Famiy Pictures

We had our family pictures taken on Tuesday this past week by the lovely Amber Byrd.  It feels a little indulgent to hire someone to take family pictures every year, but honestly, I treasure these pictures-- she captures our family perfectly and the boys really cooperate for her.  If I just did the pictures myself, I wouldn't ever be in them and they boys would be rolling their eyes in every picture- ha! PLUS, Amber is sooooo affordable, so we can justify it!

Anyway, after stressing about outfits for the boys, outfits for momma, hair probs and a new location, I think things came together... I didn't think she would get one last year and she got some of my most favorite ones.  Hopefully she will surprise us this year too!

 these were just in the driveway as we were getting ready to go...

And then I snapped this one of Eddie and the boys while Amber was taking it-- love!

I also got this one with my phone-- these were the first ones we took...shirts still tucked in and vests on.  This did not last long.  Vests were shed and shirt tails came out.  

And then Cal became a child model....who poses like this???

And then Amber posted this one to facebook-- I love it!!!!! Might be my new phone case....

If you are local, we can't say enough great things about Amber Byrd!!!

 

A quick outlet run on a Monday

This right here is a random post.

We had our family pictures this past week and I ordered a shirt to wear from J.Crew factory.  I did not take into account the holiday last Monday (Columbus Day) and, the day before picture day, the box had still not arrived.  SO, after taking CalBoy to school on Monday, Andy and I ran over to the outlets to run into J.Crew.  I was planning on running in, buying the shirt I was planning on wearing and then running out-- then returning the shirt I ordered when it came in.  And that is what happened...for the most part.  I bought the shirt and then as I was running out of the store, another shirt caught my eye.  I held it up and it looked like it would fit and then I ran back to the cash register to pay for that one too.  It's nice to have options, right?? ha! (and I ended up wearing the last minute find for the pictures-- of course!)

Andy was SO good for my maniac running around the store so I let him visit the ride on toys in the middle of the outlet mall-- I seriously love this  mall.  We had the whole place to ourselves and Andy had a blast trying to sit on Spiderman's lap.....

 poor spidey.

 let's hug it out

And Monday night ended with a quick round of football-- this is not exclusive to our Mondays though.... this is pretty much every.single.night around here.

Speaking of pictures, CalBoy got his school pictures back... I think they are pretty cute!