Christmas Eve

With very little rain all year, it picked today to start.  It was a very dreary, cold wet and rainy day.  Mom and I still had a couple things to pick up and places to go.  Amazing, it was very smooth, traffic was not as horrendous as it has been and luck was on our side.  Each items that we needed, we bought the last one one the shelves and we were finished!

One present for the kids to open.

 

 A new mosaic for Ladybug and a saxophone for Batman.

 Then we headed to Church in the evening for a candlelight service.  Mamaw and Papaw Massey made it just in time! 

 Then over to friends for dinner!  So much fun.

 12 kids.

 

 Three couples and three sets of grandparents!  Taco soup, cornbread, BBQ sausages, great friends, wonderful fellowship and a fantastic time. 

 Then home for a couple more presents.  Books from the Hatches.

 And another from Aunt T and Uncle M.

 They loved their color wonder.

 Time to go and track Santa on the internet.  He was already in the United States so I rushed them...

to the kitchen to put out the milk and cookies and then off to bed!

I had two grandma's to help me wrap presents!  Then Chris and I proceed to get their big Santa presents together.  Course nothing goes as planned.  But we had to pull the stay up till 2am to get everything ready.  Kids slept till almost 9am so we were good and it all worked out perfect!

Happy Christmas Eve!

Workroom lunch

Today was our workroom holiday get together.  So much fun.  We went potluck with a noodles and meatball theme.  So much good food.  And enough food for the Admin staff to eat as well. 

According to the records, I have logged 293 hours this semester.  Averaging out the time that was over scheduled and the time that was not logged while working on yearbook from home, it is probably pretty accurate.  Besides the 3 hours I spend in the library a week and the many hours I am taking pictures or working on the yearbook, the majority of that time is actually in the workroom. 

I love it.  

To explain it: you all know how much I loved staying home with my kids and as many of you know I took advantage of most days to go or do "something".  There is not one thing I can look back on and regret during those years.  

But there was that little fear, unknown about what is next.  My whole life was wrapped up in my kids for seven years.  

But this was it.  This is the next stage I live for.  I love volunteering.  My friend accusingly teases me that I would have more time to play with her if I didn't have a "job" at the school.  But I love it.  I get to take care of the kids by taking care of their teachers and the school which are a huge part of their lives right now.  I still get to be a part of their lives, know a little more about what happens in their day and more of the activities that happen at the school that they "forget" to tell me.  I am enjoying this next stage of my life immensely. 

It is not what I had planned at all for when the kids were both in school but it is what I love doing. 

 Assortment of desserts.

 Fruit, salad, eggs, crackers.

 Meatballs and bread.

 Yum.

The things you do.

Sacrifices you have to make. Yep, we had to pull the big ladder out.  All in the name of decorating for Christmas.  By rope we had to lower decorations down that were sitting in the little alcove above the door.  Then one by one we used the rope to raise all the Christmas decorations up. 

I am still decorating for Christmas. Hopefully I will be done before New Years! Ha!  So when that happens you will see a post on what we put up there. Chris had just as much fun decorating this year.  Have I mentioned that I like my house!

Santa baby

I am still learning about shooting with lights.  Chris is dillegently and patiently working with me.  I need to edit these a little more but they are so cute I wanted to share!

 Batman jumped right in there and wanted to be my first model!  He is awsome.  He knows how to turn his body to get the best angle, and how to but his hands in his pockets to created some separation with this arms. Too cute.

 This was my favorite.  Chris was telling him to put his arms up in a V in the air but he kept doing this.  I loved it!

 And yes he wanted to walk on his hand.  Captured it great though!

 Then he went and got his cars, plopped down and was ready again.  Gotta love him.  But you have to know, we did all of this in about 10 minutes and then he was done!

The reason I wanted to practice in the studio was for this outfit below.   J'ma brought this to Ladybug.  Then I found a hairstyle on line I wanted to try on her hair and thought they would go great together but wanted a nice picture when it was done.  And this is what I got.

 Also a perfect model.  She put herself in most of these poses and I didn't even have to tell her what to do.

 The candy cane braid. 

 What is so funny about this one, I didn't know what she was doing with her arms.  I just snapped the picture because she was gently placing her hands on her chin like you are supposed to do with out pushing too hard on the skin.  But she was doing the heart for me.

 Too cute.

 Another of the braid.

We were looking for Santa here!

Now that I think I am ready to shoot the studio by myself, you may see more pictures of all their cuteness.

Happy 70th!

Sunday morning we got up and headed to the pier for breakfast.  We walked for awhile and let the kids run a little before realizing it was 1. Sunday and 2. it was the off season, nothing was open. 

 So out comes the google maps - which I am now a huge fan of.  And we found this cafe with good review.  So we took a short drive. 

 Native cafe.  It was wonderful.  We had a fantastic breakfast/lunch. 

Then we headed to the condo to celebrate J's 70th birthday. 

 Not only did we share in their 50th wedding anniversary, J was turning 70. 

 Cake and drinks for everyone.

 Yes, I am grandpa and I don't drink coffee and don't eat sweets, they are bad for you. What is in that cup and on his plate?? 

 The four J's.

 J'ma and the kids.

 The T family.

Happy 70th!!