1.) at the carwash 2.) Northlandz layout 3.) Northlandz trestle bridge 4.) angry birds for the non-technical  5.) the reasons I haven’t gotten any work done this week 6.) sunrise with moon out the front door 7.) airplane near Baltimore on I-95 8.) Little Man enjoying the scenery.

Happy Friday!

In the years since, every January first, I think to myself for an hour or two that I should try again because everyone else is doing it.   I watched one friend successfully document her life last year, and am envious that she completed her task.  She now has 365 photos of her children, her friends and her life, and 365 great memories and stories to share.  This year, I thought about trying again.  With an iPhone it should be even easier, but then there’s some days that I just don’t do anything exciting or worth taking a photo of.  Despite having a photography business, there are some days I just want to veg out and enjoy the moments when I’m in them and not feel like I HAVE to take a picture. I can’t think of many other professions where workers set themselves up to do extra work just for fun every day and then post the results online and share with friends.  Can you imagine an accountant going home each night and saying “Now I’m going to do some tax forms just because I want to do one every day for a year and I didn’t do one yet today!”?

So anyway.  I did decide that I wanted to be more conscious of taking photographs for fun, for me, and to more carefully document things that we do as a family.  So I’m going to try to be good about posting a Weekly Favorites post here each week.  Some weeks I might have a dozen photos to share, others only one.   They might be from my iPhone, or they might be from a session, or from my camera.  I hope you’ll enjoy them, I hope that I’ll enjoy doing it without the self-imposed pressure, and I’d love any support or encouragement you can offer!

1.) sunrise through the bathroom window 2.) January sky 3.) halftime at basketball 4.) sunshine before the snow 5.) first road trip in dad’s new car 6.) snow on the wheat grass 7.) our new homework station in the dining room (saving grace) 8.) snow on crape myrtle

Santa was very good to us this year, as you can see from the stash he left under the tree!

There were two prevailing themes at our house this holiday.  The first was Monster Jam Monster Trucks.  We went from having 5 trucks on Christmas Eve to having 22 trucks by Christmas Night…  The best worst thing about Monster Trucks is that there is a perpetual “freestyle course” set up all over our family room, which consists of boxes, ramps, and random cars.

The other gift which was a major success was Lego Trains.  These are basically the model trains you remember, made out of Legos.  Much easier for little hands to control and redesign and rebuild.  Our Engineers still need some work, but these have been a huge hit.  If you have little ones who like trains AND Legos, keep this idea in your back pocket for next year.

No Christmas post would be complete without the obligatory photos of the boys in front of the tree.  They didn’t really want to cooperate and pose together, so I had to settle for these shots.

The other super-exciting thing that happened since I’ve last posted is that Little Man turned 4.  I find it hard to believe I have a 4 year old in the house now, although he actually acts like he’s going on 8 like his big brother.  He surprised us this year by asking to go see trains rather than having a party, so this weekend we are off to see a layout with 8 miles of model train track.  Wish us luck.  :)

With the holidays finally behind us, I’m starting to get back to a normal routine.  I’m am loving that I’m already starting to hear from clients who are thinking about booking sessions this spring!  I’m headed up to my hometown to photograph my best friend from high school and her family this weekend and can’t wait.  I’ve promised her for two years that I’d do these photos the next time I was in town!  Think warm thoughts for us!

Merry Christmas friends.  Thank you to each and every one of you who take the time to stop by and visit each day – those who leave comments, and those who simply read.  I’ve been so blessed to be able to stay at home with my boys and to build this little business to keep myself busy doing what I love.  Stay tuned next week for a few of my favorites from this year. Until then, enjoy this week with your loved ones, and celebrate the magic of the season.

According to my little pal there are 19 days left.

The good news is that our tree is up and the stocking have been hung by the {sealed gas fireplace} with care.

The bad news is that I sat down and started making a list of all of the things I need to do in those next 19 days… Unfortunately not one of the things on that list is “relax”.  So I think I’ll be taking a little bit of a blogging hiatus here.  While I may not go totally silent, I won’t be posting on the usual Tuesday – Thursday schedule I’d been trying to maintain.

Never fear though.  If you’re still looking for a holiday gift certificate, I’m not going anywhere – email me if you want to make a last minute purchase.

It’ll just be a little quiet on here for the next few weeks while I make merry with my boys.  XOXO – K

I love these cuties from Happy Acres Farm.  I’m not sure who smiles more – the children or the parents – when I pop my little blue owl onto my camera, but I know it’s always a fun surprise!

