Falls Park

Last evening after going out to eat for Josh's birthday we decided to head to Falls Park to look at the Christmas Lights. Piper was in pure amazement of all the lights and we were pretty impressed ourselves. It was a beautiful night and both Josh and I were kicking ourselves for not bringing along the tripod. I did manage to take a few photos and I'm sure we'll be making at least one more trip down there before the holidays are over.

Happy Birthday Josh

I look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you!

O Christmas Tree

Well I have to say our Christmas Tree is pretty pathetic. I bought this cute little tree about 9 years ago when I was living in my first apartment. It's been a great apartment Christmas Tree but I think it's time to upgrade.

Piper thinks it's the greatest thing ever. She even calls it a big tree but even Josh will admit that our tree is pretty lame. Now the questions is to run out and get a new tree now or wait until after Christmas for when they are all on clearance.

I'm Thankful

This has been quite the year and I have so much to be thankful for. I look back at where we were a year ago and it's hard to believe how much we've been blessed.

I have a beautiful, healthy family!

I have a little baby boy on the way!

We have a home of our very home in a great neighborhood in a wonderful town.

It's been a great year and I am so thankful.

Yard Work

Yesterday Josh worked on finishing up some final yard work. Piper of course wanted to help her daddy, but....

she has become quite independent. She decided that she wanted to water the plants herself. I was able to catch the progression of the tantrum with my camera. Oh the mood swings of a 20 month old.

30 Weeks

30 down only 10 more to go. I have to admit the last two weeks have been a couple of the hardest weeks of this pregnancy so far. I'm starting to get big and uncomfortable. On top of that I've been dealing with some stomach issues that really have been wearing me down. My doctor thinks it's just a virus and my body is just having a extra hard time fighting it since I'm pregnant. I've felt pretty good the last couple of days so hopefully I'm getting better.

Josh and I also got to take a tour of the hospital this week. It's exciting and nerve wracking to think in just a few weeks we'll be spending some time there. It also brought back memories of when Piper was born. I have to say except for the pain of labor those are some of my favorite memories.

Speaking of Piper, we took any early morning shopping trip to Target today. Josh had worked the overnight so I thought I better get Piper out of the house so he could sleep in and I also had a Target gift card to use. I loaded up on diaper pail liners, mint M&Ms, and a few other needed toiletry items when I spotted the holiday dishes. I picked up a snowman cup and plate for Piper's snack time. Needles to say Piper loved snack time today. She also told me her water was extra delicious.

Getting Ready For Thanksgiving

Piper and I made a trip to the craft store last weekend and I was shocked by the lack of Thanksgiving craft supplies. There were endless aisles of Christmas stuff but only one little end cap of Thanksgiving supplies. We picked up a few things and have been making turkeys all week. Piper usually thinks they're chickens but what can you expect from a one year old.

She also wanted to make a hat like Spot's, so she and I slapped together a hat after dinner tonight. I think we can do better so maybe we'll try to make another one tomorrow.

Only one week left until Thanksgiving. We'll have to see what other little projects we can make before then.

Michele and Phil - Mankato Engagement

I was able to take Michele and Phil's engagement photos one of the most comfortable fall days in October. They decided since they are having an outdoor wedding June to stick to the downtown Mankato area to give their engagement photos more of an urban vibe. It was a lot of fun finding little nooks around downtown to take some fun photos. Here are a few of my favorites.

Painting and Posies

This morning while eating breakfast Piper started talking about painting. Josh had the morning off, I didn't have any plans and there were a couple of Thanksgiving crafts involving paint I wanted to try with Piper.

Things were going great until Piper decided it was more fun to paint herself. She had paint in her hair and all over her pajamas.

Needless to say she went right into the bath tub which of course she loved. Oh well, what do you expect when you paint with a toddler...things are bound to get messy.

