'Twas the night before Christmas

{pure talent}

Holiday school fun

It's been an exciting month, to say the least, for the girls. Especially Lucy -- she has practically been in orbit waiting for Christmas. This week, she got not one but two special events at her awesome preschool -- a winter party yesterday and a pajama day today. Who would have thought that getting to wear pajamas to school would be a cause for so much excitement? Oh, to be three again!

Here she is at yesterday's party:

{"skating"}

{yes, little sister was there}

{phoebers wants to be three}

{sitting for a story with her teacher andrea}

And here she is this morning, soooooo excited to be wearing her new christmas jam-jams to school:

Cookie Stroll

Lucy had the good fortune of going on a "cookie stroll" last Saturday on Cape Cod, accompanied by me and Nonni. It is best described as a sort of trick-or-treating for Christmas cookies at various gorgeous homes near the Bass River in South Yarmouth. We got to see plenty of beautifully decorated homes and trees and we came home with a bag full of homemade cookies. It was a bit of a walk and it was also cold, so miss "Janer the Complainer" (as I like to call her these days) was in full effect. Still, I know she enjoyed her time there and it was memories made -- which is what is most important.

{on the trolley, which lucy called the charlie...and it was too cute to correct her!}

{lucy & nonni...yes, i am into shadows these days}

{wouldn't you like this to be your back yard?}

{miss lucy}

{warming up at the library with some hot cider}

{can you find me in this photo?}

We are family

It's funny because I am making part of my living these days taking lovely photos of other peoples' families, yet this is one of my favorite photos of my own family and the one that I am most likely to enlarge and frame for my home. Something about the absence of detail just lets what is most important shine through...the imprint of the four of us, dark & inky, created by a stream of sunlight spilling over the Charles River in the city that we love as a family.

I am thankful for...

....my hometown. On a crisp, clear fall day like this.

Nana & Poppa

I'm just figuring out my new (and very awesome) computer, so I'll be posting more about Thanksgiving soon!

Reversal of Follicles

Something was different about my girls yesterday...just can't put my finger on it...

{not feeling well again yesterday, thus the glassy eyes}

Click here for a fun look back!

This.Is.Life.

{this picture is worth about a million words}

I tried to do a photo shoot yesterday of my very own two little munckins, to use for this year's holiday card. Well, you know what they say about the shoemaker's kids never having shoes? Totally right. I take pictures of other peoples' kids all the time, yet when it comes to my own...oh boy, I just don't have the touch! To my credit, I think the photos are nice and clear. It's my subjects who give me fits :)

But in looking through them, I realize how much I truly treasure these photos. They tell the story of how my girls are right now, at this very precious moment. And isn't that what a holiday card should be all about? The unperfect moments that make us real? That make us happy! So be prepared, if you are on my holiday card list...you may just get something a bit unexpected this year :)

You've come a long way, baby*

As many of you (who is you? does anyone read this besides the obvious?) know, I have started a little photography business. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of photographing my friend Carrie's family. I met Carrie when I was pregnant with Lucy, in prenatal yoga class. I was then in a "new moms" group with her and her son L.J. Carrie had her second, daughter Emmie, just about 14 months after L.J.

I got this great photo of the two gorgeous kids yesterday:


And then I went into my archives and found this photo that I took of L.J. during the new moms group...almost four years ago now:

{that's him on the right}

Needless to say, he's grown up as a child and I have come a long way as a photographer as well.

*Note that I titled this blog post in a way I kind of disdain. It was the ad slogan for none other than Virginia Slims, and it implied that women made progress because they could now smoke with abandon. Yuck. But still, the slogan worked here. But now it works less because I've explained the heck out of it. Should I just delete it? Nah, I've just typed too much to hit "delete." I haven't got all day :)

Sick days

{the two little convalescents}

Lucy came home sick from school on Monday. Fever and general malaise. Since then, her fever has been up and down...mostly up at night and down during the day. She's had a cough, sore throat and a very scratchy voice. Almost no voice at all today, which is odd for my chatterbox girl. Is it swine flu? I dunno...maybe. Her doctor's office doesn't test and frankly, they almost seem annoyed with the whole thing. Hmrph. So I am treating her symptoms and she seems to have turned a corner tonight. If she has a restful night sleep tonight, which she hasn't had the past few nights, I'll know that brighter days are ahead. Phoebe had a fever on Tuesday after her nap, but has been fine since then. So I really have no idea what is going on. We've kept them both home from school all week, with me primarily watching them. Since Monday, I have been out of the house a grand total of once -- we took a drive last night and I ran into the Container Store to buy some hampers. Will the excitement never end???

To keep "busy" we've been...

Watching tv:
Making hats:
Watching tv:
Dancing in the kitchen:
Watching tv:
Playing with "snow":
And did I mention?...watching tv:
Handing out trophies (for "being a good sick girl"):
And, yes, we even spent a little time outside:

{get better soon, lu. you're gorgeous even when you're sick!}

Halloween: The Post Mortem (ha ha ha)

The festivities started last weekend with a party at the home of one of Lucy's school friends. I missed out because I was off at a photo shoot (sounds so glam, doesn't it?) and I didn't dare burden Jeff with a camera and two little girls. I did see a photo from another mom and it appears that Lucy had a great time. There was another party at her school on Friday...I went to that and snapped some photos of her there. Here is Ariel, enjoying the party:

Oh boy were the kids cute! Yesterday, which was officially Halloween, was a beautiful day. Windy but warm...perfectly mild and sort of spooky Halloween weather. My parents were here, and they prepared a special breakfast for the girls while I was off, where else, at another shoot. But I was back by noon and ready to prepare my special Halloween lunch...grilled smoked gouda sandwiches (Jeff made those) and homemade curried pumpkin soup. It was de-lish. After naps, the girls got into their costumes. Lucy decided that she was done with Ariel and wanted to wear a too-small Tom Brady jersey that she found in a box of things I took out for Phoebe. Ok, ok, so I went with the flow. But of course she also insisted on the pink hairspray I bought, as well as the stick-on earrings. I thought maybe she could be Gisele...a baby bump under that jersey perhaps? But no, she wanted to be Tom, or "crazy Tom Brady" as she put it because of the pink hair, earrings, pink and brown crocs. Hmmm, sorry Tom!

{hike!}

Phoebe was very patient while I put her in her full rock star regalia:

{bad-ass phoebers}

{punk rock girls}

And last but certainly not least...for those who don't know me personally, I am 17. Ok, plus almost 20. But really, I am 17 at heart. It keeps my mom amused to see that I am still basically a child when it comes to being goofy. And why the heck not. I could walk around in mom jeans on Halloween, perhaps going a bit "crazy" with a fun sweater from the Home Shopping Network...or I could do this:

{zexy, no?}

Uh-huh, yep, that's me. And lest Jeff be left out, I got him in on the goth action as well:

{ok, enough ghouling around...har har har}

In case you hear differently from him, he loved every minute of it. And now we finally have a nice family photo to use for this year's holiday card:

I HOPE YOU ALL HAD A SAFE AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!