He is clearly seen.

I do love snow.  Very much.  I don’t much mind the cold, if I’m telling the truth.  Icicles are beautiful.  And who doesn’t love a good snowman with a carrot nose?  There is one thing above all other things, however, that I love about winter.  And when I say, LOVE, I mean it. 

When I feel the weather changing, I know it’s coming.  And I get all excited.  Like my little girls waiting to open their presents.  I wait in eager anticipation.  For this:

His beard.  He only grows it in the winter……and I’m telling you it makes me all kinds of giddy and happy.  I’d like to write lots more about my guy’s facial hair but I fear it might, well, let’s just say I’d better stop now.  Amen.

It’s been about two months since I’ve photographed people other than my children.  I’ve recently had a lot of interest in my shooting schedule………..many of you have asked about the 2009 schedule.  I’ll have it posted on the website by the end of January.  Please give me a call if you’d like to schedule something.  Thank you so much for your interest – I am looking forward to photographing you and your family!

I set a little studio up this afternoon in my dining room and shot these of my girls:

That quilt over their heads is a quilt made by their grandma Joy.  I’ll have to photograph it in its entirety because it really is beautiful.  It’s funny, when I saw it on Christmas Eve, I thought “oh, my that will be great to photograph with!”  That’s the mind of a photographer, I suppose.  Always on the look out for something or somewhere that will look great in photographs!

First Important things first:

Parts of my sweet family:

And finally, the stage, the princess, her treasure box and her gems:

I did not ask her to pose like this, by the way.  Oh my.

My little one adores her big sister.  I mean adores – with a capital “A”.  Liv longs just to be around Mak.  She wants to do what her big sister does.  She wants to be just like her.

I caught them this afternoon playing guitar hero.  The first photo is Liv playing a bit of air guitar (notice that stylish ensemble she put together – mashing crazy patterns all together – I’ve learned to love her mish mash style) while Mak masters the song she’s been working on.  The second is Miss Mak helping Livy along…..Livy loving every moment of it.

…..spent making little girl cupcakes with sparkling Christmas lights all around and playing outside and drying snow clothes many times during the day, just to go and get them all snowy-wet again.

our winterized clubhouse:

In this world there are a myriad of accolades that could be bestowed on someone. “You are so very beautiful”; or “wow, you are smart”; or “you are sweet”; or “you did a great job”….the list goes on and on.

Compliments are sweet gifts that we give to one another. However, there are some that are greater than others. I don’t mean to say that they are better, I just mean that they mean more in the scheme of things – in my opinion. And like I’ve said before, my opinion really doesn’t amount to a hill of beans so don’t listen to me about anything. I’m just sayin’.

Anyway….my Lulu received an award at school today. Not for having the prettiest dress or being the most well behaved or for being the smartest. She received an award for being a Jesus seeker. And for me…..that’s a great award. Better than being the prettiest or the nicest or the smartest or the most well-behaved.

An award like this makes me feel all warm. It makes me feel like great things are going on inside of my little girl. It makes me feel like God is working in her. And quite frankly, when it comes to my children, that’s what matters most to me.

Dave and I both cried when we found out that she was getting this award. It’s just a little monthly thing that they do at her school – but for us as parents it was better than her receiving the Nobel Peace Prize or some other high falootin’ award.

Oh, and she happens to be a blessed little girl – in that her GrandMary and Beepa and her best-uncle-ever came to see her get her award.  And her Aunt was sick but wanted to be there so badly.  What more could a girl ask for?  A beautiful, sparkly red dress?  Check.

This year seems to be all about growing.  Lots and lots of growing.  And I’m noticing it mostly with my children.  It all began with Kindergarten.  That was a tough one for me.  I’ve finally settled into that and now, well, now I have a junior.

By that I mean, we shopped in the junior department yesterday.  It’s a weird thing – being a mom of an 11 year old and shopping in the junior department.  The things in the junior department are so doggone cute – but mamas cannot wear those clothes.  But our daughters can.  And they look darn adorable doing so.

I suppose much like many things in my oldest daughter’s life I have failed to know when I need to adjust.  I took this photograph last year at this time:

Notice the green ensemble the oldest is wearing.  She was certain that was the color she wanted last year.  I know, I know – it is incredibly bright.  It reminds me of those neon days back in the 80′s.  She was sure about the WHAM! inspired snowsuit so I bought it for her.  And then I forgot about it.  And then a few weeks ago, she said something in passing about people at school telling her that they’d never have to worry about losing her in the snow.

