One more

I promise I'm in the process of moving my little side project over to another blog, but in the meantime, here is one more really cute family.  This might have been my favorite session yet.  Annie told me about this park, and boy did she deliver!  The color was beautiful.  So San Deigo does have seasons after all!

 I've never seen so many smiles!!! 

Reclaiming space

My blog has been serving as transitional space for my little photography start up.

I've had so much fun playing around with a few families the past few weeks.

But when I took a look at my own photos for the month of November, there were few and far between to say the least.

Yesterday, I had one of my favorite photo sessions ever with Annie and her family.

I will be posting a few to share soon, as I make the transition to my new blog, but I decided to have Andy meet me up at the same park with the kids so we could try to get a few photos as well.

While I absolutely LOVE taking other peoples pictures, getting my own family pictures done is about 

3,546 on my list of favorite things to do.  Why is it always so hard to get your own kids to cooperate?  

So while our family pictures are a work in progress, I will share a cute little one I got of two of my favorite people yesterday.  

See that $#&@ eating grin?

She's got that one perfected.

Girl is up to something.

And I will be posting lots of fun Parsons happenings over the next few days, because SOMEBODY is turning TWO!!!!

I can't believe it.

some volunteers

I'm working on creating a separate blog to share pictures of other cute people that I happen to take.

But for now, I'm giving you a peek at a cute family who volunteered to let me practice on them....on Thanksgiving day...nonetheless.

These two girls love each other so much, they couldn't stop hugging, loving on each other, or yelling.. "best friends forever!!" when I told them to smile.  What a gift to have that kind of friendship & love built into your family.

She makes me laugh

I had to tell a few Addison stories from the weekend that I don't want to forget anytime soon.

Friday night

I decided to take Addison for a mommy/daughter date to Sea World.  Andy was having poker night with the fellas, Graham was going to bed at a reasonable hour, and Sea World was holding a Christmas kickoff party for the season passholders.  Since my daughter does NOT go to bed at a reasonable hour, I figured this would be good fun.

How many season passholders could there be?  I mean, we'll practically have the whole park to ourselves!  Most kids go to bed by 7, right?

Apparently not.

The parking lot was the fullest I've ever seen it and I seriously thought several times about turning around and calling it a night before we even committed to parking.  But since Addison was so excited about Sea World...we had been talking about it for weeks, I figured there was no turning back.

It was cold, dark, and CROWDED.

We rode Elmo's flying fish, waited in line for 3D Polar Express before deciding to try out the new "big" ride Turtle Reef.  She had passed the 40 inch height requirement a few months earlier but because I always had Graham, it was a no go.  The wait for the ride was 30 minutes, and she did great...mostly because she was so excited about riding it.  I kept saying....only two more rides until us....only one more ride until us....she was holding out.

Then the guy wanted to measure her.  I was proud to see her pass the 40 inch mark by a good two inches...why is he even measuring her?  Oh.  Because they changed the height requirement to 45 inches and forgot to tell anyone.  So after waiting in the cold for 30 minutes, the guy tells me she's not tall enough.  He's telling me this and I am a little frustrated.....and her reply is....

"OH NO!!!  I'm  SHORT!!!"

We called it a night and went back to the warm car, driving through Chick Fil A for a milkshake.  I could have skipped Sea World, gone through the drive through, and the girl would have been a happy kid.

SATURDAY MORNING

I was getting Addison ready for a make up dance class Saturday morning.  While putting on her tights, my daughter who appreciates everything to be in order (much like her father) realized there was a slight pull in her tights.

She started crying and would not let up.  Andy was trying to reassure her that it wasn't that bad, but she kept crying and could not be consoled.

Finally, we asked her...."Addison!  What is wrong??"

She replied, "Now I can't fly like a fairy."

Here goes nothing

Photography has always been something I've loved.  I love to take pictures of my kids, beautiful things, and moments that I want to make sure last a little longer.  

Taking a picture is like creating a piece of artwork.  It's beauty and appeal is subjective to whoever looks at it.  As a mom, any picture that I take of my kids is beautiful to me, albeit not a "great" picture all of the time.

Turning this hobby into something a little bit more has been something I've been wanting to do for a long time, but it's a little scary.  Or a lot scary.  It's hard putting your work out there for others to critique.....especially if they're paying for it.....oh, the pressure!!!  I like to make people happy.

So it's a good thing I'm starting out practicing on my friends.  All fun, no pressure!  Karen was kind enough to let me do just that with Baby Cooper this past weekend.  

Thankful

Last night we joined 8 other couples for an adults only early celebration of Thanksgiving.

It was one of the greatest evenings that both Andy and I will remember for quite a while.

There was one kiddo there, but 10 day old Cooper was more than welcome.

I sensed a bit of baby fever from quite a few of the girls.  

And my husband held on to him for over an hour.

I'm just saying.....

Karen got to enjoy her first glass of wine post baby and we all know what a big celebration that is!

Paige and Frank went all out, roasting the turkey,opening their beautiful and SPOTLESS home, and setting two beautiful tables to accommodate everyone.  

The food.

Oh my goodness the food.

Andy and I are still raving about it today.

He said that he weighed himself after work (who does that by the way?)

and weighed himself again after dinner.

He gained 8 pounds.

Sitting around the dinner table, we had the best time.

Let me just say it has been a LONG time since I have shared dinner with this many friends and no kids, maybe over 3 years.  That's how old Addison is.