I also wanted to share with you a quick video of Piper playing Ring Around the Rosie. My mom taught her how to play it a few weeks ago and then today Elmo was singing it on TV. She's been obsessed all day with it. She played it in her crib at nap time, she played it in the parking lot of a car dealership while Josh and I were looking at cars and she played it in her playroom tonight for a long time. Little things like this really show me how much she's growing up.

Autumn Splendor- I Heart Faces

A shot of one of the many beautiful days this fall!

Oh yes and that's Piper playing with rocks again.

Just Another Weekend

We had a nice quiet weekend here in Sioux Falls. Josh was on call all weekend for work so we really couldn't do a whole lot but we managed to squeeze in a few fun things.

We made a trip to Piper's favorite playground. I'm not sure how many days we have left before the snow starts to fly so we better make time for the playground while we still have a chance. As you can see from the photo below Piper has become quite the little dare devil.

Today we took a quick trip to the Old Courthouse Museum. Josh and I wanted to check out the Bicycle exhibit but Piper had other ideas.  She wanted to stay at the hot air balloon exhibit and color. We probably could have just stayed at home and colored but what the heck it gave us an excuse to get out of the house for an hour or so.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend and for those of you in the mid-west I hope you got outside for a bit. This might have been your last chance at a nice weather weekend!

Maria is Turning 2

The thing about doing a photo shoot with a almost 2 year old is your never sure what is going to happen. Many times the child just shuts down or runs away. That was not the case with Maria. She had so much fun playing and checking out my camera that I have to say it was a super fun photo shoot.

You may recognize Maria. I did a shoot a year ago with her when she was just about to turn one and I was just trying out this professional photography thing. It's fun to look back at those photos of Maria from a year ago and see how much we have both grown. I've really been struggling lately with trying to improve my photography and it's nice to be able to look back and see progress.

Cabin Fever

Yep that's right, I already have cabin fever and it's only early November. The weather has been awesome since July and these first temps below 50 degrees are driving me nuts. Not to mention this past weekend was daylight savings time and it's already getting dark at 4pm.

I'm really not transitioning into winter well at all.

Luckily I have a husband who is on the same page as me when it comes to outside time for our children. We both believe that outside time is so important and that we should try to do it no matter what the weather is even if it's for a few minuets. Here's a picture from outside time this afternoon. Yep Josh is wearing shorts, he does not seem to have a problem with the cooler temps.

With the sun going down earlier Piper's playroom has become our go to spot in our house. She's really been into inventing "games". We are not always 100% sure how to play her games but we always give it our best shot.  She's invented the nigh-night game, the catch you game, and tonight she invented the mark set game. She and Josh raced back and forth across the basement floor. When Josh got tired she continued to play the mark set game on her own until bath time.

It's going to be an interesting winter this year with a new baby on it's way and an extremely active toddler. It will be interesting to see what kind of boredom busters we come up with to get us through the next few months.

28 Weeks

Hello Third Trimester!

I can't believe that I'm already in the last leg of this pregnancy. Things are going really well. I passed my glucose test (thank goodness I don't have to take the 3 hour one again) and I also passed my thyroid test.

I know from past experience that the third trimester is not my favorite part of the pregnancy. I'm looking forward to feeling very uncomfortable most of the time, sleepless nights, more heartburn, and anxiety form constantly thinking I'm going into labor. Oh well, I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel and also in less than three months I get to hold my baby boy in my arms!!!

31 Photos from October

I did it! I managed to take a photo everyday in October. I've had two strong months now and it feels great. There is a mixture of work and family time in this months photos. This month I tried some new things technically, I learned how to work around my expanding belly, and added many things to my list of what I need to work on. I also shot a wedding this month which is always fun, stressful, and humbling. I always learn more from big shoots like that than I do from any other work. 

Here's my 31 photos from this month, enjoy!

I've realized this month that I tend to get stuck in my comfort zone when it come to photography and being assertive and trying new things scares me a bit. Going into the next month I'm really going to try to step out of that comfort zone and not be afraid to try new things. I know it may not always be pretty but I think it will be worth it.