Pea+Nut Portraits

My friend Kerrie is an amazing photographer and has just started a new business Pea+Nut Portraits. She was kind enough to take some shots of my family in Old Sacramento. The weather wasn't quite cooperating with us but she was still able to pull off some great shots. If you are in the area and need a great photographer then give her a try - you won't regret it!!!!

Wow - I just posted a ton of pictures! Sorry but I just couldn't help myself :)

Utah in Fall

A few pictures from our Fall 2010 trip to Utah:

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Abi Quote of the Day

My kids don't like to sleep under their bed sheets and blankets. Instead they sleep on top of their quilts with throw blankets over themselves - weird. Last night when checking on Abi sleeping before I went to bed I noticed she not only had on her pajamas but also a sweatshirt and parka. She came downstairs this morning in the same getup.

Me: "Abi why are you wearing all of that?"

Abi: "Because I keep getting cold at night."

Me: "Why don't you sleep under your quilt and covers that are on your bed?"

Abi: "Because then I have to make my bed in the morning, it's much easier to just hang up my coat."

Disneyland

My girls are on a modified traditional schedule at school so we were lucky enough to have 3 full weeks off for winter break. We have the whole week after New Years for travel, which is great because area attractions are not crowded - hooray! We spent New Years Eve down in San Diego and had 4 glorious days at the beach in Coronado. Then we headed up to the OC and saw my 90 year old grandma - who by the way is still living on her own. Lastly we rounded out the trip by spending some time at Disneyland. Here are a few pictures from the Disney portion of our trip:

CALIFORNIA

Are you familiar with the oversized letters in front of California Adventure that spell out CALIFORNIA? Ever since the first time we took Abi to Disneyland we have been taking her picture in the large A and now all of our family members in their corresponding letters - it's been our tradition. On our first day in the park this month we noticed a lot of people taking pictures of this Disneyland monument, I mean A LOT!!! Wow we thought, we are not the only ones who have this tradition. Upon walking over to take our shots I had a man approach me and ask if I would take his picture with the big letter C. Sure I said, does your name start with C? He replied no and said he wanted his picture taken with every letter before they took them down. What? Take them down? Yes, he replied, haven't you heard? Today is the last day and then they come down - that's why everyone is taking these pictures, it was in the paper. Oh no I thought this will be our last installment of letter pictures - kind of sad :( So with no further ado here are our last CALIFORNIA letter pictures, I hope you enjoy :

Christmas Eve/Morning 2010

Christmas Eve Book Exchange at the Williamsons

Christmas Eve dinner at our house

Christmas morning at our house

Photo Friday!!!

Bittersweet

This is such a bittersweet time of year for me. I love Christmas and all that it brings with it, especially the closeness to family - near and far. I feel a little sad when it is all over, wishing that we could be closer to extended family more regularly so our girls could grow up with their cousins and grandparents close by. It seems I always spend a couple of days after the new year moping about not quite finding the heart to officially remove Christmas from our house. But then something happens. I wake up one morning and feel a frenzy coming on, I suddenly feel like everything must come down at once! I hurry downstairs and begin the thankless job of pulling down the garlands, removing the poinsettias and boxing up the santas. But it is o.k, I have mourned sufficiently and now I am excited. I take down the santa hats and replace them with our hand crafted peace doves, all the while envisioning a clean fresh start for our new year. I love to replenish the kid's art supplies and place them front and center on our coffee table so they can create at a moments notice. When it is all removed I look around and I have a choice to make. I can look at it through eyes that see emptiness and loneliness or through eyes that see clean, new and endless options for my family. I choose the latter.

Happy New Year!

Good Day Sunshine

So we celebrated the Winter Solstice last night for the first time in our house. We kept it simple and quiet, reflective and fun. My girls really enjoyed it and woke up this morning still talking about it. Although we had a few very chaotic moments in our house last night we at least had this peaceful moment to come together as a family, celebrate the sun and daylight hours, talk about what is currently working for us, and to announce hopes and dreams for the future year to come.

This was the dinner I made for the kids. I just found stuff we already had and plated it to look like a sun. So simple but they totally ate it up!

We read this book and talked about what Winter Solstice really is and how people for centuries have celebrated.

We each lit a candle and announced what we wish for our family in the coming year. I made a simple sun to write our wishes down on and placed it on our fridge to remind us. If you look closely Coco stated that she didn't want any of us to end up with TV heads because of too much television :)

Lastly I made a sun cake out of stuff we already had in the house. I am pretty sure this was everyones favorite part of the evening.