Stew and Andy made quite the cleaning team.

Why doesn't this happen at my house?

My favorite part of the night was after dinner.

We all went into the living room and went around, sharing what we were thankful for.

It's the kind of activity that you hesitate doing together because it sounds "cheesy" and cliche, but it was an amazing thing.  Every one of us is so blessed.

We all agreed that life is hard, but God is good.

Our cups runneth over.

I've said it before and I"ll say it again.

Andy and I are both amazed at how God has richly blessed us with friends and relationships.

The kind of friendships that feel like they've existed for years instead of months.

We are so thankful.

Dear Encinitas,

Dear City of Encinitas,

On Friday night, November 4, I ventured out in the rain to join friends for a birthday dinner.  This was a big feat in itself, seeing as how:

(a) I have two small children, and don't get out much.

(b) am still recovering from foot surgery and find it hard to find something to wear that coordinates with a big black ski boot.  My closet and I just can't compete.

(c) it was raining.....and cold....neither of which I am used to anymore.  That, and I'm a wuss.

I pulled into the dark, wet parking lot of 3rd Corner restaurant and tried to decide where I was going to park to avoid traipsing my big black boot through the rain.  I was so relieved to find another car about to pull out of a space about 10 spots away from the restaurant.  

Bingo!  I put on my blinker and waited.  I parked my sweet mini-van, and quickly left, locking my car and hobbled quickly through the rain.  I couldn't seem to find my umbrella because to be honest, I don't know if I own one.  

I met my friends, had a nice birthday dinner, and parted ways to drive home and go to bed.  It was late (9:30), we were tired, remember, we don't get out much.

Well, on my car there was a ziploc bag with a little note on my windshield.  I opened it, to find a $348 parking ticket. WHAT!!!?? $348.  Let me say that again....THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY EIGHT DOLLARS.  

For parking here.

 In a handicap access loading zone.

Herein lies the problem.

Do you SEE anything that would lead anyone to believe that this was not an ok spot to park?

No sign.

No visible lines.

Not even any visible signs that indicate handicap parking in anywhere close to this spot.

Believe me, if I would have known, I wouldn't have parked there.

I feel for those people that find it difficult to walk far.

And I would like to thank my friend, Annie, for having the thought of taking these pictures after I pulled out .

I was a little upset Encinitas.

Looking forward to further discussing this with you.

Built in babysitter

We've reached a point in parenting when we don't have to always be "on".

Addison is usually more than happy to lead Graham around to whatever she would like to be doing at the time, and he (most of the time) is a willing follower.

Last night, I was getting ready to go out for a friend's birthday (more on this in an upcoming post)...it did not end well,

but as I was getting ready, Andy was also busy.  I came out of our room and heard the kids in Addison's room.  As of late, Graham is barely allowed to step across the threshold of that room without a screaming protest on her end, so I was curious as to what they were up to.

I found this.

She was just "reading" away to him and he was content as could be.

ooh, they caught me!

Then this morning around 8am (we're blessed with sleepers), I heard Addison get up and go get Graham, then whisper to him....

"Shhh...they're still asleep.  Let's be quiet and go downstairs and watch a show."

To which he responded, "CARS!!"

Addison replied, "No, Cars is sick Graham, let's watch MY show."

I enjoyed a few more minutes of peace before crawling out of the bed to go show her how to work the DVD player.  

Partly for her, and partly for me.

That may easily buy me 30 more minutes next Saturday.

3rd time's a charm

Last night Addison changed her mind about her costume for the 3rd time.

For 2 months all she talked about was Sleeping Beauty.

This worked out fine because we had her in our dress up drawer.

I did splurge on a crown and shoes.

When they arrived, she decided that Sleeping Beauty was so last week and the Little Mermaid was more her style.

So I bribed her with an Ariel costume to do something that we've been working on for almost a year now.  Details aside, we are now finally FULLY potty trained and she wore Ariel to the party on Saturday.

Then yesterday, she decided she was over that too, and asked for Tinkerbell.

She pulled that one out of the dress up drawer as well, so whatever works.

Justin Bieber was exhausted after wearing his costume all day to work (OH YES, he DID)

so he went incognito to Annie's Halloween party.

The kids had lots of fun burning off some energy before Trick or Treating

Ryder was an alien from Toy Story and I couldn't get enough of his hat.

I don't think he could either.

 Autumn was representing Toy Story as well.

 I had bought Graham's Halloween costume months ago on Ebay and was so excited about it since he has been obsessed with Cars for just about his whole 2 year life.

It just really didn't go over so well.

So luckily, we found a last minute fill in.

He hated this unitard about just as much, but he was pretty much out of luck.

 I know I'm his mom, but I think he's pretty darn cute.

 He has also started to do the au natural "cheese" face.

 I told them to hug each other, so this is contrived, but they really do LOVE each other.

I love how well they play together and when I asked Addison who her best friend was, she told me "Graham".

 And Addison is pretty much Graham's only friend at this point, so that's a good thing.

 Then five minutes later, I caught this one real quick because I hadn't told them to do anything and they were just lovin on each other unsolicited.

 Makes my heart melt a little bit.

I mean, she is loving on him, right?

It kind of looks like a choke hold now that I'm looking at it closer.

 Quick group shot before the trick or treating festivities began

 and then it was game time.

 Hope you guys had a great Halloween!