Year in Review [2010]

2010 was quite the year and I can barely believe that it's over. There were a lot of highs and lows and defining moments for us as a family. I'm very excited for this coming year and all that it will bring! Just wanted to look back for a minute and remember some of the moments..

In January I really started exploring and going deeper with my camera. I wanted to get to know it better. It started with some instructional dvds I got for Christmas by Merakoh. I learned more about shooting in Manual and how to control my camera to get [or at least try] the shots I wanted. I also started on my 365 photo deal.

In March Carter turned 1! I can hardly believe how quickly that first year went by.

In April Rob, the boys and I moved back into our own place. After spending a year living with my parents, although we are still grateful for their generosity, we were ready to be back in our home. We also had the chance to go to Puerto Rico and visit with my grandparents.

June- I took the very first shots of someone outside of my family. Cari, a new friend at the time, had asked me to take some belly shots for her. Awesome and absolutely nerve racking opportunity :)

July, we got to go back to Cape Cod with Rob's parents. We had an awesome time relaxing, playing, and on the beach. It was the hottest week every, perfect for the beach!

I also took my first online photography workshop with Maggie Holmes.

It was about time we had our family photos taken! In August my friend Leah took our very first professional family photos as a family of four.

September- My first belly shoot which also happened to be my sister and her family. We had so much fun.

Braden got rid of his paci! I wasn't sure this day would come or that it would be as smooth a transition as it was!

Halloween was so fun this year. Braden was super hyped about trick or treating and being iron man.

Gabriella was born in November! Felt like we were waiting for her for so long- but she was worth the wait, perfect!

December was a busy month. Our first (successful) Gingerbread house..

Braden turned 4!

And we celebrated New Years with our wonderful family.

Looking forward to all that 2011 will bring!

Christmas.

We had a fabulous Christmas! Hope that yours was wonderful too!

4.

I can hardly believe that four years have gone by since my Braden was born! It's so true when people tell you to enjoy every moment. He's gone through some interesting stages this past year, many quite difficult to deal with, but he is truly a great little guy. He has brought so much joy into our lives.

Thursday, yes he's one of those "lucky" Christmas babies, we had some lunch and cake to celebrate for him. He was so excited and it made watching him open his gifts great. We are blessed!

Braden at ten months.

Gingerbread 2010

This Thanksgiving we did not get a chance to build our gingerbread house like we did last year. And after the disaster that occurred with our house last year, I definitely wanted another chance at it. 

We finally got around to building it this year, although we were missing the Shako's. Braden was super insistent about getting it done so we went ahead without them. This year we actually followed the directions and did it in three separate steps. It turned out pretty good (although I can't take much credit for it). Rob went at it and if you know Rob then you know he wanted it done a certain way :)

Here's a couple of pics of how it turned out!

Christmas Cookies.

Thursday morning we headed to the Shako's to bake Christmas cookies. This has become quite the tradition with Grandma Arlene. We get everything set up, the kids eat alot of cookie dough, maybe cut out a couple of cookies and then run off. Us adults end up cutting the rest and the kiddos aren't usually back until it's time to decorate :)

We had a lot of fun and even braved the cold, cold weather to play outside for a couple of minutes!

Boxed Christmas cards maybe?

Well, perhaps I should preface this by saying that I'm not sure what I was thinking. Why I thought that the morning after I had slept four hours (because Carter was up for three hours in the middle of the night), both boys were sick, and I was feeling edgy to begin with- was the right time to try and take pictures of the boys for Christmas cards is beyond me! Our short time ended with tears, broken ornaments, relentless bribes, a frazzled mom, oh and with not.one.single.usuable.photo.not ONE.

Carter is at a very difficult stage to have sit and cooperate for a photo and i'm honestly feeling uninspired. At this particular point i'm thinking that a box of Christmas cards from Target will do the trick. I can buy them, message them, and mail them in a matter of days. The problem is that I know that I will deeply regret not taking the Christmas pictures. Not just for purposes of a more personal card but for the memory. So hopefully I can pull myself and my creative juices together and snap a picture or two of these boys of mine. Because I guess in the end it'll be all about the memory.

Here's one or two for some giggles.

This pretty much sums up Braden.

And yes, Carter had just gotten done crying- had just broken an ornament and just thrown a fit because he wanted this hat.

Halloween.

Yikes, this is late but I still have no computer here at home. Boo hoo. This year was a chilly Halloween, but at least it wasn't raining. My husband was gone in Oklahoma for Halloween and that was a bummer but we had lots of fun with my sister and family.

This year Braden decided that he wanted to be Iron Man. He had started on this kick a couple of months back and I was really hoping that he'd change his mind and fall back to being Batman but that wasn't the case. Carter was a lamb :) I figured it was my last chance to get him in a cutesy costume. Next year he will have his own opinions and I doubt lamb would be his top choice!

We got lots of candy and had lots of fun. The boys have since forgotten about the candy and now the hubby and I sneak it at night...not good for the diet but oh so tasty!