Christmas with Hannah

Well, Santa came to our house! Christmas was a blast for Hannah this year. Christmas Eve was spent with her Nana, Grandy, Bubba, cousins Carlee, Allie, Raegan and Aunt Tracy and David. We got smart this year and let all of the kiddos take turns opening all of their presents first and then got to ours. :) They had so much fun!

Christmas morning Hannah slept in til after 8:30! When I brought her downstairs and walked her over to the tree she just stood there staring at everything in awe. It was so cute! It didn't take her long to start tearing through everything though and checking it out!

Here are a few pics of her Christmas morning~


ETA: internet not working good so more to come later! :)

Hannah n Santa

Chad and I took Hannah to see Santa this past Tuesday night at the mall. We went on a weeknight thinking we'd beat the crowd but I think everyone else had that same idea as well! We waited for almost an hour to see the jolly old man himself. We even made a few friends during our wait! :)

Hannah had a blast playing with all of the kids in line and was in such a wonderful mood until it was her turn.....


Once I went up there with her she calmed down long enough to somewhat look at the camera. I was not prepared to be IN the picture though- I thought I was safe BEHIND the camera! :)


*sigh* perhaps next year she'll think Santa is cool :)

Smarties!

It has been my mission the past couple of weeks to get a good picture of Hannah for our Christmas cards. It has been a very long journey to say the least. This is what I had gotten- keep in mind my "backdrop" was wayyyyy far to my left. ;)





After a trip to the annual Christmas parade this past Saturday (it was a looong two hours), we came home with a huge bag filled with candy much to Hannah's delight. She took a real interest in the smarties so I thought I'd use it to my advantage. I decided to try just one more time to get her to sit still so I took her out to my "studio" in the garage and gave her some smarties. Holy cow- she sat there!! When she'd run out I'd toss a few more and it worked like a charm. I happened to get these two shots that I'm quite happy with. :)





This means I might just have my Christmas cards done in the near future- coming to a mailbox near you! :)

Sips-n-Strokes

Some of the girls from work and I went to Sips-n-Strokes here in Birmingham tonight. We had so much fun sipping wine and painting a picture of poppies! Perhaps we had a little too much wine seeing as how we were the "loud" and most candid group out of the bunch. oh wait- but we're always like that! ;)

Here are a few pictures from our evening:

working on our "vaaases"


adding the final touches...


The finished product!

A girl and her bear.

Long time, no post. I know, I'm a bad blogger. I've just been super busy these days with the holidays coming up, proofing sessions, working full-time and chasing after Hannah. If only I could have a few more hours in my day- then I could promise a daily post.

Here are a few pictures from today. It was such a nice day so she and I went out and played in the yard for awhile. She LOVES to kick around in the leaves and throw them in the air. I love to chase her around with my camera. :)

Of course, Bear is always anywhere Hannah may be. She absolutely adores Bear and he must go EVERYWHERE we go. The grocery store. The doctor. The mailbox. The bathroom. You get my point. You're pretty much guaranteed to see him in any picture of Hannah as well. He is her main sidekick- it's just so cute. Poor poor Bear is looking pretty shabby these days though-but he's a trooper. Let's all hope that he lives a long, ripped-off-body-part-free life. :)

and now.... a girl and her bear.






Peek-a-boo Bear!

Happy Halloween!

What a fun day (or week rather!) it has been! I couldn't wait to get home from work so I could get Hannah all dressed up and take her trick-or-treating. She's been practicing walking around with her pumpkin ("cunkin" in Hannah talk) saying "tick-o-tee" for over a week now. Of course when it came time to actually put her to the test, there were no "tick-o-tee's" coming out of her tonight but she sure was brave and would march up to each neighbor's house! Our cat, Cat-Cat, also followed us door to door. Silly kitty!

After a round of trick-or-treating we went to our church for their annual festival. She loved seeing everyone all dressed up- especially the princesses. She called them all "Rella"- she loves Cinderella!

Hannah got so many compliments on her costume and many ask if I made it myself. Ha! If they only knew me and my lack of domestic skills!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween! I know we sure did! Here's a few pictures from our day.

Pumpkin Hannah and Mommy Kitty


All ready to go Trick-or-Treating




Checkin' out the "cunkin" she and I carved last night. It looks a little pitiful ;)

More beach pics!

Just for you Gwen!

Thought I'd share a few of my faves with you while you wait so patiently! I'll have your gallery up soon, I promise. :)

I have had the best time going through these pictures- I had a blast with you guys! I hope Hannah and I can come back down soon!

Beach

Yep, another weekend at the beach for me and the Hannah! We're down in Orange Beach for a photo session with a wonderful family. I also had the chance to stop by the outlets today and I got Hannah the CUTEST outfit from Gap! Stay tuned for pictures of her in it. I think I'll get some pics of her out on the beach in the morning sportin' it. :)

Here is one shot we got today- we had to cut our session short due to a storm that blew in so we're meeting back up in the morning for more "candid" shots. I had a blast today! Here's a couple of sneak peeks for ya guys!

Eye contact!!

