Santa rocks!

Well we all know Santa rocks, that's a given...

This year Santa gave me a present a little early and I got to try it out today.

It's a backdrop which I set up in our guest room

and Miss Grace agreed to be my model.

She looks like a little rock star in these pics (at least in my opinion).

Next up will be William, that is if I can get the boy to agree. ;)

Thank you Santa!

xo

(Backdrop came from here).

'Santa Baby Hat' by Gracylu Originals.

Grace's top by Paperlili.

I shot these in our guest room with the backdrop on a stand.
She faced the window
I also used my flash (Nikon SB900) in manual and at a very low setting
to add a little more light to the image.

Shot in manual setting with a  50 mm 1.4 fixed lens,
f/3.2, 1/320 sec., ISO 320.

'tis the Season

'You better watch out

You better not cry

Better not pout

I'm telling you why

Santa Claus is coming to town!'

~Haven Gillespie

Well we are fully into the festive spirit of the season.

It started last Friday with Grace's school Holiday performance. (top pictures)

And on Monday I took Grace and Will to see Santa...for the first time!

Yes, I said the first time.

Both have been more than a bit reluctant to sit on Santa's lap in the past, so I didn't push it.

This year they asked if we could go.
Their visit and little conference went extremely well.
They spoke to him briefly and then Will had a couple of requests for the man in the red suit.
First, he asked him to say "Ho, Ho, Ho." (of course Santa did very loudly)
And second Will asked him to sing a song.
Santa sang Jingle Bells beautifully (and he had a wonderful singing voice).

I can pretty much guarantee we'll be back to visit next year,
as this year was a huge hit.
One of the best parts for me was we were first in line and I got to take as many pictures
as I desired! We obviously timed it right.

On Saturday Grace dances in her first performance.
Yesterday I was able to watch some of the rehearsal and got teary,
 so I can imagine how I'll be seeing her in costume in the show.
This mamma cries at the drop of a hat,
and especially when my daughter steps out of her comfort zone like this.
It's a benefit for a local charity.

Happy Holidays!

black and white Wednesday - tradition

White.

Newly fallen snow.
Serene.

Gray sky.

Cold.

Pine forest.

Green needles.

And many trees.

As far as you can see.

Saturday morning we woke to 5 inches of new snow.

Our first official one of Winter.

This is our 6th Christmas season in Wisconsin.

We have a tradition of cutting down a tree and every year it has snowed.

This year was no exception...

Besides finding a tree, there was angel making, snow ball throwing

 and of course playing.
And a little bit of candy cane eating before we went home...

Dan and I were talking about traditions the other day.

We realized that both of us have had a real tree every Christmas.

That's every one since we've been born (and that's a long time!)

They came from a Wisconsin hill side,

the Santa Cruz mountains in California, the states of North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio,
fields in Illinois and Indiana,

 and tree lots in Chicago neighborhoods.
All places the 2 of us have lived over the years.

Home.


My family.

Warmth.

Lights.
An abundance of love.

And the beauty of the Season of Advent.

Decking the halls

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree.

In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.

~Larry Wilde

Be merry all, be merry all,

With holly dress the festive hall;

Prepare the song, the feast, the ball,

To welcome merry Christmas.

~William Robert Spencer

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.

~Charles Dickens

Yes, we deck the halls, put up lights, trim the tree,

  add plenty of glitter and sparkle and do all kinds of things to welcome Christmas in our home.

And we make sure to have fun.

I learned from the best of them...my Grandmothers, Mother and late Mother-in- law.

All lovely women who have taught me well to keep Christmas for my own family.

Because to me by doing this we are honoring it.

And it's not all about Santa, elves, reindeer and gifts.



It's the joyful celebration of the real reason.

black and white Wednesday - wonder

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.

~Norman Vincent Peale

I love Christmas.

And I feel incredibly privileged to be able to experience it through my children's eyes.

I become ages 8 and 5 again in a way.

Monday evening we started decorating indoors.

The sparkly snow house is a new decoration this year.

I captured this of Grace (after her bath), when she came downstairs and saw it for the first time.

We have one tree up and will be going to the tree farm on the weekend for a real one.
I've never had a Christmas without one.

Hope you are starting to enjoy the magic of this beautiful season!

Both images post processed with 2 of my favorite Florabella actions.
 Ambrosia (color) is wonderful for Asian skin tones and really makes the reds pop in the image.
And Black and White Truffle, just because I plain old love it.

The quest

The quest isn't what you might think it's for...

not a tree.

But that elusive Christmas card picture.

About 5 weeks ago I realized my weekends were pretty full taking pictures of other families.

Except my own.

So I actually scheduled time on our calendar for that Christmas or Holiday picture or pictures.

This session was 'take 2.'

 Take 1 was at an entirely different location and day (and those ended up being my faves).

I rarely dress my kids in traditional red/green colors for the card 

so this was a little different for me.

Though I like them very much (especially the one below),

I didn't 'love' them.

The ones that made the card will be appearing later in December.

But for now these will share my festive mood. :)

Gratitude - National Adoption Month/Black and White Wednesday

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice.

 ~Meister Eckhart

Somehow the words 'thank you' aren't enough.

10 years ago I sat in my OB/GYN's office as he told me in a very kind manner

that I wouldn't be able to have any more children.

In a way I already knew what he was going to say after several surgeries,
and infertility issues for years.

At the time we had a 15 year old son in high school.

I could have never dreamed that 10 years later, I'd be sitting here at the computer writing 

 a blog post about adoption.

And be a mother to an eight and almost five year old.

There are times I still can't believe they are ours.
It's an honor to be their mom.

Every single day I thank God for this opportunity.

Has it always been easy? Why of course not, nothing worth having comes easy.

Certainly life in general isn't at times.

But taking a risk with that leap of faith, with perseverance and patience to adopt

will bring you so much joy.

And you'll be giving the gift of a family to a child who has none.

As for our future, we hope to adopt again.

Right now it isn't right for us financially but we're hoping it will happen,

and we haven't aged out of the China SN program yet.
Somehow I believe there's another child out there for us.

For now, I count my blessings.

I am one extremely lucky momma to 3 incredible children.

Please check out more black and white's at Lisa's blog.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The last leaves

I'm always a little sad to see the last of our Fall.

Monday we didn't have school (it was a teacher education day).

We ran some errands and then stopped at our favorite park before going home.

There was 1 tree  that still had about a third of it's leaves. Large, bright yellow Maple leaves.

And so many on the ground.

Of course Grace and Will collected a few and then had to throw some.

I love  their expressions in the storyboard...Grace's concentration as she's getting ready to throw

and Will laughing.

We've already been wearing warm coats, hats and mittens.

Snow is coming I'm sure. And Thanksgiving is next week. :)

Farewell Fall.