2010 - The Second Half

Today I am posting the highlights from the second half of 2010. I did this in 2008 and 2009 and have enjoyed looking back at all of the fun we've had. Having a blog is wonderful too because it helps you remember some of the little stories you would otherwise forget! Now that I've finished organizing photos for my 2010 photo book, I need to create blog books for the past couple of years (I think I'll hold out until another Groupon comes out so it's more affordable).

July - We celebrated the big #1 several times in July, once at my parents, once at the in-laws, and again with a tea party at Gigi's (aka Crazy Betty). We also took Addison to a farm to pick blueberries, she nearly ate her weight in berries while we were there! We also had a wonderful relaxing visit with friends on Longboat Key.




August - We found out Addison was going to be a big sister!


September - We went to my parent's house for labor day weekend and then my morning sickness began - ugggh!!




October - October was such a busy month, I had trouble narrowing it down to a couple of pics! Pumpkin festivals, trick-or-treating, and a very fabulous Lilly Pulitzer themed birthday party for one of my favorite people.



November - I celebrated my 30th birthday in style with my best friends at The Ritz, had a record number of photo shoots, and had a great Thanksgiving with family.



December - This month brought the end (finally) of my morning sickness and lots of fun for the holidays.

2010 - A Year of "Firsts"

This year we celebrated and experienced a lot of firsts. First Mother's & Father's Day, a first birthday, first steps, first trips to the beach, first foods. In looking back at the pictures, there's no way to even begin to describe how special it all was but I am thankful to have taken photos all along the way. Doing this album, along with reading Erin's post about her Photo A Day albums, has made me once again want to attempt 365 days of photos. Even if I miss days or even weeks, I am confident that these photos of our day to day activities will be a treasure of immeasurable value in the future. So, beginning Jan. 1 I am going to try to take a photo every day and once a week I'll share them (or at least my favs) here on my blog. These are some favorites from the first 6 months of 2010.

January - In January we enjoyed a quick visit from my mom and sister over the MLK holiday weekend. Addison also turned 6 months a old!


February - This month was Addison's first Valentine's Day (and sugar, out of necessity for the photo of course). We also went on playdates, to the park, and to Addison's first polo match.


March - March brought warmer temps and Addison enjoyed going in the pool!


April - What a busy, fun-filled month! My parents came to visit, we celebrated our first Easter as a family, and of course, more playdates and pool time!



May - May brought my first Mother's Day, a visit from my wonderful siblings, a day trip to Key West, a day trip to Miami to visit a friend's new baby, and lots of happy memories.




June - Another first - Father's Day! A visit from my sister, and lots of playdates with miniature friends.



Are you sick of my pictures yet? If not, I'll be back tomorrow with July-December!

I Took A Christmas Snooze

While we were on our way to my parents house last Thursday, I remember thinking how I was going to have time to blog every day. Ha! That apparently did not happen. I didn't even look at email or Facebook for days, much less come up with interesting blog posts. It felt wonderful to "unplug"! I always joke with my mother that they put sleeping powder in their air vents because I always feel lazy and sleepy at their house. I've come to the conclusion that it's what happens when you completely relax and let go of any other obligations and worries.

Christmas was wonderful. It was so much fun watching Addison enjoy it all and we spent lots of time with the people we love. I have to admit, every year after Christmas I get a little sad for a day or two. There is so much anticipation and excitement for this time of year. I find myself looking forward to it for months and then when it's all over I get a little down. This started to happen to me yesterday but then I began working on my 2010 album. I went back through my folders of photos from each month (thank the Lord I sorted them monthly, it saved so much time!) and started to realize that we've had an AMAZING year. So many visits with family, wonderful friends, and great memories watching Addison grow and change. It totally took away my blues and made me look forward to the year ahead. I will share a few of my favs from the past year over the next two days and for today, here are some Christmas pics!





(Funny aside - I forgot both of Addison's Christmas dresses and realized it halfway here, I called Betty and had her FedEx them to us. Although I regretted it when I heard the cost, I am SO glad I did it. Doesn't she look like a little doll?)