I didn’t think anything about it.  I just kind of laughed and said something like “you wanted that color”.  And she didn’t say anything else about it until about two weeks ago.  She mentioned again that someone said something about her coat.  And then it hit me.  She’s getting bigger.  And I thought to myself – I bet she would like a coat that is a bit more stylish.  Although, this is a child who wouldn’t ask for a new coat being that the neon green one fit her just fine.  

We went out a few weeks back and I surprised her with a bit more hip looking coat.  I mean the child does love Tim Gunn’s guide to style (isn’t that cool?) after all.  I did tell her, however, that since the neon suit still fit and that she’d still need to wear it for playing in the snow.  Is she too big to play in the snow?  No sir.  Not too big for that.

A bit of the new coat:

The other thing that is quite peculiar about this growing is her interest in football.  Yes, football.  And, Mr. Romo.  She was counting down the minutes until the Cowboys game came on tonight.  She’s actually in the family room right this minute discussing first downs and such with her Papa.  I don’t yet know if she is interested in the score, the game and the rules or if it’s Mr. Romo.  I’m not sure how she even learned about the Cowboys or where she heard the name Romo.  

Now, I can’t blame the girl. There was a point back in the 70′s when I was about her age that I knew a lot about the Pittsburgh Steelers.  And my oldest friend in the whole wide world, Sue, was obsessed with the Cowboys.  Remember those Bradshaw and Staubach days?  Hey Sue:  did we like football or did we like boys who played football?  She has a really good memory.  I call her when I can’t remember at what age certain things happened.  She remembers it all.  I can’t remember a thing from 5th & 6th grade.  But her, well let’s just say it’s good to have her.  She answers all of the questions to the things I’ve forgotten.

In the meantime, little Lulu is in the kitchen making a little booklet.  She can’t spell very well yet so she writes books that don’t have sentences but acronyms.  She writes things like PFFM.  And then asks me to read her books.  ”Hmmmm, Lulu, I’m not sure what PFFM means.”

“Oh, mama, this is my book about our family.  PFFM stands for perfect family for me.”  Amen, sister.  Perfect family for me too.

The black and white.  The architectural detail.  My sweet girls.  

Tonight was the night designated for writing a letter to Santa Claus so that it could be mailed tomorrow.  Miss Mak was going to be out with her Papa tonight so I had Lulu all to myself.  We needed to put the village and the nativity under the Christmas tree and write that important letter to Santa.

Lu loves that village.  She loves to play and pretend.  Some of the people no longer have heads and some of the chimneys have broken off of the buildings and that really doesn’t bother me because she enjoys playing with them so much.

This is the bakery and church from my village.  There is also a toy store and a confectionary.  We I like to pretend that it’s an old fashioned village and the townsfolk walk the village just before Christmas enjoying the band playing in the snow, tasting the lovely baked Christmas treats from the bakery and longing after the toys in the toy store window.  Yes, I do want to live there.  Badly.

The experiment went like this:

I said “Liv, you need to sit down and write your letter to Santa so that it gets to the North Pole in time.”

“Ok, mama” she said, “Can you get online so that I can look for some things I might want to put in my letter?”

“No, Liv…..first just think in your own mind if there is anything you might want.”

*whining* “Mama!  please, let me look at a catalog from Toys R Us!”

“Come on, Liv…..think:  what do you like to do?” I said, prodding.

*more whining* “Mama!  Please!  Put me on the computer!”

“Liv, what kind of things do you like?”

“Uhm, I love to sing and dance”  she said, with a big smile.

“What else, Liv?” I wanted her to think hard.

“I like to make people happy” she said.

Seriously, that’s what she said.  Six years old: I like to dance and sing and make people happy.

“Ok, Liv, what might you want from Santa that might make it easier for you do those things?”

Looking at her at this point, I could tell that her wheels were turning.  She was trying to figure out in her own mind what she might like for Christmas, rather than relying on some catalog or choosing something some marketer might want her to have.

And this is what my littlest one came up with:

“I’d like a BIG stage with a curtain and a back stage.  That way I can put on some great shows.  And I think I’d like a treasure box with lots of fake gems so I can have treasure hunts.  And then for my third thing, I would like some fake jewelry.”  

She went on and on about these fabulous things that she came up with – from her heart.  She is extremely excited about her list this year.  Because she came up with it.  Isn’t it grand?

When her Papa came home, I explained what happened and that he needed to get to work figuring out how we can make a sturdy nine foot tall, eight food wide contraption that can hold a nice velvet curtain.  I’ll be responsible for the curtain and he’ll, well, I know he’ll rock the stage part.  Oh, I can’t wait!  Can you?  Just think of all of  the wonderful shows she’ll put on…..ones that I’ll video tape and add right here on the blog.  Just imagine all that she’ll create from her own heart!