Behind the scenes

Getting a family picture can be a challenge.Seriously,  when I set out to do this task I never know what I'm going to get. 

Here's a little glimpse of what it took to get a good ol' family portrait for our Christmas cards this year.

Pretty crazy if I do say so myself...

Merry Christmas!

So for those of you that are not on my mailing list, here's a copy of our Christmas card.  We wanted to wish you a very merry Christmas!  

We hope your day is filled with family friends and love. 

Embrace The Camera: December 22nd 2011

Ok, so I took a bit of a break for a while, but I am going to try and embrace again.

The whole familia

For those of you that have forgotten, or don't know, what all this embracing is about, it's easy. It's just taking the time to get in front of the camera with your kids instead of behind it all the time. 

You'll be glad you did it. 

I promise!

The boys LOVE Ginger... A little too much at times!

Just remember, it doesn't matter what your hair is doing or what your wearing, the important thing is to capture those everyday moments with your family.  

Tis the season...Embrace away people!

Link up with the OG of embracing here.

Christmas art

I absolutely LOVE all of the crafts inspired in this holiday season.  My only complaint is that there is not enough time to do everything I set out to do.  

My kids however always seem to find the time.  They have a way of keeping things simple and sweet.  Here they were coloring Christmas trees and wouldn't you know it they put gifts under the tree for the whole family.  So cute.

Aaron and his tree

Tyler and his tree

Tee time for Ty

Another little "father-son", one on one outing to the golf course.  They had a great time (of course) and here's some of the highlights...

Practicing that Put

Ty spotted a herd of tukeys and let me just say, they didn't stand a chance!

He chased them up the hill and off the course!  Crazy kid.

Cute kid though...

He saw some deer too. 

He LOVED the golf cart.  I think Jeremy's peaceful, guy time at the golf course days are numbered!  These boys are going to want to go with him all the time!

The Blairs

When my cousin Megan got married recentlly, my Uncle and all of my Aunts came to town. We decided to do a little impromptu photo op since it's not very often they are all under one roof. 

Front: My Grandpa Max and my Grandma LaRetta.  Back right to left:  Tammy, Lori, Cherie, (my mom) Sue, Jan and Mike

So because of this "little " family here, I also have like 30 cousins and some crazy number of second cousins.  

Who would have thought that because of two people falling in love...their family would multiply into like 80 people.  So awesome right?  Here they are doing Kissy faces.  I love my family...

Embrace the camera:December 15th 2011

I have to start this "Embrace" with a little back ground. When I was a little girl, I LOVED to color. I am also a little bit OCD.  

I used to put all of my crayons, markers and pencils in color coordinated order. I would write my name, the alphabet, hearts, stars, etc.. over and over again in every color. 

My sister Julie on the other hand was just the opposite. Sure, she loved to color, but not in the organized fashion I did. She used to leave the caps off or put the blues with the pinks and I used to get so mad! 

So anyway, every time I put a coin in the fountain to make a wish at the mall, I would wish for a set of markers that was all mine. No sharing with my little sister who obviously had zero respect for color coordination. I would never tell anyone about my wishes because, you know, it wouldn't come true and all. So every time we got new markers it would be for the both of us and I was so disappointed.

Now I have my own kiddos and I have a fellow OCD artist on my hands. 

I couldn't be more proud! 

I bought him some new markers and just look at how excited he is!

Happy OCD artists

We color coordinated...serious business.

We used every color in our drawings...

We even sniffed our scented markers and got dots on our nose.

We had so much fun together I felt like I was a kid again! 

Am I passing along my OCDish habits? 

Probably. 

As an adult there's nothing wrong with having your clothes hung up in rainbow order right? If that's the worst of my habits I pass on, we're in petty good shape.