Theme: Wind and Theme: Texture

I'm so close to the end of the year with this project and I'm excited that I made it all the way through; even if most of my themes were posted a week (or two) late :-)! Things are going to be busy around here the next few weeks, so hopefully I can get the last of these finished up amidst all the family photo shoots. I took both these pictures at a great new location I found and will be using with clients for the first time tomorrow. I can't wait!

week of Oct. 31st

week of Nov. 7th

Theme: Memories

week of Oct 24th

Recently I have been feeling like my kids are growing up even faster than usual. They are taller, smarter, spunkier, funnier, and crazier. I still remember each of them being my little cuddly babies and although it is exciting to see them changing, it's definitely a little sad too.

Theme: On The Shelf

week of October 17th

I'm trying to get caught up on everything before all the family photo session fun begins!

My house is full of lots of little shelves and almost all have children's books on them. I just can't resist. They are cute, and fun, and educational so you can't go wrong, right?! Someday soon I'm hoping to have a whole wall of shelves in our family room that will fit my books, some kids' books and all these lovely CDs...with photos thrown in the mix too. Part of me is definitely sad that music is all online now because I used to LOVE getting the newest CDs from my favorite bands...I was definitely music obsessed!

Theme: My Neighbors

Week of October 10th

We definitely aren't the most social in our neighborhood, but this themed was timed perfectly because it came right as we attended our first neighborhood BBQ! My oldest couldn't wait to go and see her friends from the bus and the rest of us were excited about the good food. The kids ran around crazy the whole night long and had an absolute blast. I'm sure we'll be attending many more neighborhood events in the future!

Theme: Color

Week of October 3rd

Our oldest daughter has had the amazing opportunity to be involved in a Two-Way Immersion program (for Spanish) at her elementary school (and hopefully Addie will be joining next year for Kindergarten). One of the mom's organized an entry for a program going on at the school and we were thrilled to get to join in! Each child has a different letter to hold spelling out "Diversity Rocks" and will be arranged in a presentation set to music. We got letter "T" and had fun coming up with our plan and taking the pictures this afternoon. I can't wait to see the finished product!

Theme: Autumn/Spring

week of Sept 19th

When I think of Spring and Fall, I think of playing outside. Houston is definitely lacking in beautiful fall colors, in fact we kind of skip right over these two seasons. But there is a definite shift in the weather where our highs are in the 70s and it actually cools down a bit at night and it is just heaven! We have been getting some sneak peaks of the nice weather to come and after a summer of avoiding the outdoors unless we were in a pool, my kids are loving enjoying the backyard again!

Theme: The Kitchen

week of September 12th

Miss Adeline is definitely my most enthusiastic helper in the kitchen and is finally getting to the point where she is more help than hindrance. I love to cook and try new recipes, and Addie runs in as soon as she hears me in the kitchen to help measure and dump spices, stir, and of course, taste test.

Theme: Spice

week of September 5th

This crazy kid has been really spicing up my life lately so that was my first thought when I saw this theme! He is talking non-stop (and demanding a response from me), sprinting full speed wherever we are, climbing on anything he can manage, not wanting to eat any healthy food, and try to be a jokester at all times. Preston is definitely quite a character! When he isn't driving me crazy he is completely hilarious and entertaining.

Theme: Sunset

week of August 29th

Yes, I am behind on these themes again. Sunset was a hard one for me because I am always putting my kids to bed right as the sun is setting and with all the trees in our neighborhood I can't just get a good picture from our yard. Last night, however, we were in Austin watching the UT vs. BYU football game and I finally witnessed a sunset :-). Unfortunately, I also witnessed BYU lose the game by 1 point...so sad.

Theme: Defeat

Week of August 22nd

Try as I might, I often feel defeated...mostly by the amount of things I need to do/want to do/wish I could do, and the lack of time I have to accomplish them. My house is one thing I have had to learn to let go of a little bit. It is never as clean or as organized as I wish it could be, but I have slowly been able to accept that at this stage of life it just isn't possible, so there is not reason to let it stress me out.

This past week as I was driving home from a youth activity at church I was struck by how pretty the clouds were looking as the sun set. They looked as if they were painted and the light was changing color in a beautiful way. It was hard to see once I got home, surrounded by trees and houses, but I tried to capture just a little of it. Moments like that remind me what my priorities should be and help me from feeling defeated.