The best way to spread Christmas cheer

The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.
Buddy the Elf


For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

Baking Queen

Ok, so if you read my post from Saturday you might have gotten the idea that I was completely "over it" when it comes to cooking this Christmas season. After eating the cinnamon rolls yesterday morning at our brunch I must retract my previous statements. Those rolls are ridiculously good. Seriously yummy. The overpowering coffee flavor that was in the icing the night I made them, faded into a delightfully delicious sugary goodness. Although I'm not jumping to make these again anytime soon (luckily I have 7 pans left in my freezer!), this might have to become a new staple at my house around the holidays. In other cooking ventures, I also made fudge this weekend. It's a good thing I made these before the fiasco with the rolls, otherwise it might not have happened. I read PLRH's post about fool proof fudge this weekend and wanted to give it a try. It was really easy to make and is SO good. I now have more treats to share with friends this week! I am so thankful to be feeling good and enjoying food again these days.

Mrs. Claus is Sitting Pretty

We went to see Santa this weekend. Taking your baby/toddler for pics with Santa is one of those borderline cheesy things to do that I happen to embrace. I was worried that we'd have one of those screaming baby pics (Kelly's picture made me laugh so hard!)this year since Addison is old enough to know what's going on and who wants to sit on a stranger's lap? Especially one that is big and hairy and red? She did great though! We have talked a lot about him in recent weeks and taught her how to say "Ho, ho, ho!" Once we got there, she sat on his lap and looked shyly at the camera. Sure, a smile would have been great but at least she's not crying!


I must say one thing. Mr. & Mrs. Claus are taking it to the bank! It seems like the mall Santa used to be free. You went, your mom took some pics, and you told him what you wanted. These days, Santa sits while the families line up - you get in for a quick picture (but you're not allowed to even think about touching your own camera) and you pay a minimum of $20 for a cheap ink jet print of your picture. I don't know if Santa even talks to the kids anymore! My husband has decided that we should change careers. He is quickly going gray and said he'd happily go on a "Santa" diet and I could take the pics. With a setup like they have these days, it might not be a bad idea ;)

Kitchen Follies

Have you ever read this blog and wondered if I am crazy? Well, today I found out that I am. Certifiably insane.

We are having some family over for brunch tomorrow and due to some food allergies of one of my guests, I did not want to serve anything egg based. Have you ever tried to come up with a brunch menu that did not include eggs? It's tough. Well, I thought I had found the perfect solution with the Pioneer Woman's famous cinnamon rolls. So today I set out to make them (just in case it was too much to do in the morning), making them today was the only smart decision I made in this whole process. First I made the dough ... seemed easy enough! After letting it rise for an hour I was pleased to find it looking exactly as it did in the cookbook pic.

It was all downhill from there. I rolled the dough out and started putting the filling on top. In the pictures online and in the cookbook this looks easy enough. Do not be decieved. First of all, the dough is 30 x 10. My kitchen is small and I maxed out on counter space between dough, pans and ingredients. Once I started adding the butter and sugar, the butter began seeping off of the dough and all over the counter. I yelled for help (my hands were covered in flour, butter and sugar) and my husband came in and asked "did the recipe tell you to butter the entire kitchen?" Honestly, it was funny but the next step almost had me in tears. Rolling the dough into a log did not go as planned. Pioneer Woman's looked like a pretty roll. Mine looked like a gooey blob. Then I forgot to let them rise again until after I'd baked for 5 minutes. I pulled them out and hoped for the best. On the next batch (this is a huge recipe!) I learned some things and it went more smoothly. But by the end of this project, I was exhausted! I have 8 pans of rolls in my freezer for my efforts but honestly, I would rather have just bought them. The real test will be when I serve the first batch tomorrow but I don't know if I even want any after all of that.


After reading this, if you still decide to be crazy and make these, a few tips:
*For your first batch, half the recipe. It's too much in one day to make all of those rolls while learning the process.
*Refrigerate the dough after it rises, before you roll it out.
*Cool the melted butter before putting on the dough and make a small lip on the edge of the dough so the butter doesn't run all over the place.
*Use less coffee in the icing (unless you just love coffee) - the amount the recipe calls for gives a strong coffee flavor.
*Call me if you want company in your misery, I'll probably still be here scrubbing the buttery mixture off of my counters ...

One day I'll look back on this experience and laugh. One day.

