Thanksgiving

So much to be thankful for this year...

We had a great Thanksgiving with friends this year. Todd did all the cooking, which I love. His menu for this year included an 18 pound brined turkey, pear + chestnut + sage dressing, green bean casserole, cranberry + quince sauce, sweet potato pudding with pecan + gingersnap topping, brussels sprouts with marjoram + pine nuts, and finally, mashed potatoes. It was fabulous, as always.

Our friends were in charge of some other goodies including pies. Cat brought pumpkin and apple, while David brought his famous chocolate chess pie. I was also introduced to jello fruit salad. I have to say, it's tasty!

The storyboard below is all stuff from the kids' table. We had 7 little ones, so they had their own table, which was fun.

Since Todd refuses to use anything from a can, his Thanksgiving ingredients are always exciting!

I knew I wouldn't have time to shoot his masterpieces once they were ready, so I had to settle for some shots of 'food in progress.'

A little something to wash it all down...

My favorite style of art from one of my favorite artists - Stella:

Since I didn't cook at all, I had to try to get at least a little creative with the leftovers. They said they wanted turkey sandwiches. No one was amused, except me.

Happy Thanksgiving :)

La-Z-Boy Tear Sheet

What a fun adventure! This was a 1/2 day booking with an 8AM call time. Since we had to be on set so early, the girls and I spent the night at a beautiful historic hotel courtesy of my buddy, Hilary's friends and family discount. We watched cartoons while we ate room service in bed and hit the hay by 8PM! Admittedly, it was still a bit of a struggle trying to get all three of us camera ready and on set by 8, but we made it!

The best part about the shoot was that part of it was scheduled during Stella's nap time. As you can see from this shot, the set suited her naptime perfectly. The scene was supposed to be the girls getting ready for bed time in the pullout sleeper sofa. To Stella, the bed + pjs + her mama bear + a book = bed time! She asked for her B (her pacifier), which they didn't mind, thankfully. She just couldn't understand why I wouldn't actually let her sleep! Eva was a champ, as always...

Easter Greeting Card

I thought I was just biased, but clearly she's adorable...look at my baby's first greeting card. We rarely actually see tear sheets, so it was a treat to see this one! It's an Easter card for Avanti Press. It was such a fun set. She looked (and felt) just like Fancy Nancy all dressed up and pampered!

Photo Elements: Dennis Mosner

Sweet Silhouettes

I took Eva and Stella to the Cameron Village Christmas celebration a few weeks ago and had a wonderful evening with the girls! CV does a fantastic job with this event and has everything including visits with Santa + Mrs. Claus, balloon twisting, free popcorn, cookies and cider, sledding, a life-sized Candyland game and more!

While we were waiting for our turn to see Santa, I was admiring silhouette artist, Lena Bengtson, studying her subjects' faces and intricately cutting tiny pieces of paper to look like the children. I was so amazed and impressed, I just had to get one of the girls...after our visit with Santa, of course!

Silhouettes by Lena Bengtson, posted with permission.

As this is a very popular local event, we ran into plenty of friends, which made it fun. Eva had a blast sledding, while Stella decided to stay back and just cheer for Eva instead ;) They both loved all the free tasty treats, especially the popcorn. Lastly, after working up the nerve to talk to Santa, Stella told him that she would like cotton candy for Christmas and Eva requested a stuffed Lotso Bear, from Toy Story 3. What a great night!

Stella's 3rd birthday!

What a great birthday for little Stella! She had a great time celebrating her ballet-themed party with all of her friends! Eva, Bodie, Hanne, Janie, Molly, Carmen, Anderson, Lane, Rachel, Annabel, Katie and Clara were all there to help celebrate.

A few shots of the scene...

Todd's cake - one word - fantastic! He did the entire thing himself and used gum paste for the first time. The cake was chocolate with a mint chocolate filling (per Stelly's request). It was beautiful and delicious!

This next picture is of Mrs. Oakley. She is a wonderful woman who does story time at Quail Ridge books. Stella absolutely loves her, her stories and her awesome crafts! Both Stella and I were thrilled when Mrs. Oakley agreed to read a Miss Lina's Ballerinas and do a craft with her party guests. She brought adorable ballet slippers that the kid's painted with watercolor and laced with pink ribbon!

Stella wasn't sure about everyone singing to her. She was really focused on the candles!

After cake, we had a surprise visit from a sweet sugar plum fairy ballerina. The kids (and adults) watched as she performed the Sugar Plum Fairy dance from the Nutcracker. After the performance, she showed the girls a few ballet moves!

Stella was so into her new toys that her friends brought for her, she really didn't want any pictures taken of her after the party :) She had a blast, especially with her new My Little Pony house and her new book from Mrs. Oakley. She told me that her absolute favorite part of the party was the pink smashmallows aka marshmallows!

Halloween 2010!

The babies:

We had a halloween party + parent mixer for Eva's Kindergarten class. There are 24 kids in the class and most live in the neighborhood, so I wanted to get to know the kids and the parents! Only about 1/2 of the class made it, so it wasn't too crazy, but we sure had fun!

Most of the invites were done using evite (I ran out of time!), but Eva and I managed to make a few real invitations for the kids that don't have email access!

The Party scene:

Some party food:

Mickey made these bugs!

Witches' fingers...stole this idea from my dear friend Mary!

One of Eva's classmate's moms brought these!

Goodies:

As you probably all know, Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. I tried to make fun, interesting (yet, still healthy) food for the kids all month. Here are a few pictures of the food (that actually turned out!), the kids, and random decor from the month! I especially like the way the party scene looked at night!

After trick-or-treating (notice the ring of chocolate around her mouth where the white face paint used to be!):

At the neighborhood party:

Lastly, a few from our friends' Mary + Christian's party (same Mary who did the orange and black witches' fingers!)