Abby outtakes

yesterday i posted a photo of abby for the i heart faces challenge for the week.

well, the photo i posted was not my original idea.

my original idea, was that i wanted to wrap abby up in a string of lights and take her picture by the tree and make it look like, she got into the lights - ya know? i mean: she IS a mischievous little girl :)

so i got the only strand of lights we hadn't put up, and plugged them in by the tree and called her over to me.

she was perched on the couch and refused to budge.

re-fused.

big time.

think: teenage rebellion refusal.

so, i brought the lights to her:

after a few tries at wrapping her up, she gave me such a pouty face that i just couldn't take it any more!

i snapped a few quick photos and then knew that that was not going to work.

so we tried something different. lay the lights out on the ground and let her sit in the middle of them all, then take her picture from above - she was MUCH happier to oblige with that request :)

hey: anything is better than her pouty faces :)

the moral of the story is:

i'm going to be a horrible-push-over mom whenever i have kids and they give me a pouty face :P

I Heart Faces - Furry Faces

my puppy is such a good model :)
but she wasn't too fond of my original idea - come back tomorrow to see how that went - it's pretty funny.
but she does love to have her picture taken :)
plus i gave her lots of treats and she was a happy girl :)

be sure to head over to i[heart]faces to see more "pet" photos!
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Our House [before and afters]

okay so this is kind of ridiculous and i know it.

back story:

we have a 3 bedroom house. 

we have lived here 14 months and have done a TON of work to make this house our own.

a few weeks ago, D got the brilliant idea to switch the office and our guest room.

and so, the day after Thanksgiving [the only day he has off and i have to work!] he switched the rooms.

but, after he switched them, i said, we have to do something about our "new" guest room.

[you'll realize why when you see the first photo!]

so, we both had taken yesterday off - originally we had planned a few things to do, but they all fell through and we ended up spending the day painting the guest room!

see for yourself how horrible it was:

and how AMAZING it now looks!

i am SO in love with the color we picked! i really wanted to do this turquoise color and brown in the room - and with all the dark woodwork, i knew it'd really pop :) ahh i'm so in love :)

here's another shot:

so, obviously the room isn't completely finished - pictures need hung and i need a new bedspread - but for now, it looks SO much more amazing than it did!

anndd - while we were painting, we decided to repaint the stair-well too!

it was also in desperate need of some paint-love :)

[i'm not sure who lived here before, but they had this fascination with this ugly yellow color, it's in our bathroom and in the "new" office too - those rooms will eventually also get painted!]

well now it's what i like to call "hot chocolate" :D

it's a really smooth & beautiful color that i was a little nervous about at first, but i adore now!

another shot, coming UP the stairs -

so i have plans for THIS wall space too! i already have a picture display planned out in my mind and i can't wait to carry it out :D

so - our house [namely our stair-well and guest room] look incredibly amazing now - and i couldn't be happier :)

I Heart Faces - Feet!

i thought we were having a good time.
i mean who wouldn't? we were taking pictures & the little ones were getting rewarded for being good with lollipops & marshmallows - sheesh you would think they would want me to stay forever!

but apparently, i had overstayed my welcome.

it was quite obvious when miss bella brought me my shoes.
and then dropped them in my lap.
guess that's my cue to leave.

so as i was putting my camera and lenses away, she took my shoes back and decided she wanted to try them on - see if they were her style.
all i have to say is - rock those chucks bella! you go girl :)

[ps - click here in case you missed seeing their family's photoshoot blogged]

be sure to head over to i[heart]faces to see more "feet" photos!

The Z Family [family portraits, Sayre, PA]

a lot can happen in a year -

lots of changes:

like moving into a new house,

having a new baby,

and growing up BIG time!

you have to remember this family from last year - they were so adorable and so supportive of me last Christmas, especially with me starting to really kick my photography into a higher gear.

well - lots of changes and one whole year later, here we are again!

this family is still SO adorable & i felt like i could have hung out at their house all day long :)

little miss big sister isn't so little any more - yes she still loves to hug & kiss & smother her little siblings to death - khloe really has grown up into quite the little helper this year. with a brand new baby brother [ohh yess - baby jonah!] she's become mommy's number 1 helper :)

i must say: i got a LOT of really awesomely FUNNY pictures!

these girls are so much fun and i loved that their personalities really shone through with all the giggling and silliness that occurred :)

miss bella :)

and miss sophia :)

and of course, who could forget the 2 love birds that are in charge of all the silliness?

sam & jeremy: thank you so much for inviting me back to your house again this year - i had SO much fun with you & your kiddos - hope you enjoy all your pictures!!

black carpet

black carpets.

seriously.

who in their right mind lays down BLACK carpets in the most walked through room of the house? [which in my house is the kitchen]

me :)

see, they look fantastic in my kitchen, which is white, yellow, and black.

[that is: when they are clean they look great]

but keeping them clean is a horrible, never-ending task.

and many times i've considered getting different carpets.

but after today - i think i'll keep those black carpets forever :)

i took our Abby to the groomers this morning to get a bath & have her nails clipped - she has those horrible black nails that are really hard for us to cut because we can't see how short not to cut them like you can on a dog's white nails.

and we assumed the groomer with her practiced skill would be able to clip them for us.

we were wrong.

i didn't realize it until i had gotten home and Abby was jumping all over Derrick.

see under those black carpets, is white linoleum, and suddenly there was blood all over the white floor.

after we tackled her and wrapped her foot up in some gauze we surveyed the damage.

bloody footprints all over the floor - with a trail all the way from the door - all the way up the steps onto the porch - in the driveway - and yes, in the backseat of my car.

all i can say is - i'm SO thankful for black carpets - that they aren't any other color - because they would have been ruined otherwise.

needless to say, it gave me a great excuse to cuddle on the couch all afternoon with my puppy & not do much of anything else :)

update: she's survived & and her foot did stop bleeding :) she seems to have happily forgotten the mishap.