I know not everyone can have a photographer standing by at all times to take pictures of the children at their cutest moments.  That’s why I love Your Baby In Pictures from MeRa Koh!  It makes a great stocking stuffer or shower gift for an expecting parent and is chock full of tips for capturing all of the major milestones in your baby’s first year.  I still refer to it for inspiration before newborn shoots!

People often ask me for camera referrals.  While I LOVE my Nikon D700, I don’t love schlepping it to family outings.  I worry about damaging it, and carrying the heavy thing around is a pain in the neck.  That’s why I’m so excited about my new iPhone 4S camera. It’s new large format size and all of the great apps available make it my new go-to point and shoot camera.  I’m so happy to be freed from the guilt of not bringing my “good camera” everywhere we go.  Check out my friend Beryl’s guide to awesome camera apps for the iPhone.  It’s a free download for fans of her Facebook page!

Ok, I don’t actually have these from NaptimeKnittery.  But I think I need them.  Does anyone know how to knit?  Hint hint!  I used a pair this Fall that were completely fingerless, but there was no point in 8 fingers suffering and going numb when only two were needed to do the job.  Now that I see these I’m definitely thinking I need a pair.

Finally, how can I resist telling you about Kelly Nelson Photography Gift Certificates.  They really are a can’t miss gift!  :)  Check out the details and contact me if you’d like to get one for the photography fan in your life!

Happy shopping!

In October, we had the pleasure of having our own family photographs taken by one of my favorite photographers - Me Ra Koh.  I am so thrilled to have these photographs of my little family, and I wouldn’t trade all of the stresses involved with it – from picking outfits to driving to Georgetown in the middle of a Friday afternoon – for anything in the world.

You know how they say a picture is worth a thousand words?  This picture right here sums up our entire family dynamic!  This picture is the screen saver on my phone and it makes me smile every time I look at it.

All images © Me Ra Koh

Anyway, a few weeks ago, my friend Angela wrote about an awesome service from Carly at ThirtySomethingFashion.  Basically, you send Carly your wishes and sizes and for a small fee she puts together a box of unique clothing from boutiques near her and mails it to you. You keep what you want, paying only the retail price, and send the rest back.  It’s essentially a What Not to Wear experience in your own home without the sadness of someone going through your closet and throwing everything in a big trashcan, or the embarrassment of doing it all on National Television!  When Angela shared her experience, all of my girlfriends were buzzing about it. I convinced my Mom that this could be my Christmas gift from her and ordered my own!  I thought my experience might be fun to share with readers, as I know that picking outfits for photos can be a chore.  If you are struggling to find inspiration for your photo session or other event, this service is a great place to start!

I placed my order on Monday with Carly, and I was super excited when a big box showed up at my door on Saturday!

Carly wrapped each outfit in tissue paper and included details about her favorite pieces, and suggestions on how to wear them.

I asked Carly to focus on “put together mom” clothing – things I could wear to a casual girls night out, or a parent-teacher conference, nice jeans and minimal fuss.  I also asked for a couple of holiday tops that could pair with black velvet pants for a dressy occasion.  As you can see in my box I got quite a few outfits.

The awesome thing is that nothing in the box was over $100.  As someone who regularly purchases clothing at Target only to have it fall apart or pill after a few washings, it was great to see that nicer quality stuff can be affordable!  I had a few of my girlfriends over yesterday afternoon to do a fashion show, take some pictures of the outfits, and help me choose what to keep.  You have to promise that you’re only going to look at the clothes in these pictures, not at my wild hair, my lack of make up, the faces I’m making, the sports watch I’m wearing, or the random bikes and toys that end up in the back of various photos.  We had to combine our fashion show with a playdate to corral all 10 of the kids, so little people kept jumping into the shots and a lot was going on!  Moments before we started it poured, and my boys were making me nuts, so I was a bit frazzled.

So here’s the obligatory “before” shot of me in my “uniform”.

This is outfit 1.  These jeans were awesome.  I think I might be wearing this outfit to a baby shower this weekend!

These are the same jeans from outfit 1, paired with a super soft t-shirt for Outfit 2.  The back is actually lace which is a little out of my comfort zone, but it’s super comfy, and with a camisole it looks great.  The fact that it was on sale makes this one a keeper.

Outfit 3 was a pair of silky cargo pants with a hoodie sweatshirt.  Carly was trying to humor my sweatshirt wearing ways I think.  I love the idea of the sweatshirt and the fact that I can bring a little more style to my most comfortable clothes.

