Special Morning

Yesterday was super special - we got to watch our niece, Lilly, be baptized! We're so proud of her and we're so glad we got to be there.

Saturday Morning With Shannon

In August, Shannon Hunt, one of my friends from high school, got in touch with me about being "guinea pigs" for a new type of photography session that she's beginning to offer.  Sessions that are relaxed, casual, unstaged and capture a real moment in your everyday life.  

I said sure, and although I was a little bit nervous about having her show up to my house at 7:30 a.m with specific instructions to "just wake up and be" (i.e.sans make-up and hair in a messy bun) and to not coordinate our pjs or anything like that - I couldn't be more pleased with the moments she captured.  

They uploaded all out of order, but I'm just going to go with it.  Sorry if it's confusing :)

Shannon stayed until after 10:00, but Dave had to head in to work before she left - so here we all are giving Daddy kisses before he heads off for the day...

This isn't a super flattering picture of me (to say the least), but it is TOTALLY Luke right now!  He loves to wrestle and is constantly wanting to rough house.

I'm super excited that Shannon got the picture of Mason walking on his knees - since the next week is when he started walking full-time.  So glad to have a picture of this super quirky stage.

We ate pancakes (a Saturday norm for us) and Mason was checking Miss Shannon out while he ate...

Luke was pumped because I let him pour his own syrup:

Saying the blessing:

Mason picked up a plum out of the fruit basket before we started taking pictures and he WOULD NOT let it go during the entire shoot :)

Luke built this train track all by himself and he was sooooooooooo excited and proud to show it to Miss Shannon:

Me, Mason and "the plum":

LOVE!!!

DOUBLE LOVE!

One of my favorites:

I always LOVE having our family pictures done for Christmas cards and all that, but these are something totally different that I will treasure FOREVER!  We typically have our pictures done twice a year (Fall for Christmas cards and Spring for birthdays), but I'm really thinking about having this type of session once a year as well.  Shannon was FABULOUS and so easy to work with.

Harvest Party 2012

Last night was our BGF's annual Harvest Party. 

You can read about past parties here... 2011, 2010, 2009

 I'm saving our "family costume" for Trick-Or-Treating so we improvised with a shark and dragon costume...

 Mason's face in the picture below CRACKS ME UP!!!

AAAAAH! THE SWEETNESS!!! 

They're holding hands! :)

On the run - of course!

Showing off his fin...

Dave couldn't get off of work, so I headed over to the Reyes' house solo.  I was mildly intimidated (two very active boys, one very nauseous mama), but they were fine.  Despite a couple of meltdowns we arrived home unscathed :)

Of course my boys would find the sandbox - they were COVERED!

Mason's little high step walk and his wings were crackin' me up :)

We had so much fun at this year's party - company and food were fabulous as always.  LOVE our friends :)