richelle - pregnancy pics (downtown NB, tx)

Ms. Richelle is one of the cutest pregnant girls ever!! She stayed so tiny throughout, and she looked great!!! This was another one of the freezing cold shoots that we endured! Thinking about it, I'm not sure how the photographers up in Canada do it everyday! But she was way tougher than me and even had her jacket off for most of the 40 degrees shoot! Enjoy...

And 3 year old Jake was so excited to be the big brother!...

Since the shoot, Richelle has delivered her beautiful little girl! Pictures of her to come soon!

the todd girls (gruene, tx)

Okay, so I'm back to "work" and catching up on BLOG posts! These cute girlies are the daughters of one of my sorority sisters and a boy that I went to high school with, and they finally just moved back to Texas! They sure make some precious kids!!! And this was one of the coldest photo shoots that I've done! Do y'all remember those few mornings where it was 41 degrees and windy...this was one of those!...

Jordan is a big 4 year old...

And tiny Payton is 1 year old...

Thank you girls for freezing with me that morning!! I can't wait to see y'all again!

a sad passing (personal)

My husband's grandpa passed away yesterday. It is David's mom's dad, and he lived to be 88 years old. He had a massive heart attack, which caused him to fall on his front porch. They think he died pretty instantly from the heart attack, but also suffered some major brain damage and injuries from the fall. His wife, Frances survives him.

It's been a very hard 24 hours for David's family. His grandpa had been through a lot this past year with medical issues, but the doctors kept saying that his heart looked great. You just never know when someone's time has come. We were all so fortunate that we spent the morning with him yesterday, celebrating Christmas. David's dad drove him and Grandma home to Canyon Lake, and minutes after he left, this all happened.

Please just pray for David's grandma who, after 67 years of being married, will now live alone. Also pray for David's mom, who is in only child, and has had to make some tough decisions through all of this. The whole family is grieving, but also celebrating the life of a very dedicated man.

David told me when I first met him, that he was super-close with his grandpa. He is probably even closer with him than some people ever were with their own fathers. Grandpa went to almost every one of David's home baseball games, from his 4 year old t-ball league to playing college baseball at Southwest. We were spoiled that Grandpa even got to attend most of our twins' t-ball games last spring.

Anyhow, we know that he is up in heaven living the high-life! I'm sure he's reuniting with old pals and family. We'll miss him dearly!!!...

...and to all, a good night! (personal)

Merry Christmas! I hope that everyone had the most joyous day, filled with love and laughter! We had a wonderful day, and there's more of that later.

I think this might be the longest BLOG post that I've ever left. But I wanted to recap our month of December, because I've been slacking!! And there was so much to chat about from this past month! So, here goes! I'll start with how I feel...

Poor baby had played so hard all day, that he came in, took his track pants off, and he crashed! Don't worry! We woke him up to bathe him! ;)

We went to my parent's new home in Fulshear to celebrate with my mom's family. It was the day after the big Houston Snow Day, so we got to see a little bit of snow left over on the grass...

The reunion was fun, and the boys love seeing and playing with their mommy's cousins' kids (anyone know a better way to say that?) And my boys ate & ate...especially all the cookies & candy! They also loved seeing their great-grandma, Nana!!...

The next morning, we celebrated Brogan's 3rd birthday with my family. My mom & dad got Brogan a Megatron from the Transformers. Well, if you touched the wrapped gift, Megatron would start talking. It was hilarious because it was freaking Brogan out! He'd laugh hysterically because he thought it was so funny, but I also think he was a little scared...

Then we drove back to NB, straight to Mimi & Pop Pop's house. We had another birthday celebration for Brogan! He loves his new Razor scooter and his new John Deere Gator!!!...

The next day was Brogan's real 3rd birthday, so of course, another celebration! Brogan opened a few presents in the morning, and then we had our friends from Small Group come over to play!...

We had another fun party with my small group the next week! It's so fun to watch Brogan play with his buddies!...

Dayton & Grady's school put on the play, The Mitten for their kindergarten production! Grady had the role of the wolf, and Dayton opted to be the "curtain opener" instead of actually being IN the play!...

And Brogan...need I say more?...

Dayton and Grady each had a small Christmas celebration in their classrooms...

Then we headed back to Fulshear for a party of my more immediate family. Uncle Beau & Andy got to come in to visit from Chicago! The boys were excited to see them, and even more excited to get to play with their cousin, Hailey!...

And our gift exchange wouldn't have been complete without a screaming tantrum from Brogan! He thought all of the toys were HIS!!!...

This past week, school has been out! Fun...but oh my! It's crazy having all three boys home all day, every day! So, we planned some fun things to do. We had a big craft project and made Christmas table decorations for our Christmas Eve dinner...

And we decorated gingerbread men one day, and ate all of them, of course!...

Last night, we celebrated Christmas Eve and the birth of baby Jesus at our church. Dayton and Grady had been practicing each week to sing a son with the children's choir. Grady did awesome!!!! And Dayton didn't quite make it to the stage. ;(...

Back home for some of Daddy's best chili...

Putting out the reindeer food...

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, and this morning! Christmas morning! Is there anything like it?!!

The boys came in to the playroom to find that Santa had been there!!! Santa was too smart and got the boys lots of costumes to play dress-up in...must have been some left-overs from Halloween! (Santa, that was super-cost-efficient! ;))...

They had so much fun! They were all excited about the cool things that they got, and they played all day! Well, they fought a little here and there, but they played & played! Now, again, the opening of presents, would not have been complete without a total meltdown for Brogan with him saying "That mine, that mine, that, mine" to all of the toys that he wanted! Poor thing!!!...

Well, I hope your day was Merry!!! I hope today found you in a good place that was filled with comfort and joy! Goodnight!