Amberlee

Because this picture makes me smile, I thought it might make you smile too!

Oh to have the innocence of a child.

My sweet niece Amberlee.

Thanksgiving Fun!

This past week has been quite busy to say the least! I've been going wild trying to finish up editing pictures and get things ready for Thanksgiving. Somehow we pulled it all off without a hitch!

Wednesday, my bf's little guy came over and spent the day with us. His daycare was closed that day, so we were so excited for him to come over and play! It really is nice having a little buddy to keep Wyatt entertained.

Wyatt was so funny all day! He wanted Mason to do everything he wanted to do. Mason, of course, is used to being in a class with other kids so he just wanted to be left alone! I'm sure he was glad to get away from us :)

He really was so good all day! It is so funny how different they are, but they play so well together.

Thursday, we had 2 places to go for Thanksgiving meals. First, we went to my Granny's for lunch. I didn't take any pics there. For supper we went to my Mom & Step-dad's house. We got to spend lots of time with my sweet grandaddy! He is William Conley, which is where we got Wyatt's middle name. He looks pretty good for 88, huh?!?

Wyatt LOVED Nonni's wonderful meal! She had all of our favs, including Wyatt's: mac and cheese!!

Trying so hard to get it on the fork!

Using your fingers is so much easier!

Yumm......

My Mama's dogs (AKA my animal siblings) were waiting patiently for any little tidbits to fall on the floor! They stayed close to Wyatt...... smart dogs!

Mama in the kitchen. She could be the next Paula Deen! This woman can cook. I'm so thankful that she passed that love down to me! I call her at least 2 times a month for one of her recipes. Morgan sure loves them too! It's true that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach :)

The thing we are most Thankful for this year is this little guy! He is our pride and joy, and I'm thankful EVERYDAY that the Lord chose us to be his parents!

The Blind Side

If you haven't seen this movie, go now! Seriously, drop whatever you're doing and go. Don't worry if you don't have someone to go with, go by yourself. I mean it, you need to go!

Tonight we went with Morgan's brother, Drew, and sis-in-law, Elizabeth, to see The Blind Side. I was really just looking forward to having a night out with adults. My sweet mother-in-law was home with all 4 kids! Seriously, she's a saint! Anyway, we headed out to the 7 o'clock show. Who would've thought, 7 pm, Monday night, crowd? Nah. Well, yeah!! Between this movie, and New Moon (which can't possibly hold a candle to this), that place was PACKED! We had to sit on the 3rd row back, heads tilted straight back and watch the movie. I'll admit, I was a little ticked about a seat situation, until the movie started. I was hooked, and I could've cared less. It was such a great story. It really made me feel so selfish. I live in a warm house, have more clothes than any one person needs, never worry where my next meal is coming from, and more than that.......I have a family who loves me unconditionally. I won't give away all the story, but it will definitely make you re-examine your life. I am so blessed in many ways, and it has truly softened my heart. I hope that this movie will encourage us all to do for others more. I wish I could buy everyone a ticket. It really gives meaning to true love and unselfishness.

*BTW, Sandra Bullock rocked it out in this! I've always loved her, but this is by far her best work yet!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

My tree is up...

Stockings are hung...

A few presents are wrapped...

Candles are burning...

and

Cookies are baking....

All before Thanksgiving!!

Can you tell Christmas is my favorite time of year?!? 

Oh yeah, and thank heavens for Sirius XM radio! 3 Christmas channels to listen to all day long! I LOVE IT!!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Well, obviously I'm in the holiday spirit around here! Today I put up my decorations and baked cookies (yes, again). I will share pics of the tree soon, but the rest of my house is a disaster and I just couldn't stand the thought of breaking out the camera today on this mess!!

Anyway, I wanted to share the SUPER EASY cookie recipe with ya'll! I got it off of Southern Living's website, so we know it has to be good! PLUS, with only 4 ingredients, even my sweet domestically challenged friend Miss Kriss could whip it up for her f-word :)

Here goes:

1 Cup Peanut Butter

1 Cup Sugar

1 Large Egg

1 tsp Vanilla

1. Mix it all together (with a fork, you don't need to bust out the mixer for this one!)

2. Spoon onto a greased cookie sheet

3. Bake at 325 for 15 minutes

4. Enjoy with a tall glass of milk!!

See! I told you it was way easy, and oh so good!!

