Home Tour, cont.

This is the room you walk into from the front door. I made this my office because I spend a lot of time on my computer, paying bills, editing photos, returning emails, buying christmas presents, and I have a view of all the other rooms downstairs. That way I can keep an eye on my little ones as they play. I'm hoping to spend less time on my computer in the next couple months...but we'll see.

Home Tour

We moved into our new home last March and since then, I've been working to make it homey. I committed myself to purchase only secondhand furniture items. I did end up buying a two things brand new, but otherwise stayed true to my committment. It's funny, the two things I bought brand new I sort of regret now. Now that we are finishing some of the rooms, I wanted to share my finds. Here is our Parlor aka TV Room. This room is at the very front of the house and can be closed with a super heavy pocket door. There is an outside door that leads into the room but has been glued shut.

Where's Daddy?

That's the question I asked when I returned home to this.
Schroeder innocently replies, "He's upstairs."

I appreciate the independent spirit that this photo represents.

Help!

When we started at our little church here in Fountain Square, our kids doubled the number of kids in the nursery, and D'arcy and Julian were the only kids over the age of one.  I worried that it wasn't a good decision to attend a church without peers for our two oldest.
D'arcy was off of school for the week of Thanksgiving, and I always joke that she expects me to be her cruise ship entertainment director.  What are we going to do next? is a question I hear regularly.  This drives me crazy. crazy. crazy.  The Monday before Thanksgiving, Beth came over to make sock puppets with D'arcy, and Julia took D'arcy and Julian on a walk to the park.  It's awesome to me that loads of adults from our church who have yet to have their own kids are investing in mine.
More Examples.
Julia helped D & J make chocolate chip cookies, let them sell them at her garage sale, and then walked them around the neighborhood letting them spend their money on silly items such as a Harry Potter book in Spanish (Julian thought I would love it).  Awesome.
Becka picks D'arcy up occasionally to attend Knitting Club at the coffee shop.  D'arcy now has a skill that I did not teach her.  Awesome.
Tracy picked D'arcy and Julian up and took them to the zoo for the whole afternoon.  Awesome.
Brandon lets my kids use him as a human jungle gym and takes them over to his place after church to listen to Star Wars music on his record player.  Awesome.
Alan taught our kids to say Taco Pants fifteen times a day.  Awesome?
I'm super thankful for these people! (And here's a shout out to our family who invests in our kids all the time.  I'm thankful for your help, too!)

Why doesn't Santa come to your house?

If my kids fully understood the reality of the situation they would answer, "Because my mom can't pull him off."

This is why I couldn't pull santa off if I tried.  Last night, I put all the kids' presents in a box to take with me tonight to a friends house to wrap.  She is having a crafty party and wrapping might be the extent of my craftiness.  I fell asleep on the couch while Stephen was watching a movie, and then I stumbled upstairs to bed.  Julian went downstairs this morning and all of a sudden I realized I had left that box on the couch.  I jumped out of bed (this never happens) and ran down the stairs.  Socks and stairs and rapid movement aren't a good combo and I almost fell down on the way.  Julian was in the dining room and I asked him accusingly what he'd been up to.  Usually, he tries to sneak some TV before school, but thankfully we'd opened our first Lego Advent Calendar door last night and he was playing with his little robber man.  I proceeded to grab the box and hide it under some paper towels in our laundry room (no one but me ever goes in there).  Christmas surprises saved...for now.

Melissa + Joy : SATURATED | November Purple

November 15th came and went. I hadn't even looked at the color for the month. Then Joy sent me an email with her purple image. Purple! I had brought home some eggplant from our friend's house in Georgia on our trip in October. It had sat in our kitchen begging to be photographed for weeks, but then I threw it away. Uncooked. Unphotographed. Then I had intention of photographing my purple gloves made for me by the beautiful Becka N., but then I left them at a client's house. Don't worry, they have been found and will soon be retrieved, but my purple photo was still left undone. Then Kelly, my friend from Georgia, drove up and brought me more eggplant. She is such an awesome, thoughtful friend. Wow, I have so many awesome, thoughtful friends...Joy for being my photography buddy and being patient, Becka for making me awesome gloves, and Kelly for bringing me eggplants and hugs from Georgia. So now, on the last day of November, I present you with Melissa + Joy : Saturated...purple!

The Brunz Family

We know Becky from church youth group. She married Micah and moved to South Dakota. It's funny because she and Micah married just one week after Stephen and I and they have four kiddos who are very similar in age to our four kids. Becky give good book suggestions and she makes great art. I commissioned her to do a few pieces for D'arcy. They turned out lovely. When we scheduled this session months ago, I thought this would be a maternity session. Becky was pregnant with her fifth baby due in January. But earlier this month, they discovered that their baby had passed away in the womb. I asked them if they would take time to share with me about their baby girl while I photographed them. I wanted to capture a portrait of a couple, almost ten years into marriage, living life together through the sad and the glad. They were sharing with me how the Lord was turning this very sad situation into good things...Kingdom things.