Formal Family of 4 Pics 2013

I am the only one in my family who enjoys taking pictures.  Perhaps it was the years of training with my parents growing up, or the three years in high school as a cheerleader where taking one picture meant smiling for 5 minutes while every mother snapped the same picture, or just my love for the finished product.  But I was excited to take our annual family pictures - our first set as a family of four - with a photographer friend I knew in high school in early November. 

 

We had been talking with Collin about family pictures in the days leading up to the Friday event, but we should have been more clearly outlining rewards and consequences of picture success, because on that Friday afternoon Collin was completely uncooperative!  It is a miracle Taryn got any good photos since Collin wouldn't smile despite our feeble bribes or threats. 

 

On this rare occasion where Collin was grinning, then Maya wouldn't get her hand out of her mouth.  Our family of four -

Pretty sure this is Cas' favorite picture from our photo shoot -

And to be fair, mother & son -

We may look like a happy family, but we've got a death grip on Collin's hands while he fidgets around, trying to escape -

Our big boy - 

 Sweet Maya, who I thought would be our problem child in the pictures, was a dream -

I ordered the kids matching outfits - some of the fabric in Collin's vest matches the straps and bottom lining on Maya's dress.  But when Collin held Maya, my specialty vest-and-dress order seemed a little pointless -

I had seen this swinging picture on pinterest but we didn't quite pull it off, though it did get a genuine grin from Collin -

Our handsome little dude - 

We tried brother and sister agai,n but by then Collin was done posing. 

In the last 5 minutes of our almost hour-long photo session, my poor parents arrived.  I had asked them to come get Maya's attention so she'd look at the camera and smile.  They ended up in horrific traffic for well over an hour, but Taryn talked my mom into joining me for a quick girls picture, and then they came with us to dinner afterwards.

Up in the air.  With Collin I was getting a workout! 

And two of my favorites -

Until next year, family photos - it will be fun to see how much Maya will change in a year!

Family pictures in NB

While my brother and sister-in-law were in Texas, we took my parents' Christmas card photo with our family of eight.  It's always a challenge to tear folks away from tennis or some crazy made-up game my cousin Jake invented to take pictures, and once again our family was all ready - even the kids were dressed - while Cas was still in the shower.  So we snapped what we could without him -  

Poor Maya's first tooth arrived a few days after Thanksgiving, so she wasn't super smiley in the evenings, but she was stylish in her new outfit from Grammy.  

Finally Cas arrived and the whole family crammed in for a shot.  This was the best we could get, the kids were in no mood for pictures (though in fairness, Collin is NEVER in the mood for posed pics).

Father and son -

 



My daughter and me -

Maya was giggling with Grandma Jewel Rae's tickling finger - 

As we loaded in the car the next day, Uncle Bobby found a ribbon from one of the presents that matched sweet Maya's purple bow, so everyone posed with their purple head accessories.
Jackson and Daniel -

 Aunt Carla and Uncle Bobby - 

And the matriarch, Great Grandma Jewell Rae - 

We said good-bye to New Bransfels and appreciated the wonderful Thanksgiving/Hanukkah weekend with family from across the country!

Landa Park Firsts

Maya was excited Saturday morning, not only to play with her new toys, but also when she found out we were headed to Landa park and she'd be going on her first train ride!

Maya rode with Uncle Alex, my mom rode with Collin, and I snapped a ridiculous amount of pictures.  Uncle and niece -

Batman saying hello before the train left the station -

Acting heroic . . . before the conductor came by and told him to sit down!

Maya was all smiles and squeals during the ride - 

 

Next we headed to the playground.  It was such a marked difference from last year when he wanted my mom or I to accompany him on everything - this year he was scaling rock walls and heading down the tallest slides without any encouragement.

Our last stop at Landa Park was the duck area.  While Maya was almost falling asleep in my mom's arms, Collin and Uncle Alex were plotting how to feed the very friendly ducks and geese -

After watching Uncle Alex do it, and with some help, Collin fed some geese out of his hand -

Every time the goose would eat from him, he'd stand up with a victory arm thrust and smile!

Uncle and nephew bonding - 

Cut from the Menorah Lighting Team

The Friday after Thanksgiving, we celebrate Hanukkah with my dad's family.  We woke up Friday and played a lot of tennis.  It was a perfect fall day, sunny, cool, and ideal for a day on the courts with the family.  Like most of our family, I hadn't played since last Thanksgiving, but we all had a great time . . . and as a sign of aging, I was more sore than I was after my once-a-year tennis in my twenties!

While we played tennis, our wonderful family rotated the baby-sitting duties.  I connected with Maya every four hours to feed her, but we pretty much handed our kids off every morning and saw them again for dinnertime.  They went exploring, played tennis with the very patient Brownie, played new games of Batman and on the ipad with Uncle Bobby and Aunt Carla, and bounced around between aunts, uncles and cousins throughout the long weekend.  Here Collin is laughing with Alex over a piece of tape on his eyebrow -

Bryce was two-on-one entertaining our kids -

After hours of tennis, we gathered for Hanukkah - pictures, dinner, and gifts!  Coady joined the Austin gang -

Aunt Coady and Uncle Alex -

Maya and me -

Maya and Daddy in their purples -

The boy cousins plus the newest cousin-to-be, Matt

Playing dredils with Brownie while waiting for the potato latkas to be ready -  

Maya couldn't wait for the meal, and she took a team to feed her - one person to hold her and another to keep shoveling food in her ever-ready mouth. 

Collin playing with Bryce's flute with Uncle Walter -

It was finally time to light the menorah and start the night.  Normally we light it from oldest grandkid to youngest.  But this year I was nursing Maya so Collin took my place, and since all the other grandkids were there, I got booted from my eldest-grandchild-Hanukkah-lighting duties!  Collin was quite serious about it - probably the first time we've ever let him handle fire.

And then he watched on intently as the grandkids continued to light the menorah -

After the meal, it was time for gifts.  Maya was super excited to play with her new activity center -

Collin was inundated with gifts, and we ended the night admiring our annual family calendars created by Aunt Debbie.