Pumpkin Carve-Off 2012

Only because I can't seem to think straight this late right now I am going to just copy what I wrote last year. :)

Tonight we carved until we could carve no more. And now it is up to all of you to decide the carve-off winner for 2011 2012. For those of you who have never voted, Dave and I decided to carve pumpkins the first Halloween we dated. And because we are naturally competitive we had his mom decide which was better without telling who carved which. She said she loved both (as any mom would of course) but ultimately chose mine as her favorite!! Then the next year Dave wanted redemption, and the tradition was born. I think this is the 6th 7th year already! In 2008 when we started the blog we let everyone vote for their favorite. This year is no different.

And the nominees are........

 Pumpkin A

Pumpkin B 

Please vote on the top right of our blog!! Voting stays open for one week when the winner is announce. And we don't win anything except bragging rights for a whole year. :) Thank you for voting!!

Their married!

 Saturday, Oct. 20th was a great day. I got to watch, and be a part of, a wedding with two awesome people. Brittany and Kyle are really two of the most thoughtful and caring people I know. Even on their wedding day they remembered birthdays, and special requests that weren't even requested of them. The let Jaxson (the ring bearer and Hooray sign holder) walk down the aisle in socks because his shoes were too small. It is always about other people. And no one would be surprised by this at all. This is how they are everyday. Making sure they go above and beyond for everyone. It is really was awesome being able to watch them get married. They planned an amazing wedding. It was elegant, and beautiful, modern and traditional. But most of all it was alot of fun. Even I danced... and I am not a dancer. It was great seeing all the guests get involved, the whole crowd of about 200, all singing together and dancing in a giant circle together. It was amazing and they deserve every amazing thing that comes to them. And they are together at some unknown destination enjoying being married and I can't wait for them to come home to find out where they heck they went. Kyle is is into secrets and big surprises. My guess was Tahiti. We will see if I was right.

Congratulations Kyle and Brittany. You are two amazing people that I am so lucky to know. Now on to Operation 2013! ;) ;) 

30 Minute Zoo Dash

 When I picked Jaxson up from school this Tuesday it was SO incredibly nice outside. I told him we can do something fun outside and asked him if he had a request. He requested the zoo. Since we have a membership and just live a couple miles down the road that is where we headed.

When we pulled in and I noticed the winter hours sign. Ugh... So we had about 40 minutes. I told Jaxson to pick a couple animals to check out then we would have to go. He chose the giraffes and the lions. As we walked by the carousel he wanted to do that too. Last time we did it he refused to ride on the horse and rode on the boring bench. Not this time!!!  It was a quick, but fun zoo trip. :)

Cheeks

I might pinch and kiss Asher's cute chubby cheeks sometimes. Just like the little old ladies do. Poor child but I can't help myself. But they are obviously too cute for even him to resist. :)

But really we are learning body parts and when we say to find his cheeks he yanks so hard it looks like his eyes are coming out of socket. It is kind of scary looking and slightly hilarious.

Stolen...

Jax has been a bit challenging at bed time lately. Not staying in bed, bring toys with him and playing for an hour, and otherwise not sleeping. The other night he had a devilish little smirk and said you can't find your phone. I said, yah yah Jaxson, now go to bed. So he did. Not the norm lately but I will take it.

I have dropbox, which means when I take a photo with my phone, it automatically and instantly uploads it to a folder on my computer so it is easy to access if I want to use them for something. I LOVE this feature and turned out to be pretty handy the other night as well.

I was sitting on my computer doing photos when I got a little alert that two photos were just uploaded to my dropbox. That was weird but it only uploads photos to my computer if it is connected to wifi so I figured it got disconnected from our wifi for some reason. Then I got a message from a friend on Instagram on a photo. One that I didn't recognize. I took a closer look at the photos that were uploaded to my dropbox.

This is the view from Jaxson's bed. He had stolen my phone, took photos, AND uploaded them to instagram!!! Are you kidding me? I went in and told him I need my phone. He said he didn't have it. Dave then called my phone and somehow his pillow started ringing. Caught....