Theme: Peace

week of August 15th

I actually thought a lot about this theme during the week...what makes me feel at peace and what I could show in a picture to portray it. I think I feel most at peace when I am relaxing with my family in the outdoors, just observing them loving each other. It has been way too sunny and hot to have a very peaceful time outdoors lately though, so I'm posting this picture from last summer. We took a trip to the beach with my family, and although a hurricane came through and ruined most of the weather during our week there, we still created some fun memories together.

Theme: Shadows

Week of August 8th

With all these hot, dry days of summer we definitely see our shadows plenty! We were out one evening running errands and I had the kids stop really quick in a parking lot for these. Preston doesn't stop for long though!

Theme: Water

Week of August 1st

Hooray! I'm actually on time with this one :-). 
It definitely helps that we spend nearly every day at the pool so there are plenty of opportunities to capture some water. I don't typically bring my camera with me swimming because I am busy keeping up with my 3 kids, but my sister came with us one day this week so I was sure to take advantage! Only a couple more weeks of real summer left and we will be sad to see our days at the pool over!

Theme: Time

week of July 25th

Having just returned home from a reunion weekend with my college roommates, the first thing that came to mind when I thought of "time" was how quickly it goes by! It doesn't seem like long ago that we all met freshmen year and decided to get an apartment off campus together as sophomores. We were finding out who we were and what we wanted in life. Now, 12 years later, we are all graduated, married and have accomplished so much. We are doctors, professors, mothers (11 kiddos between us all), and world travelers. I learn so much from my girls every time I am with them and am so happy that we have been able to keep in touch as the years go by!

In 2000 all living in our apartment together...

...and in 2011 all grown up :-).

Theme: Summer

week of July 18th

I wanted to get some good pool pictures for this theme, but since my little guy ended up getting stitches this weekend we are staying away from the pool for awhile. Instead I had fun looking back through some of my pictures of the summer thus far to highlight some of our favorite summer activities. I LOVE summer and I can't believe it has flown by so quickly!

Swim Lessons and LOTS of days at the Pool

Yummy, Fresh Fruit

Summer Holidays

"School" and Craft Time

Fun with Family

Sonic Limeades

Family Vacations and Outings

and Summer Sports

Theme: Family

Week of July 11th

We just returned from our family vacation camping in the mountains of CA. Although I was nervous about how it would go with our three little ones, I ended up loving it! It was such great quality family time...no phones, no computers, no TVs...just all of us together with no interruptions. It was absolutely beautiful and we had some amazing adventures together. I love my little fam! Here are a couple of my favorite shots from our first day.

Theme: Red, White and Blue

week of July 4th

When I saw these cute buntings hanging up while on a shoot, I couldn't wait to come back with my kiddos in their festive attire. Growing up in a very patriotic family I have great memories of the 4th of July (the food, the fireworks, the parades) and I get excited to look for cute red, white and blue outfits each year. I am so thankful to live in this country and for all the sacrifices that have been made on my behalf. I am proud to be the sister and granddaughter of great men who have fought to protect our rights. Happy 4th of July everyone!

Theme: Lighting Experimentation

week of June 27th

Once again I had big plans for this theme that never came to fruition :-). Such is life. This past week during a photo shoot at a location that I have been to many times I realized there was beautiful light if I shot from a new angle. So, what I ended up taking from the theme this week is not to forget to keep trying to new things. Even if you know you can get a great picture from one angle, still try it from another too and you may be pleasantly surprised at the results.

Plus, this gave me the chance to post this cute picture of big sister Audrey trying to help Chase smile. (I'll have the rest up soon karen!)

Theme: Swing

week of June 20th

For some reason I loved this picture the instant I took it. It was kind of an accidental picture at my daughter's preschool Christmas party too (we had moved things outside and I was checking my settings), but I just love the red in the background and cute Anna's curls and pretty little face. I have lots of pictures of my kids swinging and I like lots of them, but this was the first one that came to mind.

Theme: Father

Week of June 13th

I didn't want to let this week's theme pass by because my kids definitely have the best dad around :-) and he deserves a day in the spotlight! One of the things that makes me happiest in life is to watch them all together having fun and loving each other.

I am grateful for my amazing dad, who always kept us laughing, and Mike's sweet dad too...they definitely showed us how it should be done!