Thanksgiving 2013

So this week is Kayla's birthday week and the week I'm starting blogging more regularly.  I'm going to have to try to plan ahead and pull my camera out more often and I'm excited about it!  For now here's a briefly worded but heavily photographed Thanksgiving recap.

As last year, we went to my parents house for Thanksgiving where my mom and dad open the doors and Megan does all the cooking. :)  My parents condo gets great light for the most part, so these photos turned out overall better than the day before, but still need some work.  I was trying to get a bunch of photos of the kids and maybe some candids as well.  Not my best work but I think I got some keepers.

After lots of playing and laughing, we ate in the mid afternoon (started before the boys woke up from naps.)  Kayla didn't take a nap...shocker.  The food was delicious as usual and we had to bride Kayla to eat her turkey with a giant frosted turkey cookie my grandparents had brought for her.  Each bite she took, the turkey got closer to her.  I'm not going to lie, I bride the kid like crazy because it works.  I like to think of it as a reward more than a bribe.  She responds well to positive reinforcement versus negative consequences.  

My cute little nephew. :)  He likes my camera.

My little sister, nephew and future neice/nephew.

Cheesing for me

This one doesn't love my camera so much...

If I play peek a boo, he will smile though.

Liam plays very intensely. :)

Caught!

My little man

Liam was so cute watching Kayla play with Gigi's iPad

Brody caught playing

For some odd reason, my son loves playing in the bathroom (especially with the toilet lid??)

"Come here Liam!"

"Check this out!  It's makes sounds when you hit it."

Caught again...

Trying to be creative

Liam

The two that kinda like the camera

Kayla is at a really fun photography age because she kinda likes for me to take her picture now!

Making him laugh <3

Those baby blues :)

Trying to tell her to keep her legs closed for the photos...

Aunt Lauren helping her cross her legs

My little ham :)

Love this kid.

Not the best candids, but I love watching my little sister be a mom. :)

Great Uncle Pat is HILARIOUS

Liam wondering what is going on...

Time to play ball with Aunt Meme

So much fun

Brody taking a break with his great grandpa.

Megan and Liam...

This photo cracks me up...typical of all the kids.  Liam: chillin'.  Kayla: acting silly.  Brody: not thrilled someone else is sitting in Meme's lap...

He doesn't like to be left out.

Seriously, my kid loves his cousin.

Liam's face kills me.

He always wants to be behind the camera...

My silly, crazy, adorable girl.

She thinks she's so funny.

Liam has a really awesome side arm.

The Spread!!

The cook

My original nephew.  This may be one of my favorites I took all day.

My favorite men. :)

Another one of my favorite men!

The original man in my life carving the bird.  He's always very focused.  I should compare photos from last years...

Setting the food out.

Trying to get a photo of me.  I need to learn how to set it up faster for Justin to take our picture.

Playing peek-a-boo with Liam.

New Year, New Goals...again

So I looked back at my "goals" from last year...without even knowing it, I was kinda doing some stuff towards them!  I took a couple photography/editing online courses and joined a photography forum which I need to look through and take full advantage of, I started working out, but I wasn't all that great at some other stuff.  I actually liked my format and a lot of the goals still stand for me this year with some slight adjustments, so here are some things I want to accomplish this year:

Physical Health:

• Eat better.  We got off track here, but we have a plan to get back on the wagon of little eating out.  I find I have little time to "browse" and try to pick out meals for week so Justin and I have decided to try writing down our favorite recipes we come across and try on notecards and keeping them all.  That way we can pick out certain recipes and just go to the store.  We are also planning on trying to do quick shopping trips for produce etc every week which we haven't been doing.  Hopefully this will help us financially as well.
• Drink less pop.  I was doing pretty well with this in November when I made it a goal but I got back on the (bad) wagon.  I need something to substitute so I won't crave it so much.  So I'd like to cut it out cold turkey.  Any suggestions for a replacement?
• Continue yoga 2-3 times a week.  I realize I have barely blogged in the past like 3 months or so (see goal below) but in November we joined a gym and I made a bunch of goals for the month, one of which was going 2-3 times a week.  I have discovered that I love yoga. (See other goal below).  I want to keep this up and I may be doing my own little ab challenge for the next few months to try to get my midsection back in shape (if anyone is interested in joining me let me know!)

Emotional Health:

• Spend less time watching t.v.  Justin and I are still tossing around the idea of getting rid of the cable.  I love my t.v. as an escape but I feel like there are SO many things I want to accomplish this is just going to get in my way.  So I'm going to need help narrowing down my list of must watch t.v. shows. :)
• Find a baby sitter.  This is for the sake of my husband and I.  Now I by no means think our relationship is struggling at all, but I want to be able to go on dates, maybe once a month.  So I need some sitter options besides my poor but very helpful family.
• Spend more time with my friends, with or without kids.  This is good for the soul.
• See yoga goal above.
• Church.  I've never been a big church goer, but I think Kayla is coming to an age where I'm not sure how to explain things to her (spiritual things) and I think starting to go to church as a family would be a good start as a way to bring God and some calm/prayer into our lives.

Personal Goals:

Honestly, I'm a bit over my 101 list.  It's too much work to keep up with trying to accomplish a lot of those, so if you couldn't tell, I gave up.  So here are some things I'd rather spend my time on.

• Photography.  I would like to take another course or two so I can really feel confident in my photographer in more settings.  What I mean by this is that outdoors with lots of light, I feel pretty confident I could take photos of other people besides my family.  When it comes to indoors or low light situations, I feel like I need some work, but I'm trying.  I'd love to take some newborn photos and sibling photos for my sister when my new niece/nephew comes along next month! :)  Hopefully I can get some cute photos.  I'm also considering a 52 week photo challenge (I'd be a little behind) and/or a 100 days of happy challenge.
• Yoga.  I have discovered I love yoga so much I would consider teaching.  So my goals is to at least look into it and maybe start saving for it since I'm sure it's going to be a large upfront cost.
• Save money.  I want to try to start building a nest egg in our savings account, which will likely mean trying to pay off some credit cards and really being frugal with everything we spend.
• Work. Trying to figure out what direction I want to go with my job.  I love it and I love that it's  bit of a bigger focus in my life now.  Considering sports and or women's health directions.
• Blog.  PEOPLE, I'M THE WORST BLOGGER EVER.  And honestly, I hate that.  I want to try to blog 2-3 times a week.  I'm thinking it might be easier for me if I had some sort of "schedule" like Mondays I post family updates, or Fridays are photography days.  Maybe I can somehow incorporate my other goals into my blog to make myself more accountable (yoga workouts, photo Fridays to encourage me to take photos at least once a week, weekly recipes?)  Any ideas??

My little sister has asked me to post some photos I took of the kids over the holidays, since I tried to take a lot.  And I told her I got some good ones of Liam.  Here are some I took the day before Thanksgiving (low light photography is not my friend right now...)

Brody was NOT a big fan of Samson for a while there.

This is pretty much how Brody feels about Liam.

Look of adoration.  He loves his buddy!

Liam is NOT as sure...