Christmas 2011: Part 3

Normally, we all go to Houston right after Christmas when it's our turn to spend the holidays with Brandon's family.  This year was the first year that I haven't gone home at all. Instead, everyone came to me and it was kind of nice. It worked out perfectly because my smarty pants brother got a great job offer and moved to Dallas (hooray for finally having another family member in the big D with me) the day after Christmas. My family was already up here to help him out, so we decided to squeeze in P's 2nd birthday and our family Christmas.

So here it is, The CAIN family Christmas in a nutshell...

We all put our P.J.'s on (well, most of us. My husband is anti- pajama pants.), lit a fire, and opened presents and stockings.

After presents, my Dad and brother cooked steaks. I made crack potatoes and attempted a new Christmas candy recipe. The potatoes rocked, but the candy failed. So, we ended our Christmas dinner with a trip to Braums for ice cream sundaes. Not bad for our 3rd and final Christmas celebration of the season.

Christmas 2011: Part 2

 Last year, we were in Houston with my family, so it was Presley's very first Christmas to spend at our house. Here is our little family Christmas in a nutshell...

We drove home from Grammie and Poppa's on Christmas eve, and put out cookies and milk for Santa BUT...

There wasn't a whole lot left for poor Santa when Presley was done.

Santa didn't seem to hold a grudge about the lack of cookies and milk, and left Presley some very special 

presents.

Pardon the nudity in the following pictures, Presley REALLY wanted to wear her new dress up shoes. Momma, unfortunately, didn't take that into consideration when putting her in footed P.J.'s the night before. So we stripped her down to her diaper, and enjoyed the rest of Christmas morning in the buff.

We did eventually get Presley dressed again and headed over to Grammie and Poppa's to spend Christmas day.

Let's Do 52- Week 1

A new year has dawned, and I'm sure everyone is making resolutions or setting goals for themselves. I'm not so much a resolution gal, but I do like to make a list of goals or improvements to work on throughout the year. This year, I want to improve my photography. Challenge myself. Push past my comfort zone.

I also want to "love" it again. This fall I was so busy taking family portraits and trying to get everyone's done on time that it became more of a chore than a passion. I also came home from every session upset that all the pictures I had taken were horrible. Maybe I should add "improve my self confidence" to the goal list of 2012?  What I really love is taking pictures just because with no worry about what other people will think.

So, I plan on working towards this goal by joining Paint the Moon's- Let's Do 52 project. Annie gives you two themes each week and you get to choose which one you want to do. Then you can share your picture (or not) on the Flickr group.

The themes for this week were "Sharing" and "All Natural". I chose "all Natural" or if I'm being honest,  it chose me. I have been thinking all week about what I was going to shoot and how I could set up an awesome picture to fit the theme(s) perfectly. Then this morning, I was rushing around getting ready and glanced over at Presley wrapped up on the couch, staring out the window at something with a mouth covered in cinnamon and sugar.

And there it was! My picture for week 1. Here is my little Sweet P "All Natural":

If anyone wants more information or would like to join, just click the button on the right hand side of my blog. Remember, you do NOT need to be a photographer. It's for anyone who wants to improve/grow/challenge themselves. I hope to see some of you lovely Mama's join in. We do have some pretty rockin' subjects after all.

Christmas 2011: Part 1

Woo hoo! I'm finally getting around to blogging about Christmas! I'm dividing it into three parts for 2 reasons:

1. We had 3 Christmas' this year. One with Brandon's family, one with mine, and one with just our little family.

2. As usual, I took way too many pictures between the three to put into one post.

Here we go, Christmas with the SOUDERS' in a nutshell:

We had lots of fun cousin time

We opened presents at Grammie and Poppa's on Christmas Eve

We made Rudolph donuts and cookies for Santa

and opened even more presents on Christmas morning

 Then headed over to Brandon's Aunts for Christmas lunch and more present opening

and we ended Christmas day by visiting the Grand Prarie light display

This was a wonderful Christmas besides quite a few of us being sick. We got in lots of family time, lots of eating (one of my favorite parts of the holidays), a little shopping, and a whole lot of fun! 

Merry Christmas 2011

All Good Things Must Come to an End

Brandon is back at work after 2 1/2 weeks at home with us. It sure was nice having him at home for all that time. I am, however, looking forward to getting back into our routine. I'm also just now getting around to taking down Christmas. This makes me very sad to have to do, and apparently I'm not the only one. Presley has been following me around all morning adamantly protesting the taking down of Christmas. She seems especially attached to her stocking. I put it up, and two minutes later she drags it out. I hide it in a different box, and there she is pulling it out again and so on and so forth.

Since we both seemed to be struggling with letting go of Christmas, I decided to pull out the book "The Night before Christmas". This book is very special to me as it's been a tradition in our family since I was little. Every Christmas Eve my Dad would read this to us before bedtime. A couple years ago, my Mom and I found the recordable version, and my Dad recorded the story for Presley. I love having it, and especially love getting to share that piece of my childhood with my daughter(s).

 After our little nostalgic story time, I found a present Presley had yet to open and this tickled her to pieces. I took full advantage of the distraction and cleared away most of the Christmas decorations. Now the only thing left is a giant glittery mess, and a house that looks bare. Am I the only one that hates how bare the house looks once Christmas is put away? It is a great excuse to go shopping though...

It's really not all that sad. Our family has a lot to look forward to in 2012, and I have a feeling this is going to be a wonderful year.

Two years old: The Birthday Morning

 Mimi (my mom), Jackson (P's cousin), Brandon, and I woke Presley up singing our best rendition of Happy Birthday. Not quite sure she was ready for all of us to bust through her door, but I'm sure she enjoyed it. Then we had a special birthday table awaiting the birthday girl with chocolate milk,  chocolate sprinkled donuts, donut holes, her tea set, and of course, a princess crown. She loved her special morning!

She blew out TWO candles

Had a birthday breakfast with her cousin

In true Presley fashion, ate only the chocolate and sprinkles off of her donut.

She got to open one birthday present (her party was that afternoon, so we saved the rest for then).

She was very excited about her "parkley Toms".

 Then we dressed her in the same birthday outfit as last year and took lots of pictures!

Her afternoon was spent with Mimi and Jackson at Chuck E Cheese while I got the house ready for her big party. All in all, I would say that turning TWO pretty much rocked for Miss P.

Happy New Year

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.  ~Oprah Winfrey

  Happy 2012, friends!