And to end the week...

A few more pictures of Christmas!

My vacation is coming to an end (well, three more days because of New Years! Yay!). I probalby won't be as good about posting pictures as often once I go back to work...not as much time, but I definitely will try to update at least once a week if not more.

We hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year! Best wishes to you and your family in the year to come!!!



All tuckered out, but would not let go of his new drill. Everytime I tried to take it away he would wake up and cry for it. Dreaming of fixing things, I guess! :)

And Some More from Christmas :)

Our family photo - yes, Teagun is in there...just throwing a fit b/c he wanted to play with his vacuum and I made him sit with us for the picture.



But here is a good one of him that he let me take!

What do you think???

(even though I think I am talking to myself!) :)

I haven't taken Teagun in for professional pictures since he turned one. I bought a nice camera because I wanted to do it myself from now on...but I guess I lack the confidence in myself. So yesterday I took some and told myself one of these I would get in an 8x10 to hang on the wall. I will be using the first one, but here are several that I took.

Whew! It's over!!!

Now don't get me wrong - Christmas is great, but it can wear you out. Especially with a 20 month old who refuses to nap because there is so much going on. We made it though and it was a wonderful Christmas. Santa brough Teagun a chair and table set for his new "big boy" room that we will be redoing soon. He got so many great gifts, but his favorites so far are his vacuum (yay, maybe I will have someone who will like to clean our house in a few years!!!) and his drill (yes, he takes after his daddy!). I am on vacation this week, thankfully. Both Teagun and I can rest and get the house situated and presents put away. I will mostly be sharing pictures taken over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day throughout the week. We hope everyone had a joyous and happy Christmas!

(I thought I would add a Santa picture where he wasn't screaming - he did warm up to him!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

From our family to yours - Merry Christmas!!!

DON'T BOTHER ME...

I'm busy watching my Baby Einstein Old McDonald Had A Farm video! I put the video on for Teagun, went back to the bedroom to get something and this is how I found him. He just cracks me up. He absolutely loves that video and look at how intent he is watching it...lol. Funny kid!

The Price of Children

I just received this email and thought I would share it for all you with children yourself:

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition. But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into:
* $8,896.66 a year,
* $741.38 a month, or
* $171.08 a week.
* That's a mere $24.24 a day!
* Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is don't have children if you want to be "rich." Actually, it is just the opposite.

What do you get for your $160,140?
* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
* Glimpses of God every day.
* Giggles under the covers every night.
* More love than your heart can hold.
* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
* A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
* A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140, you never have to grow up. You get to:
* finger-paint,
* carve pumpkins,
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs, and
* never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:
* keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
* watching Saturday morning cartoons,
* going to Disney movies, and
* wishing on stars.
* You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, handprints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a
hero just for:
* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
* taking the training wheels off a bike,
* removing a splinter,
* filling a wading pool,
* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat to history to witness the:
* first step,
* first word,
* first bra,
* first date, and
* first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match. In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits. So one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!

Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren!!!!!!!

SICK! :(

We have all been fighting this cold now for a while and Teagun's just wasn't getting any better. I took him to the doctor yesterday and he has a really bad upper respiratory infection - they told us we need to bring him back in on Friday if his fever isn't gone because it sounded like it was close to pneomonia. I hope we caught it in time b/c we don't want to have to miss out on the Christmas festivities coming up.

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

You Are Prancer

You are the perfect reindeer, with perfect hooves and perfect flying form. Why You're Naughty: Because you're Santa's pet, and you won't let anyone show you up. Why You're Nice: You have the softest fur and the sweetest carrot breath.

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

SLEEPING

Teagun fell asleep on Trevor Saturday afternoon, so I took the opportunity to get some cute sleeping pictures. Aren't babies/toddlers/kids just so absolutely unresistable when they are asleep? You just want to pick them up and snuggle with them forever!

SNAPSHOT

Last week's "challenge" on a photography board I visit was to get a snapshot of your child. It seems like I try to do so many "posed" shots of Teagun anymore, I was excited to do this. I love how this picture turned out...I think it looks like he is actually posing for the camera...which he is not - I took a lot of pictures to get one where he is actually (kind of) looking at me! :) And isn't that shirt the best??? lol...

What does "photography" mean to you?

Someone posted this on a photography board I visit saying that she has a hard time putting what it means to her in words (besides the obvious of capturing the moment) and it got me thinking. That is a hard one. People, kids especially, change so much so quickly I just want to capture that exact moment, that exact expression...I want to be able to look at the photo and be able to remember the time vividly and want people to look at my pictures and wonder why is he laughing so hard, why is he pouting, etc. I want to bring that exact moment in time back to tell the story. I guess it all goes back to capturing the moment and maybe that is exactly what it means to me. As the original poster states, "it is fascinating to freeze an instant in time and to be able to hold onto that forever!" So very true!!!

And here is a couple pictures to share that I took this summer that I absolutely love that I think tell a great story! We had just filled in our pool and our whole backyard was a huge sandbox and Teagun was loving it! He would walk up to the top of the hill and take off running and would end up falling facedown into the sand. He was laughing so hard and having so much fun.

Sucker!

Now that's how you get a 20 month old to hold still for two seconds to get a picture! I better go stock up on them b/c Teagun is absolutely impossible to photograph lately. He refuses to look at the camera and turns his head away. It is definitely a challenge, that is for sure!