Yep, you're seeing it right- I actually got a picture of Hannah looking at me! I don't remember if I was balancing bear on my head or dancing a jig, but whatever it was- it WORKED! Man, I need to start taking notes.

Anyway, here is my ever-so-adorable and talkative 19 month old Hannah. :)

Adorable

I had the pleasure of working with this family this past Sunday out at the botanical gardens. They are just so adorable together! I had a wonderful time following you all around the gardens and thanks for all of your help Miss H! Keep working on those cartwheels! :)

Here are just a couple sneak peeks for you!

it's me!

I've heard many times now that I never have a picture of myself on here.... well, you're in luck today! My cousin and I went out Saturday afternoon playing "photographer" and she took a couple of pictures of me. As she was snapping away she told me to pretend that I was on "America's Next Top Model"..... and this is what you get! ;)


Yes, my jeans are rolled but I was determined not to get the "short" length jeans. It somehow makes me feel better about myself. :)

Beach!

Hannah and I went down to Destin for the weekend and we had such a good time! It was a bit rainy and windy due to the tropical storm coming through but we still had a blast. I have been sick the past couple of days and haven't done much of anything so just one picture for now. :)

Silly invite!

When I was proofing the pics tonight I came across this picture and I had a funny idea for an invite! :) It looks like she's pointing and thinking "yeah, that's my party!" Hee hee!

Ok, ok. Back to proofing for me. I just had to have fun for a minute and design a funny invite for you, Mandy dear! :)

Little Pumpkin

Here's Grace the little pumpkin! We had fun this morning playing dress up to get some pics for her FIRST birthday invitation!

Just one for now..... more to come soon!

Jacob!

I got to meet Jacob (who just turned THREE!) and his mom on Tuesday out at the botanical gardens- my new favorite place. We had such a fun time exploring the gardens and walking on the trails. I think his favorite part was getting to take his shoes off and walk on the neat fountain at the front entrance- what a great way to cool off after a hot day!

Here are a couple of sneak peeks for you guys! :)

18 months!

I can't believe my baby girl is already 18 months old! Heck, by now she's already 18 and a HALF months old. Sigh.

She and I went out the the botanical gardens yesterday so she could play dress up and mommy could play paparazzi. I followed her around and jumped out from behind every corner to try to snap a picture of her actually looking at me. I failed miserably. I did get some great shots of her back, toes and pouty face though!! (and Bear, of course)

Here's my 18 month old cutie- who can say butterfly now!(Buh-er-fwy) I'm so proud!

Go Bama!

Ok, so I'm not really "Auburn or Alabama"...... I try to stay neutral and say "Go Troy!" Hannah's Nana and Grandy and Aunt Tracy (and dad!) are big Bama fans and got her this adorable outfit for her birthday. In honor of the first game of the season, I let her wear her outfit today!

Hannah's always less than thrilled to have me chase her around with the camera but I managed to get a few shots of her sportin' the new outfit. :) Thanks Nana, Grandy and Aunt Tracy!

That's been my fun for today- now it's back to CLEANING! That's right, what better way to spend Labor Day weekend than cleaning house? Well, the beach would be really nice right now..... but I'll be down there in just a few weeks! Yay!







The Outtake:

Name that movie!

Let's see who all is out there..... Can anyone guess what movie this "town" is from?! (minus all of the bushes and vines!) :)

My Lil' Pumpkin

I got Hannah's Halloween costume in the mail today and it is soooo cute!!! Ok, so it's only August but you know I had to let her try it on. ;) She thought it was so fun to walk around with the little slippers on- it was truly a sight to see.



She decided to walk over to where she could wave at all the neighbors. I'm sure they were wondering why she was dressed like a pumpkin in August.


Excuse my sad pitiful flower pot. The drought ate my flowers. Hopefully this 100+ degree weather will leave us alone soon!

Almost One!

I got to meet little Miss Tori and her mom and dad Saturday morning out at the botanical gardens. We met early enough to try to avoid the 100+ degree weather that was in store for later in the day. I had a wonderful time following Tori as she toddled around exploring everything. :)

Here are a couple of sneak peeks for you. It was so nice to meet you guys!

Senior 2008!

It's that time of year- senior pictures!!

I had the pleasure of taking Alane's senior pictures this past weekend out at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Girl- you are so awesome to work with! I had such a great time with you guys. Here are a couple of sneak peeks for you. :)

Ella!

I met Crystal and John today to take some pictures of their beautiful little girl, Ella. She is just absolutely precious! I got everything all set up outside and after snapping just a few pics, we were attacked by mosquitoes! We could only take a few more pics before running for our lives. :)

Here are a couple that I did get- I had to give you a sneak peak, Crystal. :)

P.S. Mandy- I am 90% done with your pictures!!!!

We're home

Hannah and I got back from Michigan this afternoon after spending the week with our family. We lost our Aunt Amber this past week and spent some time with the family- they have so many wonderful friends that came to show their support- they are truly amazing.

Over the week we had....

A few tears~


A few laughs and smiles~


Lots of Hugs from Hannah~


Eating. Lots of eating. Need I say more?


oh, and of course who can resist these big brown eyes? She kept lots of smiles on everyone's faces :)


Thanks for everything everyone........