought! and the present unwrapping resumed at this point...

i should also add that all of these presents were not only from santa.  this next one was part of what came from jaime & patrick.  rivers loves this whole (huge) set!  thanks so much guys!!

and this adorable little book was from laurie & family.  he loves it!  so very cool that all the animals move!  thank you laurie, chris, justice, & seth!

rivers giving his gigi some love.

rivers and his papa playing with the new stamp set while we were cooking breakfast.

and i just love this little picture i caught.  he was patiently watching his daddy open a present.  so sweet!

so i will leave you there with our christmas morning, but i'll be back with a few more images from our evening.  can you believe there was even more gifting later that night?!  santa stopped at gigi & papa's house also!  i told you he is santa's favorite!  ;)

rivers certainly was santa's favorite this year & i have the pictures to prove it!  but first, here he is with the big man himself...

santa isn't looking too happy in this photo, but at least he doesn't look drunk (circa santa 2008).  i promise he was a good one though & was smiling in every other photo that the photographer took.  she had 3 photos for me to choose from & the other 2 had santa smiling, but rivers was not.  i opted for rivers smiling, rather than santa.  i did make a photoshop suggestion to the girl, so that santa's head could be switched out, but she just looked at me like i was crazy & i assured her i was kidding (even though i wasn't).  while i did bring my huge camera along (which put santa's helper's camera to shame), i didn't have the time or energy to pull it out (shame on me).  santa didn't have a single child on his lap or in line when we walked up, (which was nice because there was no wait) so i plopped rivers down, told him to smile, and we were out of there just as quick!  i was happy to get in & get out without messing around with my own camera.  that's what a busy holiday season does to me!  horrible, i know.

so i can't believe this was rivers' 3rd time visiting santa!!  here are his previous 2 photos...

2009

2008

*not sure if you've noticed, but he's had red converse shoes on each year, 'cause he's cool like that! ;)  also notice the progression of growing hair - its so funny to see!

it has been much too long since i've last shared some images.  i took a few of mr rivers today just around the house & decided that gosh darn it - these are going on the blog today!  here he is first thing this morning after getting dressed in his grinch shirt.  in case you can't read it, it says, "gimmie all the presents!"

this was a bit later.  we had run out to pick up our last couple of gifts & when we returned he happily went off to play in his playroom.  this is how i found him...

after that last picture he said, "no pictures please" so i hung my head and found something else to do.  :(

but then a little while later he came asking for a snack.  he was happy to have some yogurt & he just looked so big sitting there eating it, so i couldn't help but snap a couple more...

either the holidays are really getting to him, or he was dead serious about no more pictures...

so it goes, life with a 2 year old.  we go from happy to sad, loving to mad... all in a blink of the eye!  and in actuality, he was upset over the flavor of his yogurt.  he said, "no flavor please!"  and i explained that they are all the same.  mind you, he had already finished off 1 other cup of yogurt (same flavor) right before this little meltdown... merry christmas eve!  hope you're not feeling grinchy today!  ;)

little man is napping as i type & i'm confident he will wake well rested & a happy boy again!  and if that doesn't do it, then i'm sure all the goodies under the tree tomorrow morning will!

i never felt cheated or lied to because my parents raised me to believe in santa.  they also raised me catholic (which gives me far more reasons to feel cheated & lied to in my personal opinion) and i attended sunday school & church from the time i was in pre-school until i made my confirmation in the catholic church when i was in 8th grade.  so obviously, i also believed in jesus & knew the reason we celebrated christmas was to celebrate jesus' birth.  santa didn't take away from that.  if anything, santa made christmas time more special & magical.  while my views on christianity & religion have changed over time i still think that christmas is worth celebrating.  i still believe that there was a jesus, just as i believe that there once was a st. nick.  i've never wanted my blog to be political or religious, but it is my blog & so therefore i can write whatever the heck is on my mind.  i didn't know there were these certain types of christians (or people) until i moved to north carolina who are "oh so holy" and don't want to "lie" to their children about santa.  it honestly baffles my brain, makes me quite sad for their children, and most of all makes me question their motives, their parenting, and their minds in general.  (sounds dramatic, i know, but i do think it is!)  while i have a hard time articulating how i really feel about the subject, i came across a blog post that really hit the nail on its head about this one.  so, i'd like to share the link to anyone who may find this subject fascinating... and in general, its just a fun blog to keep up with.

http://www.henryandgrace.com/2010/12/christians-case-for-santa.html

breathe.  that's exactly what i've been doing for a couple of days now.  i am so lucky to have the next 2 weeks off of work.  christmas is saturday, which means life can slow down a bit, for now.  all of my hard work over the past 2 months has paid off - i have happy clients, with prints or discs of their images in their hands.  hopefully many of those pictures will make their way into their family's homes as gifts this christmas.  while i do still have 2 engagement sessions before the end of the year (one this week & one next week) as well as a meeting with a potential bride & groom, i'm feeling pretty relaxed & happy to have this time with my boogie & jeremy to enjoy the holidays this year.  luckily jeremy has next week off as well, so we'll be a happy little family of 3 home together enjoying our cozy home.  :)

jeremy ordered netflix through our wii, which is pretty darn neat.  we've watched movies the last 3 nights (something i haven't had time for in the past few months) and i really can't tell you how nice its felt to put rivers to bed and not have to go upstairs to my computer to get work done.  instead i've poured a glass of wine and plopped myself on the couch until i'm ready for bed.  so nice!

