The One With Photo Friday

One of the blogs I read did a photo post to share the top 11 photos of their family from 2011... I think I will do the same!

Here's my top 11 of '11...


I had a hard enough time picking 11, so I'm not going to try to put them in order of my favorite.  Instead, I'll try to put them in chronological order to make my life easier.  :)

This one is of Paige's first birthday.  She didn't like being naked in front of tons of people and being made to eat cake.  :)

 Happy Easter!  I loved this picture.  She is just too cute.

I LOVE her smile in this picture.  It makes me happy every time I look at it.

I like this picture a lot.  It's cute of both of them and fun that the ferris wheel is behind them.  Fair 2011.

I took this on my camera phone at one of Rick's flag football games and was pleasantly surprised with how it turned out.  It sums up our time at the games.

Rick is going to kill me if he ever sees this... What can I say?  I love it!  We're a bandanna lovin' family.

  

As a mom, how can you not love this picture?  Especially when your cute little almost 2 year old has only cuddled like this once or twice with you when she was sick.  It makes my heart so happy to think back to that 30 min plus cuddle.  

I think I took this picture at the pumpkin patch with my family.  I just like it.  :)

PS- don't her eyes look GREAT!?

This is possibly my favorite picture ever because of what it means to me.  It's 4 generations, and we all look pretty good (and even color coordinated!  we didn't plan that).  The 3 people in this picture with me are some of the people that mean the most to me.

Oh Paige!  You have the cutest expressions!  I was playing peekaboo with her behind my camera and she thought I was the funniest person alive.  It was so much fun.  I'm pretty sure this is one of Rick's top 5 favorite pictures ever.

I like how this one turned out.  This man means a whole lot to me.  Christmas time 2011

 

The One With The Year End Review

At the end of every year I try to do a blog post looking back on the past year & looking forward to the new year.  Every year I think to myself... 'what a year!'.  A lot happens in a year, I guess.

This was our 2011...
5 surgeries in 5 months between the 3 of us (and we are all doing well now!)
4 animal sounds that Paige can say
3 haunted houses visited
2 new jobs
1 graduation... Rick finished his masters degree!

Other notable memories:
Paige turned 1
Watching Paige take her first steps & growing some hair!
Watching Rick play lots of flag football & basketball games
Spending LOTS of time with our close family & friends.

This is what I hope our 2012 looks like:
Possibly adding another two feet to our home ;)
Doing at least weekly mommy-school activities with Paige.  Possibly starting a blog about it...
Possibly buying a house
LOTS less surgeries
Potty training Paige & de-cribbing Paige (wish us luck!)
Lots less time wasted (for Michelle) on FB :)

The One With Photo Friday - "It Always Makes Me Smile"

I'm trying to do a Photo Friday most Fridays, thanks to inspiration via my Pinterest.

Today I decided to do "a picture that can always make you smile".

I have a few of these, actually!

I have a couple pictures of Paige making funny faces.  For the one below, I told her to smile.  Can't you tell?  :)

Christmas Time 2011

The picture below was Paige's first Christmas.  We woke her up early to open our presents before visiting our 3 extended families.  She gave me a look like, 'Mom... really?  You are taking pictures of me NOW?'

Christmas 2010 - Paige's first Christmas

Last year for Halloween I was slightly camera happy (surprising, I know!), but boy am I glad I was.  I LOVE the smile she is giving in this picture & the way her head is tilted, it makes me smile every time I see it.

Halloween 2010 - Paige's first Halloween

Last, but not least, is my hilarious husband Ricky.  He took this picture to send to me and make me laugh, and it still does years later.  It's everyone's cell phone wallpaper in his family.

Rick the Rickster

I love looking at these pictures.  They all make me so happy & I love to remember back to those moments I was lucky enough to capture.

 

The One With The Beard That's Long And White

...must be Santa!!

(That's one of our favorite Christmas songs this year)

Santa makes time in his super busy schedule to come to Grandma Jaleen's house every year.  Well, starting last year anyway...

Thanks to some cropping, Paige actually looks happy in this picture :)

Paige didn't love Santa this year, which surprised me actually.  She's usually not afraid of anyone & is very overly friendly to even the gruffest guys (like the big typical biker dude she waves at at WalMart).

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!!

The One With Photo Friday... "A Smile"

I decided that most Fridays I would try to do one of many photo challenges (you can find some of the challenges on my Pinterest).

So, today starts off the first Photo Friday, and I chose "a smile".

Who better than to take a picture of my (usually) happy girl?

I want to challenge myself to take new and creative photos, so I tried to take one today, and with many odd attempts, this is the best one I came up with...

It's a good thing she's so cute.

I thought of taking a picture of my smile up close... only to find out I had something in my teeth... yuck!  So I flossed & threw on some lip gloss and here you have it...

I was going to zoom in on my smile, but I liked the lights in the background.

A few weeks ago (back when I thought I would send out Christmas cards... yeah right!), I took some of Paige.  We played peek-a-boo behind the camera and either she thought I was hilarious  or she was faking it the whole time.  Either way, I got some fun "smiley" pictures of her.