Happy Thanksgiving!

The biggest baking day of the year! I live for pies and rolls- check out some of my favorite recipes at my food blog Fabulous Foods!

      

Aside from food, I am also very thankful for my wonderful family, my religion, and that we finally found a house, so we won't be homeless for the holidays! Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Moving...again...at Christmas...

I started to get all excited about Christmas... since all our holiday things got ruined in the flood I get to start from scratch this year. So I had my sister make me a bunch of vinyl to decorate ornaments and this fun charger. But my holiday cheer was dampened by a call from the owner of our house informing us he was going through bankruptcy and could not get financing to keep the house. Meaning, we have to be out by January...

 

 I am so going to miss this house! Yes, it took some adjusting to living in half the space since the basement got flooded out, and the water pressure issue took months to resolve... BUT the backyard was amazing and the playroom enormous. Not much else matters when you have three boys! I'm totally going to miss this setup! I know we won't find a yard like this that's fenced with a massive playset already installed, but hopefully we can still have a big playroom...Wish me luck! I won't be doing many updates for the next few months and won't be sending out cards until we get a new address- so hope they're not too late! If YOU have moved this last year- be sure to email me your new address so I can send you a card once WE move!

Photo Tip: 5 minute photoshoot

I needed to update our photos of the boys and realized I didn't have any current portraits of Joshua. He's two, which means every time I pick up the camera he runs. If I do manage to snap a shot it's of him running or looking away which somehow doesn't look very flattering hanging on your wall.

So thought maybe some of you might need pics to send family for the holidays- here's a photo tip: grab your camera and a bag of fruit snacks or smarties or whatever non-messy treat they like. Give them one treat after they put their clothes on, another one when you get to a nice well-lit area out of direct sunlight, and just start talking to them about something they like (in Joshua's case- trains).

Start snapping as you talk and ask questions or get them to say keywords "daddy wears diapers!" "I love Thomas!" "crazy mommy!" You want them to look natural and relaxed not stiff and posed. Always position their body at an angle never facing straight towards the camera and stand slightly above, never below them. If they don't know what to do with their hands and look uncomfortable, just have them either fold their arms or put their thumbs in their pockets. Toddlers move so fast that you have to keep snapping or you'll get their eyes closed or turned away, they may be a bit off focus but it's better than nothing. When they start to get distracted bribe them with candy.

It really only takes 5 minutes! These image are unedited, with a little cropping and retouching the scratches on his face, they'll look great. Give it a try!

Virginia

We had the opportunity to go with Anthony back to Charlottesville, VA last week. We lived there for 4 months after Ethan was born and have been back several times. It's such a beautiful area and I love going every chance I get. Especially this time of year- the leaves are spectacular and the weather beautiful. I took the boys up to the apple orchard next to Monticello, the views are fabulous and the apple cider donuts divine. They have a new discovery museum at Monticello designed just for kids. They have replicas of Thomas Jefferson's bed, polygraph, desk and other items he had in his home and the kids can touch and climb on anything they want. They played for hours with the architectural blocks (guess that will be their Christmas present this year!) We didn't have much free time in the evenings but our last day we decided we couldn't pass up the chance to go to DC one more time. It was a rainy day and the boys had so much fun splashing in the puddles and getting soaked. We saw the monuments, took Joshua to see his middle name sake (Lincoln). Anyone who's been to DC knows the squirrels are as friendly as dogs, they will eat right out of your hand, the boys had fun chasing them around. And last but not least, one of our favorite places, National Cathedral. It was a long drive, but we love Virginia and can't wait to go back again.