Changes

As most of you know, I have a little "side" photography job! Well, I don't think I can call it that anymore. It has completely taken off, and I'm so blessed to have the most amazing clients who refer me to friends and family. It is so wonderful because I am still able to work my own hours and be the full-time mom that I've always wanted to be.

Since I started, I've been keeping up with 2 blogs. Which, by the way, isn't very easy (props to you who manage to do it!). I'm going to be doing some changes in my blogging. I have a great designer working on a custom blog for me as we speak. I'm so excited because I've been on her waiting list for about 5 months now! Anyway, when it is up and running, it will be my one and only blog. I'm not sure if I will continue to run from this blog, or my photography blog, but I'll keep you up on all the details when I know more! It will be my photography/life blog which is going to be pretty great considering they both go hand in hand around here!

This past weekend I was able to photograph a wedding for one of the sweetest couples I've ever been around. They were so wonderful, and had the greatest families! It is so nice to work with such great people. They remind me why I wanted to do this for others. Not to mention they were all GORGEOUS! I mean seriously, there were so many pretty people in this wedding it was unbelievable! I'm so glad they chose me to share in this special day with them. I wish I could do it again next weekend (I'm sure they are glad it's all over!).

Here are some shots I took of the beautiful bride and her bridesmaids! Really, it was so much fun!

I HEART MY SOLDIER......

And all the other brave men and women who put their lives on the line for our freedom.

I never knew the sacrifice that our military truly gave until my brother became a soldier.

There are no more selfless, caring, honorable people in this world.

This is a man who spent 13 months of this life in Iraq in the sweltering heat and witnessing God knows what, just so we didn't have to.

This is a man who missed my wedding because he was in training to leave for war.

This is a man who missed numerous holidays and special occasions, not because he wanted to, but because he needed to.

This is a man who left his fiance' for 6 months to live in Africa because his country needed him to.

This is a man who is truly a man.

To him I am forever grateful, and nothing can repay him for the love and loyalty he has shown us all.

I love you Justin

Santa's been shopping!

And look what he bought!

Some friends of ours have this for their little guy, and Wyatt just LOVED it. Morgan decided he needed it for Christmas this year, so yesterday he went and bought it. I can't wait to see Wyatt's eyes light up on Christmas morning. He will be so excited!

On another note, I'm looking for some ideas for gifts this year.

Here are a few I can't decide on:

My Brother- age 28

My Sis-in-law- age 28

My Mother-in-law

Any suggestions?!?

Cookies and the Crud :(

This little guy isn't feeling too well......

He woke up with a pretty nasty nose and stopped up head this morning.

Looks like he's got "the crud" :(

We decided to stay in today, so I thought it would be fun to make some Christmas Cutout Cookies!

Yes, I know what you're thinking....

It's not even Thanksgiving yet!

Well, I don't really need an excuse to eat cookies.

Any time of year is just fine with me.

Who cares if they happen to be in the shape of snowmen?!?

Wyatt decided he would help.

Really he just played with all the stuff on the counter that should've been put up!

*Don't pay attention to the big bottle of conditioner, it hasn't found its way to the bathroom yet.

I'm pretty sure it's not possible to bake without making a HUGE mess!

Poor little guy, you can look at his eyes and tell he isn't feeling good.

Here is the batter in progress.....

And these great cookie cutters I got at a wedding shower. They have only been used a couple of times, but they are so handy! They seriously have ever shape you could think of!

This is where I got my inspiration (I'm a total magazine junkie, and this was one of my recent impulse buys at the grocery store). Now, mine didn't look near that pretty, but they sure tasted good! I didn't take a picture of my cookies, but they turned out great. I'm definitely going to save this recipe, it's a keeper!

Check out a Taste of Home Christmas addition for the recipe. There are lots of other great ideas in there as well!

Cowboy Boots and Monkey Suits

I took these pictures of little man last week. He was having such a good time running around in his shirt, diaper and cowboys boots!

Eating pickles, his favorite snack! Well, besides lemons. Don't ask. He loves them. I cringe when he eats them!

