Sweet Profiles

A Girl and Her Haircut

She's been begging for a chop for awhile now. I was skeptical but am a believer in their hair-their choice (except for my 3-year-old's desire to dye her hair pink). It turned out even cuter than I expected...big props to my friend Heather who's an artist with scissors.

A Girl and Her Pony

The Obligatory Snow Pictures

When it snows in Virginia, you're supposed to act like it's a really big deal and post pictures.

So here you go.

You're welcome.







Making snowmen with Auntie...


Instead of snowmen, this mommy plays with iPhones and her own breath...


And you're even more welcome for not posting a thermometer photo.

Stay warm, y'all.

One More Week

Guess which four munchkins are super psyched that Christmas is only one week from today...

Our Days

Just stopping by to share some shots from our day to day life...

After a package was delivered, Isaiah swiped the box since he had a "puppet show" idea...

Tea Time

What do Lord Grantham, Call the Midwives, Sherlock, and our homeschool co-op all have in common?

They’ve all been featured on BBC!

Okay, that’s a bit of an over-dramatic way put it. But it’s not every day that you have network cameras show up in your kids' classroom. They were doing a piece on a German family in our co-op, and I was extremely pleased with the final news clip. Homeschooling has been under serious fire in Germany. It’s a topic that needs to be shown for what it is, and BBC did a great job with this story.

If you check out this two minute news piece, you’ll even see my Adriana’s face pop up a few times in the clip since she is in the art class of the featured mom.

Just watch the video at the beginning of THIS article. 

So since we’re talking British TV, it seems only right to put tea time in the same post. My version of tea would probably have England groaning, but it will have your immune system rejoicing. Now that we are in cold and flu season, we have been devouring pots of this stuff that my sister has dubbed “Emergen-C Tea”. I recently got a cold, and I was amazed at how fast this stuff helped kick the sinus junk from my system. 

Emergen-C Tea

1 tsp. organic apple cider vinegar

2 tsp. local honey

½ tsp. vitamin C powder (I buy mine at Trader Joes)

1 packet of raspberry herbal tea (optional)

Put the first three ingredients in the bottom of a mug. Pour hot water over all and mix. I like the tangy taste of my tea just like this, but my kids like it with a pack of raspberry tea steeped in it.

Now curl up with a blanket, a cup of this tea, and some Downton Abbey re-runs. You can boost your immune system while you yell at the Telly that they would dare to knock off Matthew with a stupid car crash.

(Note: Since we chug this stuff, I've taken to keeping a bottle of 2 parts honey to 1 part vinegar in a separate jar. It takes away some of the bite of the vinegar as it sits and also is much easier to pour. Then I just put a tablespoon of this mix in my tea.)

Halloween 2013

It's always around this time of the year that I'm dusting the cobwebs off my neglected blog to post again. October looks so sweet and innocent sitting on my calendar; but I've learned that, for a photographer, it's hidden beast. Instead of visiting my blog space, I've spent my computer time editing everything from babies in pumpkins...

...to fairy princesses in the woods.

But I'm stopping by the blog to show off my littles at Halloween. I was having an especially bad attitude about Halloween the other night after spending part of my evening working with my preteen to make sure his wrestler costume was "cool" enough. (Lord, help me through the "cool" years.) I was fed up with a holiday whose only point seemed to be pushing me to my costume-making limits, which is pretty low to begin with, and filling my children's body with refined sugar. 

But last night we pulled our fire pit to the end of the driveway, and actually had a chance to chat with our neighbors and see our kiddos bouncing around with the joy of their costumes (or maybe it was all that sugar), especially a little girl who had her first year of trick or treating.

My little barista and the semi-cool Mexican wrestler:

Laura Ingalls and my little football player (a study in the vast differences of their personalities):

Next year as I begrudge coming up with four costumes to match four unique personalities, remind me that in the end, this was actually kind of fun.

School's Baaaack

Whether I want to accept it or not, summer is over. *sob* And we are back to this...

This means days filled with verbs, George Washington, and fractions for the three oldest, but it also means a lot more quiet play time for the youngest. And while some days it looks like sweet little mommy feeding time...

...other days it looks like a tiny maniac repeatedly dive bombing from the coffee table into my lap in the middle of Literature.

Just keeping it real.

A Decade With Elijah

This week we celebrated one decade with my redhead, who's as squirrelly as he is cute.

He asked for a dirt cake for his birthday (bless you, my child, for your easy request) complete with gummy caterpillars and worms (because nothing says boy like biting down on a squishy bug).




All the little cousins enjoying Elijah's birthday lunch...


The biggest hit of the gifts was a fire pit complete with s'more kit..




Here's to another 10 years with my freckled love!

Backyard Camping

Yes, yes, you did just read the word "camping" in a title on my blog. While I'm personally as anti-camping as they come, I knew the kids would adore a chance to sleep under the stars. And since a back yard has opened up a new world of opportunities for this long-time condo family, we decided to do a night back there.

True confessions: after spending a few hours on the lawn with the kiddos, I caved and left my hubby outside for the love of my warm bed. Don't judge, peeps. Don't judge.







Being tucked in by big sis...


Isaiah's "family alarm clock"...




Adriana's fairy jar...