Orange and Red All Over

 We had been on the road for a couple hours coming home from Davenport where I got to photograph the finalization of an adoption. A friend adopted two little boys and didn't want to miss a moment. Anyway, the boys were restless when we got home to say the least. They ran off to play immediately and I didn't think much of it.

When will I learn that quiet = trouble?!?!

Asher walked into the living room and I was shocked. At first I was scared because from across the room I couldn't tell exactly why my son was bright red. My first thought was he cut his head open. But I then realized he was laughing so I knew that wasn't the case. Then he got closer and I got a good look at exactly what had happened. Then I laughed followed by looking for his big brother to assess the damage. It turns out that big brother was caught hiding in his closet with a bright red crayola marker and red all over his hands. How fitting right?!?

I knew this wasn't something I was going to just wash off without documenting first. How do I embarrass them as teenagers without photos of these moments? I do have to say my sweet four year old is very thorough. He didn't miss much of Asher's exposed skin. My favorite is the red all over and the touch of orange on his nose. It was washable but it did take a long soak and some scrubbing.

 Since the photo shoot markers on the boys have become a recurring issue. Since mom didn't get mad one time, she won't ever be mad if I draw all over my brother with markers. A four year and one year old's logic. The latest is when I found Asher without his shirt on with marker across his chest and down each arm. Ugh...

When I went to talk to Jaxson about it he denied doing it, even though he was hiding. He tried over and over to say it wasn't him. Too bad it said JAXSON across Asher's chest, with his right arm covered in X's, and his left covered in S's. Nice try Jaxson! This time I didn't take any pictures because I think that is what fueled the fire. It was cute and pretty hilarious.... once....

Hey look mom, ONLY my hands are red.....

Showing off his handy work. 

Where did you go October??

Yes, we are alive. And no, I haven't given up on my blog. Between photographing families and babies, photographing and being in weddings and still working my other two jobs I decided to make the boys halloween costumes but I have only used my sewing machine a handful of times. Dave has also had an unusually busy month as well so we have been juggling our time like circus talent :/ So I have been staying up a little late and when on the computer have been editing photos like a fool. Anyway... I figured I didn't want an entire month to go by with no posts to remember it by. And so much fun and funny stuff has happened. Now i just have to see if I can remember it all....

Marathon blog posts.... And go. :)

School Days

Jaxson is having a good time at school so far. He really has learned so much. He can spell and write his name amazingly well and has been playing with the magnet letters on the fridge. He told me he had spelled his name. I look over and he had spelled "Joksn." I was so proud of him because even though he didn't get it right he sounded it out so well.

He also got a compliment at school. I was picking him at school and the assistant teacher told me that he is the best eater she has had. He always eats lunch, doesn't ever complain, and will always try at least one bite. I am so proud of him!!

Asher always loves when Jaxson comes home from school. He still misses him but is getting more used to being without him during the day. But his smile is about as big as you will ever see it when Jaxson walks through the door.

The Original Toybox

My dad made Jaxson a toybox when he was around two. It was made out of red wood and was a replica (or pretty close anyway) of the one he made me when I was one. I always had it and when I moved it got given away. I really wanted to have the original but couldn't really ask for it to back. I was ok with it and really just needed a toybox. And lately I have been asking my dad to make another for Asher because we needed another.

A few weeks ago my dad called and asked me if I still needed a toybox for Asher. I answered of course! I was hoping he had one finished for him but I know my dad likes to take his time with those type of things. Or most things really. But I was in for a surprise.

He asked me if I wanted the original toybox he made for me when I was one back. I was so excited, of course I wanted that one. He told me the person he had given it to, her kids had outgrown it and before they got rid of it asked him if he would like it back. It was really a win win because he then didn't have to make another one, and I really wanted the original anyway.

He said he needed to sand it and put a finish on it. It was 25 or so years old. He brought it over a few days later and it is imperfectly perfect. And I am so happy that Asher has the original. So much of stuff gets passed on to the oldest and it is nice for Asher to have something that is special to me.