Can you say, "My Mama puts the camera in my face way too much!"?

Little ham! *Yes, that's a beach bag and floatie you see behind him. I'm trying to clean out closets. Not getting much done!

Rolling his truck on the couch. He could do this for hours!

And then came Halloween! Well, needless to say he didn't like his costume at first. More than that, he HATED it! I thought he made the cutest monkey though :)

Morgan and I were talking about the whole "costume" thing. It really is pretty mean, but he won't remember it and it will be so cute to look at when he's older!!

On our way to the first stop! The tears dried up and we were good to go :)

"So what's up? You know where I can get some more candy?!?" haha.....

We had such a great time Saturday night. We made a couple stops and then when over to some friends so the kids could hang out and play. It was so fun! I'll try to steal some of her pics and post more later. For some reason I was HORRIBLE at taking pictures this Halloween! Partly because I left my camera in the truck while we were there. Oh well, maybe next year I'll do better!

The last picture I took of the day (pathetic right?). This is our neighbors new calf. It's daddy is also it's brother..........long story, so wrong.

My house looks like a tornado hit it......

I won't even tell you how busy I have been.

I mean, we all think we are more busy than the other.

If you want to know what I've been up to, go here.

If you don't, that's cool too.

This week is looking up though.

I might actually get caught up.

Maybe.

Maybe not.

Hope you all have a blessed week.

If you live around me, they are calling for NO RAIN ALL WEEK.

Believe it when I see it.

Yes, I'm "That" Mom!!

Ok, so look. I'm gonna just step out on a limb here and say that I think child beauty pageants are rediculous! Sure, if you can keep it at a "just for fun" level, that's one thing. But for all these "Toddlers and Tiaras" moms, I just don't get it. All the money, the self-esteem issues, and everything else that comes along with it, I just don't see the point.

However, I did put Wyatt in a modeling contest. Oh yes, I'm one of "those" moms! haha. It was totally innocent and he has no idea what it's all about, but we had a blast! A local photog in our area had posted a sign in a business that I frequent about a child modeling contest for Strasburg. The winner gets a poster hung in our local Strasbug store, and lots of other great prizes. Being that I LOVE their clothes and have the CUTEST child ever (uh hum, I'm partial, I know), I thought it was perfect! Where do we sign up?!? So, Tuesday I took him to do his session. These are a couple that the photographer released for our use! 

He was HAMMING it up!! Let me tell you. He really loved Mrs. Jennifer, and she was so great with him (you can tell she's done this a time or two)! We had such a good time, and he even got a cookie afterwards.......talk about the way to a child's heart!
We won't know if he won for a couple of weeks, but even if he doesn't we had a great time! Plus, some pretty stinkin' cute pictures that I will be purchasing (of course).

Applique Take 1/Fall Decorations :)

So, as most of you know, life here on the farm is pretty busy this time of year. Crops are ready to get out, which means many evenings without the hubby. I've been wanting to take up applique for a long time, but it just hasn't worked out. Well, tonight was my chance! I had already purchased all the supplies, so I had no excuse. I watched a tutorial online (I'll try to post the site later). It seemed easy enough. Well, let me tell you, it isn't that easy! To all you ladies who sew, I give you props for sure! It was pretty darn tough. However, I didn't think I did too bad for my first time. The stitching leaves a lot to be desired, but I'm blaming that on my machine! haha.

*The bird pattern was a freebie on another blog! Isn't it super cute?!

Another thing I've tackled the past few days is our Fall Decor. I just LOVE to decorate this time of year, and I finally got my porch finished. I was pretty pleased with the results!

I found this Give Thanks sign at an antique store for $7, it's not really old but I love it anyway!

I think the mums this year are some of the prettiest I've ever seen. We have a local roadside stand here that has the best flowers and produce ever!

These cornstalks on the posts are courtesy of Ellis Farms! I talked the hubby into cutting them down for me yesterday. He wasn't sure about the idea, but I like it.

My sweet tricycle planter, I just love it!

Ready for the trick or treaters (although I shouldn't have bought my candy so early, I've already been into it.....ugh!)

One of my favorite touches, a fall wreath from Big Lots!! Love cheap finds!