Holidaze

I can't believe we're at the end of 2014 already. This year went by in a blink. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are gearing up for the new year. I'm ready to take 2015 by force. You should see the giant lists I wrote on our three hour drive back home from visiting family.

The holidays were a bit hectic for us, as I'm sure they are for most, but this December was exceptionally busy. I went on five different trips, over the course of three weeks mostly to visit family. It was exhausting, but worth it. Four of our trips took us to different parts of the Lone Star State, but the fifth was a last minute trek to New York City. Jonathan had to be there for work, so in a hasty decision, we flew up early together to spend a weekend in the Big Apple to see it adorned for the holidays. It was a whirlwind of a weekend with a big surprise, which I'll tell you more about in a future post.  For now, though, I hope you have a safe and happy new year!

Happy 2015!

xo

nessa dee

Run Gus Run

I love when I plop down to snap some shots from his perspective, this little boy runs straight for me with a huge grin on his face.

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xo

nessa dee

Narwhal

There's still time to get this guy before Christmas! He's for sale at Cherry Tree Creative in Taylor, TX, along with a whole collection of vintage and handmade items. They stay open late on the third Thursday of every month, which happens to be tomorrow!

Are you ready for Christmas?

I'm not...yet.

xo

nessa dee

Hay Bale Jumping...

It's a must when we visit my hometown.

Plus it makes for some pretty neat pictures.

xo 

nessa dee

Christmas Pictures 2014

Cloudy with heavy drizzle and fog....not the ideal weather conditions for an out door photo shoot. I have a knack for scheduling my photo shoots on the most inopportune days. In this case, though, I actually checked the weather [I usually don't] mainly because Monday's blustery cold front caught me off-guard. Thursday, though partly cloudy, would be pleasantly warm compared to the other days, and I was relying on that weather report [as much as you can rely on a weather report] to hold true. But, as fate would have it, the heavens opened up and saturated my plans. I called my mom to get the weather report in her area [the location of the shoot], and it hadn't yet started to drizzle. A ray of sunshine in an otherwise gloomy forecast. Instead of taking a much needed shower, I herded my children into the car and sped to Taylor to beat the rain [within the speed limit, of course].

I still had to get my children ready.

When they were dressed to perfection, we jumped in the car to head to the downtown area, and we were met with, not the expected drizzle and gloom, but bright, smile inducing sunshine. I'm pretty sure I heard a chorus of angels singing at that moment.

I've written many times about the challenges of trying to get good pictures of three children together whose age differences mean drastic differences in height as well as the ability to cooperate. Getting all three to look at the camera and smile at the same time is near impossible, especially when you have one who loves to talk, another who likes to make silly faces, and a third who just wants to pick up rocks, or run away, or start an impromptu game of tag in an alleyway. But what I find when I scroll through the hundreds of pictures I've snapped is that the ones I favor most are not the ones that are perfectly posed. I love the candid shots that capture what happened in between the times of trying to get that "perfect shot." Hidden among the "in between shots" are the twinkling smiles, the familiar expressions, and the wonderful moments that, if you just keep clicking, you might be lucky enough to catch. 

xo

nessa dee

Three Zombies and a Robot

I love this picture. I love it when my kids unknowingly settle themselves in order by height. They do this quite often, usually in age order. It's quite easy for them since there's 5+ years between each child. Their ages aren't relevant in this case, though, but somehow they've managed to stair step themselves into another perfectly posed position... a great opportunity for a photo, even if it is of mindlessly basking in the glow of a television.

And here's a little guy I've been working on. He's not quite finished, but I'm growing fond of him, so I had to share. I bought some old Bingo cards from my favorite store, Cherry Tree Creative, and I've been searching for an opportunity to use them in my paintings. He was one such opportunity.

I think I'll call him Bingo, Original, I know.

He'll be available for sale soon, so if you're interested in him, leave me a comment.

Have a great weekend!

xo

nessa dee

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Just a boy and his kite and an endless blue sky...

Until...

Just a boy and his car and the open road...

 And a dad and his kite and an endless blue sky...

xo

nessa dee

A Whovian Halloween

Halloween this year was a last minute scramble to pull together costumes thanks to some changing of minds in the 11th hour. Originally going as a ninja, Finn decided the Tuesday before Halloween that he'd rather be a fighter pilot. Now, I've had a tradition of making, or pulling together unique costumes every year since Audrie's first Halloween, and I wanted to do the same this year, but I was not about to attempt to sew a jumpsuit given our time constraints, so Dad was sent on a mission to procure a ready made costume. I did, however, make Finn's helmet out of an old toy hard hat, foil, masking tape, and spray paint. 

Audrie's last minute costume change proved to be a bit more challenging. Her original idea of going as a spider web quickly dissolved when the prospect of being a big blue box presented itself. We managed to put together a  TARDIS costume from Dr. Who. The rest of us went as the 4th [me], 10th [August], and 11th [Jonathan] doctors from the series. 

Audrie managed our Halloween route quite well considering she couldn't see where she was going and had to penguin waddle everywhere. Finn was on a candy mission, super focused on hitting every possible house as quickly as he could. August jumped every crack in the sidewalk, and needed no help from me, at one point yelling at me to leave him alone. He had this trick-or-treating thing down. The highlight of the night came when we were about to call it quits when all of the sudden, Audrie yells "A Dalek!" [which is the Doctor's alien arch nemesis]. She had spotted one across the main road heading away from us. We chased it down and found another family of Whovians! Of course we had to take a picture together...

This family showed remarkable commitment to their Dr. Who themed costumes.Their Dalek [the foil covered creature in the front] was a mere prop that they rolled along with them wherever they went! 

After that, we went home and stuffed ourselves with candy, in the true spirit of Halloween.

xo 

Nessa Dee