i am still playing catch up (in the gift department that is).  because i had been so busy, i didn't have time for any shopping.  yesterday & today i've been out picking up some last minute gifts.  i'm still not done however, but hopefully by tomorrow i will be!

i'm really hoping to get caught up on my own pictures in these next 2 weeks, so hopefully i will have some to show you soon.  and hopefully i'll be back blogging more regularly again!

if you need a good laugh just as i did today, this will do the trick! enjoy!!

awkward pregnancy photos

in case you were wondering, (which i'm sure you weren't), we did find the time to get a tree & get it decorated. it happened in baby steps... first we got the tree. it sat naked for about a week. then we put lights on the tree. we left it like that for a couple of days. and finally we decorated our tree. i think that also took us a couple of days... rivers was finally impressed once the ornaments were on it! ;)

where the heck have i been?  after promising to blog more, i've disappeared for almost 1 month!  although, if you also keep up with my photo blog, then you've seen what i've been up to.  busy, busy, busy is all that i can say.  november was a blurrr and this month is turning into the same.  by the end of the month i will have done 8 engagement sessions this fall/winter.  and that is wonderful because come spring, the blog will be bursting with weddings!  i've already booked 10 weddings for next year, so only 2 of my couples have yet to do their engagement sessions.  of course, i do hope to continue booking more come next year.  i also have a few brides who are opting for bridal sessions as well, which makes me so happy!  not as many ladies are doing bridal sessions it seems, but they are so fun for me (and hopefully the bride!), so i'm really looking forward to them!

so let's see... what did our family do in november?  well, we celebrated thanksgiving of course.  my grandma & aunt came in from texas to be with us.  it was so great seeing them as it had been a little over 1 year since i saw them last.  and of course rivers has changed & grown so much in that time, so i was happy for them to see my sweet boy again as well.  my mother apparently has developed a fish allergy and spent thanksgiving in bed after having eaten salmon the night before.  she unfortunately missed out on our big meal & therefore made me hostess for the day (but luckily in her home)!  our dinner was yummy & we all enjoyed each other's company, while missing mom of course.  i, unfortunately, do not have any pictures to share other than the ones i posted on thanksgiving over on my photo blog. here is the direct link to that post.

tomorrow is my mom's birthday & i am taking the day off of work, so that she too can enjoy a day off of work. she scheduled herself a facial for tomorrow morning & i'm so happy she did. she absolutely deserves to be pampered on her birthday! and i am very much looking forward to spending the day with my little man & catching up on some errands such as grocery shopping. sounds fun, huh? but it is very much needed and i'm grateful i'll be able to get it done during a weekday while most others are off at work. i certainly do enjoy grocery shopping when the store is less busy!  i'm also hoping to get in some editing time while rivers is napping.

this past weekend was help-portrait.  i blogged about it (again) over on my photo blog.  it went well - a few minor technical difficulties, but we got it all worked out & were able to provide some people with new portraits just in time for the holidays!  laurie is already planning for next year, which i'm sure will come together easier & with much less stress for her the 2nd time around!

this upcoming weekend laurie & i are doing a portrait swap. she'll be photographing my family & i'll be photographing hers. i'm really looking forward to it - its been 2 years since we last did this!! how has that much time passed?! its totally true that whatever your profession is where your own family is lacking. the plumber has leaky pipes - the psychologist has crazy kids - the photographer has very few family photos! (shame on me, i know!)  of course, i do have plenty of pictures of rivers - just not the 3 of us together.

in between all the engagement sessions i've been doing, i've also had family sessions scattered about.  to be perfectly honest, family sessions always make me nervous, but then i always walk away from them with a smile. its such a joy to see families interact with each other & of course the finished product of a family portrait is such a wonderful gift to give & something that my clients treasure. in spending time with various families it has me thinking about my own family. rivers has brought so much joy, love, and excitement to our lives. last night while i was cooking dinner, jeremy & rivers were rolling around playing in the living room. that really does bring so much joy to my heart. i still feel though that something or someone is missing. we definitely want to add another member to our family and no, not another pet, but a sibling for rivers. with my schedule as it is next year (weddings booked march - december), that is simply not in the cards. and truth be told, when it actually comes down to me throwing out the birth control pills, i will be slightly terrified!  ignorance really is bliss - it was much easier going into it the first time having no clue what i was getting myself into!  nevertheless - eventually the "right time" will come & i'm sure we'll never look back!  of course, i know there is never a right time.  more appropriately, the time will come where i bite the bullet & say to hell with it - i just have to time it to where i don't have a signed contract with a bride! ;)