I Heart Faces - Bust a Gut!

so i know that i used a photo from this session for the last i[heart]faces photo challenge - but i just couldn't help myself because this photo captured the theme perfectly! and that theme is "bust a gut!" - aka: laughter :)

i loove this shot of my nephew & brother-in-law simply because my nephew is laughing SO hard! he loved the idea of both him & his daddy swinging together and thought it was pretty funny :)

be sure to head over to i[heart]faces to see more "laughing" photos!

Abbey Family [Family Portraits, Waverly, NY]

i know, i know. 

you're jealous.

because i have the cutest nephew in the world :)

and i get to take his pictures :)

and take all the credit for how absolutely adorable he is :)

don't believe me? well allow me to melt your heart with his adorable-ness.

we had the most perfect fall afternoon that we seized for photos.

it was perfect.

warm, golden sunlight, crunchy leaves, smiling faces - perfect.

i totally love how all of their photos turned out [and maybe i'm just a little biased because mr. pj-man is my nephew] but i think these have to be the most awesome-est photos ever - simply because i love the people that are in them so much!

i think this has to be one of my all time favorite photos - of all time - of pj anyways :)

isn't he precious?

and don't you LOVE his shoes?!

hehe so, one of the things i love the most about fall is walking on crunchy leaves.

i love walking on crunchy leaves!

and, i introduced mr. pj-man to this love, and i think he loves it now too :)

okay, and one more - because i love his face in this photo :)

Santa Claus is coming to town

You better watch out,
You better not cry,
Better not pout,
I'm telling you why:

Santa Claus has come to town!

It was cold, and my toes definitely developed some sort of frost-bite on them, but it was all worth it to see the big man himself ride down the street on top of his slei.. I mean fire truck :)

Hey, my little town was doing the best it could, and the closest thing to a sleigh it could come up with apparently was the top of the fire truck :)

At least he still had his reindeer to lead him!

Let the holidays being :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope this evening finds you with your fridges full of leftovers, your tummies full of pumpkin pie, and your hearts full of gratitude.

Today I am reminded that Thanksgiving should not be just one day a year, but an attitude lived out each and every day.

There is a photo that has been passed around Facebook & Pinterest lately that says something along the lines of "What if you woke up today, and only had the things that you thanked God for yesterday?" And every time I see that photo, I say a quick little "thank you, God" prayer for my husband. I don't know what I would do without him. And I know a lot of people say that, but I really mean it. He is so fantastic and puts up with ME - haha - and does all sorts of little things for me that can so easily go unnoticed. I love him so much and I am so thankful for him.

I'm equally thankful for my family and friends and the way God has provided for us throughout this past year.

And I want to take the time to say thank you to everyone who has allowed me to take their photos this year and who faithfully read my ramblings :) Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

And now - that Thanksgiving Day has come to a close - it's officially time to begin celebrating Christmas! WOOHOO!

relaxing

it's been an evening of reading storybooks,

relaxing with family,

and being updated on what's going on with the Penguins game :)

i love my family <3 

Christmas Trees - Target - Unhealthy Dinners

tonight:

we took our annual family photo [all 20 of us, look for the results of that later]

we put up the Christmas tree, 

realized that all the lights from last year were burnt out, 

went to target to get new lights, 

came home & put up the new lights,

add garland & ornaments and ta-da!

operation Christmas tree = successful :)

oh and we had pumpkin pie, pumpkin roll, cheez-its, and cheetos for dinner.

[we are SUCH a health-conscious family]

it's SO much fun being home & being with my family -

but i miss my D, and my abby too.

Sam & Jeana [family portraits, Sayre, PA]

photographers usually talk about how important it is for their clients to trust them. how important it is to build that relationship of trust, so when you ask them to do something that may seem silly - they'll do it because they trust you.

well i'm here to tell you that just as important as trust - is having your clients allow you to be completely in control :)

i met sam & jeana at their house, and that was the only location we had agreed on - where we would meet :) we had thrown around a few possibilities as far as where we wanted to take pictures, but nothing had been set in stone.

on my way over to their house, i noticed this path that went thru the woods, and presumably down to the edge of a river that ran under the bridge i was crossing. i instantly took note of that as a possible photo location.

when i got to sam & jeana's, they said that i could take them wherever i wanted [complete control]. so after i gave a little evil laugh - i took them back to that spot i had seen earlier - totally intending only to be there for a few minutes before moving on to somewhere else.

[and also because i was parked half-off-to-the-side-of-the-road and i was terrified i was going to get ticketed or something!]

well, we spent a whole hour wondering around in those woods. turns out - that path that i saw, branches off to several other paths - and we just walked and enjoyed ourselves, and every so often i'd go: OH stand right over there! haha

sam & jeana are the sweetest things - we just met them a few months ago when they started coming to our church. when i think about them as a couple, i have to describe them as "romantic" - or at least, sam is :) he's definitely a hopeless romantic. we had a couples dinner at church right after they started coming, and sam proudly told everyone story of how they met and their engagement and all about their wedding, all the while we ladies sat in apt attention and with lots of oooohhhs and aaaaawwwws :) 

so yeah, they are super-duper adorable and getting ready to welcome their new little baby to the world :) just a few more months to go!!

 

sam & jeana: you guys are awesome - and i'm so blessed to call ya'll my friends :)