Friday, November 12, 2010

A few quick photos....

My current favorite picture.
Annual height photo
This pumpkin photo op won't work next year :)
She dragged Uncle Jon all over the pumpkin patch.
Little miss Cinderella. She LOVES her glass slippers.
'Carving' her pumpkin.
Ahem, the tea lights are fake. She's not grabbing fire while we sit by snapping photos.
our masterpieces.

Family Traditions

I'm currently reading The Happiness Project and I'm currently on the chapter discussing parenting and family life. One of the things the author mentions is the importance of traditions for children.

I look back on the holidays as a kid, and the anticipation, excitement and love that surrounded the holidays meant (and still means) a great deal to me. Watching Jenna recall specifics of Christmas from last year makes me ever so anxious to celebrate with her this year. We've purchased a Christmas dress for photos, for a visit to Santa and for Christmas day and she asks to see it nightly. She knows she can't wear it, but her excitement is palpable.

Her recall amazes me. We don't attend church all that frequently (or really at all). My niece, Annika was baptized this past weekend and when we told Jenna we were getting her dressed up to go to church she said "Oh! Church! Mommy, can I see the water? The water at church?" She was SO excited! And, mind you, the last time we went to church was when she was baptized at 11 months old. Where they poured water over her head. It's a little scary to know she is able to recall memories from what I feel like was so long ago.

But this brings me back to traditions... I love the holidays. Jenna does, too. It's the middle of November, and she's still talking about the witches, skeletons, ghosts and pumpkins from Halloween. I am currently talking up Thanksgiving, telling her the family gets together (we'll have the WHOLE family together this year! All grandparents, aunt & both uncles and her cousin together under one roof!) and we eat turkey. She knows turkeys gobble-gobble.

I'm also anxious to celebrate Christmas. She knows where the decorations are in the garage, knows that Santa wears a red suit. When you would ask her what she was going to ask Santa for when she sits on his lap she used to say 'A red present'. Now, when you ask her what she's going to say to Santa she says "Santa, I've been a good girl all year. May I please have a bicycle?" (we were going for tricycle, but she knows what a bicycle is because of Daddy's in the garage, I think a tricycle is foreign to her).

Anyway, the point of this rambling post at 4:00 am is that I'm excited. I'm so happy to be formulating predictable celebratory events for Jenna, for Nick and for our upcoming addition. I'm enjoying establishing 'O family traditions'. I think I enjoy them almost as much as Jenna. The addition of children to our lives has made the holidays so much more loving, caring and enthusiastic.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

I've been holding out

So, it's been months. MONTHS since I've updated the blog. The new job is great, and keeping me beyond busy. Which I love. I haven't written on the blog for another reason, however.

I tried to document it in photos, though.
What's that, Jenna? What are you holding? Trying to take away? Ohhhh.... it looks like one from about 2.5 years ago.
She did eventually warm up to the idea. Well at least long enough to let me take a photo while she was eating in her new shirt.
AND I became an Aunt! To a beautiful baby girl, Annika.
And we got an opportunity to see our little one shortly thereafter.
And the belly shots began. Shortly after I was LAID OFF. Pregnant, unemployed and job hunting.
As the belly grew, so did my need for maternity wear (still unemployed here)
And still job hunting (hence the time available to shoot belly photos)
My last unemployed photo. I accepted a job shortly after this image was taken. Thank goodness. It's a fab position with a great company, too. I'm really, really excited and enjoying it.
And shortly after accepting, we celebrated with a trip down to Disneyland.
:)
And my most recent photo. I've been at the job about 3 months now, I'm happy as can be, the pregnancy is treating me really, really well. I continue to forget I'm pregnant. The fact that we're expecting another GIRL in January really blows my mind. I'm excited, anxious and nervous about the whole thing, but it feels good to be completing our family.

I hope to do another update shortly regarding life, Jenna, the household craziness... and I'll get there. Hopefully before this one is born :D

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Jenna's 2nd Birthday Party!

OK. It's obvious I'm behind on blogging. We had a great time throwing Jenna's 2nd birthday party and I actually spent the majority of the party enjoying our friends and family instead of shooting pictures (shocking, I know!) I did snap one or two shots of the details, and Pop shot the photos of family and friends. Thanks, Pop!

The entry way. When I originally planned this party, I was going to heavily focus on pinwheels. When I was laid off, the budget was drastically pulled back, but we were able to still keep that essence. This, along with large pinwheels on the lawn and citrus colored balloons were what greeted guests to the party. I still have it hanging on my door because it's just too pretty to take down!
Favors for the kids.
This balloon is HUGE! And still floating in our living room. Jenna loves it.
The cake/favor/gift table. There's a banner hanging along with pinwheels and garland.
Jenna wanted to dig into the gifts early... umm not yet.
It's my party and I'll cry if I want to (after being scolded to stay away from the gifts and cake until later).
The jumpy house was a huge hit! A big thanks to a friend that had this hanging out in her garage. Ummm the kids all LOVED it! I think we may have to invest in one sooner rather than later.
Fiona!
Kellen had a blast in the jumpy house, too.
Although it looks like Landon was begging to come out, I think he was actually trying to entice Pop to come in and jump, too!
Grandma's dip was a hit with the adults and kids... it was addicting!
The pink car was a big hit, too. Which is good because Jenna NEVER plays with it!
Singing happy birthday!!!
getting down on her cupcake. Delish!
We had a great time. The weather was perfect, the company was great and Jenna continued to talk about her birthday for no less than 2 weeks. Actually, she wished me a happy birthday this morning, and proceeded to wish 'Jenna' a happy birthday, too. She's a bit obsessed!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Photo a day project. Day 21

June 21, 2010 7:44 am
Jenna's 2nd Birthday.


Sunday, June 20, 2010

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Friday, June 18, 2010

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Monday, June 14, 2010

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Friday, June 11, 2010

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Monday, June 7, 2010

Photo a day project. Day 7.

After we 'cheers!' her sippy, she takes a long drink (as long as ours) puts the milk down and goes "Ahhhhh!" I love every minute of it.

Monday, June 7, 2010 6:12 pm

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Photo a day project. Day 6.

June 6, 2010, 5:25 pm.

Photo a day project. Day 5.

Grandma teaches Jenna how to pour the water out of the watering can instead of DUMPING it out.

Saturday, June 5, 2010, 4:21 pm.