Christmas Traditions

This time of year always makes me think of traditions. Not only the ones I grew up with but creating new ones for our family. The blogosphere provides an endless supply of incredible ideas. A few of my favorites I've read about this season include this one about Bernard the Christmas Elf. I love the idea of an elf leaving notes and instructions for family activities in the days leading up to Christmas. I also read this cute variation of the idea about a naughty elf who causes mischief while the kids sleep that made me laugh as well. We have the Elf on the Shelf and I am looking forward to next year when Addison can really grasp the story. Then there are the tried and true traditions like baking cookies together, driving around looking at lights (I also like the idea of implementing a rating system once the kids get older - we all know I have very specific ideas about what is allowable), and opening one present on Christmas Eve. I need to buy a nativity the is "kid friendly" so we can start talking about the true meaning of the season, although this year I think Addison would just dismantle it and carry it around (either that or make the animal sounds). Do you have any favorite traditions? Please share! I'm loving all of the ideas - my kids are going to be on overload with all of the fun we're going to have!

Cook Till You Drop

I haven't been blogging much this week but it's not for lack of content. I have a million post ideas bouncing around in my head but no time! Every night has been filled with projects and holiday fun. This past weekend I got together with some of my favorite friends for our annual baking party. We stepped it up a notch from last year's party and added some recipes. We made (get ready to be hungry!): buckeyes, eggnog cookies, ginger cookies, candied pecans, caramel popcorn, peppermint bark, rocky mountain chip cookies, and candied pretzels. We baked all day and it was such a good time! We all went home with lots of loot (I ate all of my rocky mountain cookies myself) and fun memories. A few pics from our extravaganza ...





This weekend I think I'll attempt some homemade fudge and The Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls for our family brunch on Sunday. I am so happy to be feeling better and to be able to cook again!!

The Name Game

Now that we know we're having another girl, the only question I hear is "Do you have a name yet?" I feel like I am just now processing the good news and I already feel the pressure to move onto the next step, ahh! The truth is, we had a name picked if it was a boy (we've had that one picked out since I was pregnant with Addison) but no strong ideas yet about girl names. Crazy Betty asked me if I had any ideas last week and when I said no, she replied "I do!" I didn't invite her to elaborate ... I'm much to susceptible to her input and I don't want to feel obligated to use her names. Plus, can you imagine if she got to claim she named our baby?! We'd never hear the end of it. There is one name I have loved and have been trying to convince the husband he likes for a couple of years. He mentioned the other night that it has started to grow on him but that I'm not allowed to "lock him down" yet. I'm so excited that it's even back on the table but we'll have to wait and see ...

Who ever said Mondays weren't Fundays?

I am having the best Monday! Despite having a 2 hour meeting that made me question whether the attendees were members of Voldemort's army, I am having a great day. Here are some of my reasons:

1. First of all, I had a fabulous weekend. I got my Christmas card pic (we had about 15 minutes of light left, a tripod, and my grandmother to push the button but we got something!)

2. This weekend I also took pics that actually came out great of our friends and their twins. I wish all of the toddlers I photograph behaved that well! I also spent the weekend relaxing, baking & decorating - perfect!

3. In addition to getting some free cards from Shutterfly, today I won a contest on this blog for a Tiny Prints gift certificate!

4. I got to wear my new jeans all weekend. There's not just any jeans, they are a pair of Citizens for Humanity maternity jeans. I didn't buy any maternity jeans during my first pregnancy because by the time I was showing it was practically summer and I only had a couple of weeks left so I just wore my regular jeans with a Bella Band. However, that plan is not as comfortable this time and my sis-in-law found designer maternity jeans 80% off during a Black Friday sale and hooked me up! I got a pair that were priced at $180 for $38. Honestly, when you compare them to other jeans, they are worth a higher price (although I can't say I'd pay $180 for them).

5. I just ordered a new laptop! I have been eeking by with my trusty Dell forever but it's showing signs of dying a slow death and with my photography biz being so busy, I cannot afford to be down. I can't wait for my new little friend to arrive!

6. I feel SOOO much better. Morning sickness is gone and for the past week, I have felt like a real person again. It's amazing - I had no idea how much it was affecting every part of my life until I started feeling better. I am so encouraged!

7. It's Christmas time! The most wonderful time of the year :)

Hope your Monday is as fabulous as mine has been.

Christmas Cards!

I have been taking Christmas pictures of everyone's family but my own. My mission this weekend is to get pictures so I can order my cards. Shutterfly is having a great promotion - click here to read more!