Christmas Kiddos

A few pics of the kids...starting with Christmas Eve at Jay's mom's house. Maddox's stocking at Grandma Nita's is as big as he is.



Evey helped herself to Grandma Nita's glasses. Stylin!



I love the hat Maddox got from Grandma Nita. CUTE! Maybe not when he makes this face...



Itty bitty Santa village...



Cozy fire...



Then home to get ready for Santa and go to bed! Maddox was very upset when I realized we didn't have any cookies for Santa. But when I pointed out that he probably gets tired of cookies and that everyone loves pumpkin bread...he relaxed. So carrots for the reindeer and pumpkin bread for Santa! And a note from Maddox. ;-)



Santa left sleds and scooters! Lucky for Santa it snowed!!!



Maddox was a little wobbly at first, and thus a little blurry as well.



They have both been thrilled with their scooters. Scooter girl...



Maddox also loved the quick draw set we got him...a gun that can fire cans and bottles off of a log. Fun. A compromise...a gun without gore or violence. :-)

H1N1 and Santa Claus

A couple weeks before Christmas, we headed to Bass Pro to get the kids their H1N1 booster and figured we'd see Santa while we were there. An interesting combo, I'll admit. ha



Bass Pro's Winter Wonderland was complete with dead, taxidermied Reindeer. I'm not gonna lie...I found it creepy.



Granted, I'm not big on hunting. I'm not going to say I'm completely anti-hunting...I do think that there are times when hunting animals is appropriate for one reason or another. But I personally prefer to shoot with my camera. ;-)
Regardless, any time I see taxidermied animals...I can't help but think of Ellen Degeneres' bit on hunting. Funny.





Being Bass Pro, the stockings were overflowing with guns. haha





Maddox is clearly their key demographic.





So after exploring the Winter Wonderland we got their H1N1 booster and then headed back to see Santa.



Maddox never wants to sit on Santa's lap and Evey was more interested in her sucker...



so once again we managed to avoid waiting in line for Santa. Woo hoo! My kids were content to enjoy his presence from a distance.



So Maddox and Jay headed off to find more guns and games. Evey and I hung out and enjoyed her sucker and the only live animals we could find. Ducks and fish.











Look how long Evey's hair is!!!





We finally found Maddox...again with a gun. And what Maddox does...Evey does! :-)

Beer Bread (New Project Debut)

So I recently read of the passing of Irving Penn, who is famous for his fashion photography. I was intrigued by some of his portraits and asked for a book of his photography for Christmas. I was surprised to receive a book of his still life photography! I have never really explored still lifes...and thought it might be a fun project for "the slow season." I often go a little creatively stir crazy in the winter...it's cold and bleak and gloomy and the days are so short. I have decided exploring still life photography will help me keep the creative juices flowing through these cold, dark months.

I'm going to have to work at it though...I tend to capture more what I see and never really stage anything. I would even call these first shots cheating since I didn't come up with the idea. I was making beer bread and liked what I saw. Does that count? The first one was purely captured as I found it...though I did of course choose to compose the image in this particular way...



I would say this shot involved more staging.



I'm excited about the project! And ready to go eat the beer bread. Yum!

The Annual Rimel Elf Dance

We worked really hard on the choreography this year. ;-)
Hope you enjoy the results.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Not only are we amazing dancers...we can sing too!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Plaza Eat-N-Shoot

A few weeks ago I met a few photog friends for an eat & shoot on the plaza. The eat took longer than planned...though it was very enjoyable. When we finally were ready to shoot...RAIN! :-(
So we did what we could from under awnings and a parking garage. It was fun, even with the limitations. Christie had each of us paint our names with light...I enjoyed shooting from behind the scenes.







Christie's painting was particularly graceful...very dancer like. :-)











































I love that this looks like a hand sketched drawing...























I had a great time...looking forward to the next eat-n-shoot! :-)