Holiday Pics Take FOUR: Family Style...

This is our lil' fam...
Winter 2010


We hit the streets of Austin
Texas to show how we like to roll...
South Congress style!
We started at The Woodland,
and traveled down the street all the way
to The Austin Motel making many stops
along the way. We ended our photo sesh
with an awesome dinner at our new
fave hamburger joint: Hopdoddy!
We promise to take YOU next time YOU visit!
Hope you are enjoying the pics.
The last series is tomorrow~
I PROMISE!

A Little Mommy On Monday: Holiday Photo Sesh With Mommy And Her Lil' Gals...

Pictures. I LOVE them.
I LOVE taking them,
styling them, and
looking at them.
What's even better
is when you find a friend
who has an amazing talent
at capturing your family.
Time after time.
Year after year.
{Many many thanks to YOU Dore!}
I think this holiday series is
my favorite. There is so
much color and life in these pics.
I feel they reflect where we are
at in our lives with our lil' gals,
with each other, and in our
fab city of Austin, Texas!
So much has happened in 2010.
I had a very challenging start to the year~
and I am ending it on a high.
I have regained strength,
stamina and sanity!
{Who doesn't loose a little
with kiddos???}
I am so grateful
to be in this place
of COLOR!

Holiday Pics Take TWO~Maggie Style...

Magnolia True
16 months
Winter 2010

Photos courtesy of
Dorean Pope Photography

Holiday Pics Take ONE~Paisley Style...

Happy 4th Day of December.
Happy Saturday!
Happy Holidays!
Hoping this day is
FULL of
HAPPY for YOU!
xxoo,
Paisley Grace

p.s. All photos courtesy of our pal
Dorean Pope Photography!

Wordless Wednesday: Bluebonnet Pics Take 2 Continued...

Spring 2010

Wordless Wednesday: Bluebonnets Take Two...

Pics taken in Austin, Texas
by Dorean Pope Photography
(mommy called in the professionals this time!)

A Photo Contest...

The Photo...

So, our pal Dore
is having a photo contest
for her top ten photos of 2009.
Mommy and Magpie made the cut!
Seems kind of silly to advertise this
information, but if you are a loyal
blog reader, you know how much
our family ADORES Dore and her
amazing work. So check out her
blog, the other photos in the contest...

AND VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE!

p.s. Thanks again Dore for taking
such breathtaking photos of our family.
We just put up some of our latest photos from
our holiday session around the house.
We are so blessed to have the essence of
our family captured by YOU!

Wordfilled Wednesday: Poetry To Our Ears...

A few of our fave family shots
from our recent holiday 2009
photo shoot with our lovely pal Dore...
Oh, how we love thee!

p.s. these aren't even the pics we
chose for our holiday card! There were so
many to choose from this year!

How Do I Love Thee? ~Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends
of Being and ideal Grace. I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight. I love thee freely,
as men might strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn
from Praise. I love thee with the passion
put to use In myold griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints,
–I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life!
–and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death."

Mommy and I have watched HBO's
Classical Baby Poetry show the past 2 days,
and we both were so moved by the
reading of this glorious poem...
Gwyneth Paltrow recites this poem
and it so touching along with the
graphics and classical music soundtrack...
It moved mommy to tears!

p.s. We think this is a fabulous introduction to poetry
and we highly recommend it to all our artsy fartsy friends!

Wordless Wednesday: Making Mommy Cry...

Mommy and Maggs
Holiday photo shoot with Dore...
(more to come soon!)


The only picture with mommy in
it that has made her cry...
(tears of joy, not disgust!)

Mommy's Thought For Thursday: Better Than I Ever Imagined...

My sweet little sister souls...
Paisley Grace and Magnolia True

(photo by Dore taken for
Maggie's newborn session)


Life
It's good
Crazy
Chaotic
Frazzled
Exhausted.

BUT...It's good.
I am a mommy of two...
Spit up
Milk boob
Tears
Tantrums
Achy body
Ponytail hair.

BUT...it's good.
Each passing day brings...
Adventure
New experiences
More spit up,
Poop,
and tears.

BUT... it also brings me a bit
closer to the woman I am becoming
as I grow and change
as a mommy of 2.
Some days I really miss
the old me and
the easy life of having
only 1 child and even
the far off days of no children.
Life without
the responsibility of
caring for 2 little souls.

My selfish life.
The days of sleeping in.
Traveling solo.
Wearing clothes that
didn't need to mask
spit up
drool
milk
and poop.
Having cute hair
Wearing heels
Staying up past 10
(oh, wait...I rarely did that!)

Yes, I miss those luxuries.
And there are many days I
am jealous of those who live that life...
BUT...This life, with my hubby and
my 2 girls is so much better than
I ever imagined.

With each passing day
I get a little closer to knowing
the new me. The enhanced version of me.
The me that is a mom of daughters.
Daughters that I will
continue to...
laugh
sing
dance
and
cry
with.
Daughters that will
continue to...
help
teach
nurture
and
enrich
me.
Yes, this life
is so much better than
I ever imagined.

When Maggie Was A Bump...

Our pal Dore came to visit us the other
day to take a few newborn shots of
Magpie for her baby announcements.
When she came, she brought the rest of our
photos from our bump photo session back in July.
We decided we had to post a few more of these family shots.

It's hard to believe these were taken just a few weeks
ago before we met my little sister. Our lives have changed
a lot since then! I love Maggie, but I miss having mommy
all to myself. Lately, I have been having a lot of daddy...
Thank goodness he has great ideas for what we can do
when we spend 'special' time together!

p.s. I love that Uniqua made it in to one of our pics!