Outfit 4 paired super dark skinny jeans with this floral tunic top and sweater vest.  At $90 the tunic top was the most expensive thing in the box, but it is super cute.  I was originally thinking I liked the jeans, but now that I’m looking at the photos, I’m not sure… (They are really long so they are cuffed here.  Obviously I’d get them tailored if I keep them.)

These two sweaters look similar in the photos but the first one (Outfit 5) is actually a poncho.  There are beautifully detailed buttons on the side that you can’t see in the photo.  The second sweater (Outfit 6) I couldn’t get to sit just right.

Outfit 7 was a simple red sweatshirt which was very cute, and outfit 8 was a flowy black button up shirt.

These last two outfits (9 and 10) are the festive holiday tops that Carly sent to go with a pair of black velvet pants that I bought last winter.  You can’t see the detail very well, but the first shirt has a bit of sparkle in it that would be perfect for the holidays.

There was one more top that Carly sent, which looked beautiful, but no matter how I tried, I couldn’t figure out how to get it on correctly.   It was a riot watching my 3 friends try to figure it out after they declared that I had it on wrong…   I’m thinking if it’s that hard to put on I’m clearly not fashionable enough to wear it.

So all in all, Carly sent 14 tops, and three pairs of pants.  The hard part now is deciding what I want to keep.  By far the best part of the whole experience is that Carly forced me to try on things that I would never ordinarily have picked up off the rack!  I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!  After you leave me a comment go check out Carly’s site and order a box for yourself!

UPDATE – For those who are curious, I ended up keeping the sweater and jeans from outfit 1, the top from outfit 2, the tunic top from outfit 4, the poncho from outfit 5, the red festive top in outfit 9, and a black camisole that I was wearing under almost every outfit here.  The grand total for everything I kept was around $400, which isn’t bad at all considering all of the great pieces I got.  Thanks to everyone who commented with their suggestions.  I had so much fun doing this!

A few weeks ago, my grandmother came in from Arizona to visit with us.  She’ll be celebrating her 90th birthday next year, but she kept up with the boys and we all had a great time visiting with her!  If you have seen my boys lately you’ll know that these are two of their absolute favorite shirts – Cookie Monster and Greg Heffley from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series of books… 

Big C is playing baseball again this fall.  Unfortunately more practices and games have been cancelled than played because of the rainy, rainy weather we’ve been having.   The nice thing about the fall season is that with fewer players playing, they get to use some of the better fields in the area rather than the elementary school fields.  On the one warm, sunny weekend we’ve had this season we played a night game under the lights.  I had a lot of fun taking some sunset baseball shots!

Little man is finally getting to play on his OWN team this season.  He’s playing soccer and LOVING every minute of it.  A few weeks ago they played in 40 degree pouring rain.  The parents were all huddled under a tent freezing and miserable.  He was one big ball of giggles.  He loves having his own cleats and shin guards and is one ferocious competitor!

Finally, Little Man and I went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch with his class a few weeks ago.  We rode on a hayride, picked a pumpkin, and roasted marshmallows!  C loved the roasting part, but didn’t like the crunch that the fire gave to the marshmallows.  Lucky for him, I liked it, so he got to roast to his heart’s content, while I got to eat the crunchy gooey goodness.  :)

Be Ready

Act Responsibly

Respect Others

Kindness Counts.

So the phrase Kindness Counts has been sticking in my head for the past few days, especially since Sunday was our 2nd annual Back To School Chalking event inspired by Kindness Girl Patience Salgado.   A group of parents from our elementary school got together to write welcome back notes and reminders to our children and staff about how awesome they are.   Then last night I read a friend’s blog and her suggestion to say Thank You to a teacher really hit home with me.  So I sat down and spent about 5 minutes writing an email of gratitude to my son’s teacher, and also to another person who I felt was doing selfless – under appreciated work.  I was thrilled to wake up this morning and find three emails that said I’d made someone’s day.    It literally took me 5 minutes, and I brightened three people’s days.  Is it naive for me to say that perhaps our society would be less mean if each of us thanked someone who wasn’t expecting it?

Maybe.

Will I still vent about people who do silly things in the carpool lane?

Probably.

Do I feel like I made the difference in someone’s day this week?

Yes.

So I leave you with this year’s chalk messages to our students.  Special thanks goes out to AB, KW and NJ who helped organize,  provided spectacular artistry – who knew?  and kept me company and searched for vandalism while I photographed in the wee hours of the morning.

If you have a minute this week, thank someone who wasn’t expecting it.  And then come back here and tell me about it.  I’d love to hear how Kindness Counts in your lives.