Family Christmas Photo Shoot

To save money and time this year, we opted to take our own family pics.  The tripod and remote were a new thing for us, plus we made the mistake of going for late afternoon sunlight (a good thing) which meant taking pics immediately after naps (apparently not a good thing).  Though the boys were rested, they were GRUMPY.  But since the sun was setting, we couldn't waste time... not the best combination.  Anyway, here's a collection of some of the pics we got - some good, some bad; some edited, some not.  Some funny, some sad, and some with my baby's face covered in snot. ;)

We started on our new front porch.  This one made the back of the Christmas card this year:

This one, however, did not:

A few more came out pretty good, I thought:

And awkward, though it may be, I love this progression:

How hilarious is Oli's face here?

We then headed over to Rice University (surprised?) to take a few more:

Melt your heart much?

Of course, there were plenty of times when only one kid cooperated... Love Elliot here:

And Oliver here:

We got a couple other decent ones, but I definitely think I need to learn more about self shooting before trying this again:

We finally landed on this one for the Christmas card this year...

And after about 15 minutes of shooting, the boys were, of course D-U-N done.  So we played a little:

Good, clean, family fun!

One Happy Christmas Baby

I really am planning to catch up on a long list of posts since late October, but I wanted to share the rest of our Christmas photo shoots with you first, while we're still in the Christmas season, so to speak.

Elliot was a great sport one morning when I got inspired while Oliver was still sleeping, and these were the results...

Merry Christmas!

Elliot: 6 Months

I will catch up.  I will catch up.  I will catch up.  At least I can now say that I have too many pics of my kid to sort through and post...  A much better problem than the first few months where I had few to none!  That said, many of the pics are from my phone and/or unedited, so just show me some grace.  I think he's gorgeous enough to dazzle anyway. ;)

I took advantage of some natural light in our living room a couple of months ago.  How can anyone resist those gray-blue eyes?


Love his little smiles:



I snagged these pictures on the floor of the kitchen while Oliver and Momma Joy made cookies.  The pout:

The query:

The smile:
And the laugh:

And, while Momma Joy was here (yes, she visited in September... no, I will not feel guilty about my tardiness), we bought a little bath seat for him.  He LOVED it:


I tried to get a picture of the boys together in the bath, but first one smiled:

Then the other.  Go figure.

We got a shot of his first meal of rice cereal:

And his little mustache while eating sweet potatoes at the park:

The most fun we've been having lately is "dancing in Mommy office" to "the Holy song" (which, by the way, is "The Earth is Yours" by Gungor - totally recommend it... until your two-year-old asks to play it on repeat for hours on end. literally.).  It is Oliver's favorite.  More pics from his dancing to come later... In the meantime, here's a taste of Elliot's entertainment during those sessions.  Watching Oliver:

Dancing himself:


And laughing with big brother:


Oh. my. heart.

Two more happy bath pics, just because I can't resist!


I'm telling you, happiest, sweetest, most precious baby EVER!!