Success!

This is what happens when you say, "Josie - look like a princess."
All credit goes to Sleeping Beauty.

We had a cold, but successful family picture session in Downtown Northville! There were a few tears, some pink noses, and one injury... But I will go ahead and call it MISSION ACCOMPLISHED because Christmas cards have been ordered. So there.

As you can see - we had our share of outtakes. Once pictures were finished - we turned them loose in the town center. I asked the photographer to keep shooting because I knew she would capture their personalities.

For a girl who threw a FIT about taking dance classes...Josie sure knows how to put on a show.

Christmas Cards will be in mailboxes soon...or at least before Christmas.

Happy Friday

We're HAPPY it's Friday! And hoping for some HAPPY faces this weekend as we take some family pictures. I'm not above using ice cream to bribe people to JUST SMILE for the dang pictures- Tyson included.

We can all take a moment to remember last year's debacle - when Josephine acted like we were torturing her:

Lake George

If you are wondering..."why haven't there been lake pictures on the blog this summer?" You answer is above. The lake house is under construction...and while construction may not be moving as quickly as anyone would like - it is going to be AMAZING next summer (and every summer after). 

We were all missing the lake, so Nancy & Denny rented a cottage right down from theirs and the Idaho Beckers flew in for a fun long weekend.

We did family pictures and we FINALLY have a picture that includes all of the Beckers (Nolan & Agnes, too!) New cottage decor...check.

Our family got a few good pictures too...so, if I get lazy busy...and you see this picture appear in your mailbox in December, well...

The Becker men cooked lots of meats for us on the smoker. Everything was delicious. I might buy Tyson a smoker just so he can "smoke" more and I can "cook" less.

 fishing poles.

 hello.

 One foot in Michigan, one foot in Indiana.

Tom's Donuts & Agnes. Agnes didn't eat any of them. But Nolan might have....

master crawler.

baby pool with Kallie

 boat ride with Kinley & Hadley (not shown)

swim suit model.

It was a SUPER fun long weekend - with LOTS of Becker family fun crammed in. We have missed the lake and the Idaho Beckers so much. Glad we could enjoy both at the same time.

What's up...

...with the Becker Three.

Jack has been REALLY into building things with Legos. He was recently introduced to the regular size Legos and Tyson & I have enjoyed watching his creativity come alive. Here he is showing a "Robot Monster."

Josephine is still enjoying her Mommy & Me class. Last year I worried that she would be sad to be away from me...and now I know that's entirely FALSE. She would be JUST fine without me.

Nolan spends his days cuddling with his mom, napping in his carseat (because we are always on the go), and he's also earning his keep as a MODEL for the Printed Poppy.

Last Friday night we had family pictures taken. If ever there were a person who didn't believe that the TERRIBLE 3's are worse than the TERRIBLE 2's...just come hang out with Josie when she's tired. She's hands-down the most stubborn child I know. She wasn't interested in taking pictures. So heads up - our Christmas card might be a little on the "BAH HUMBUG" side.

And finally, Nolan recently received an elephant towel from two friends he will come to know & love - Mark and Karen Dixon (lake buddies). Bath time is his favorite time of the day, so this towel is a big hit. Tyson didn't believe me when I told him how excited Nolan gets for bath time. He can anticipate it. Then I had Tyson give him a bath and he saw it for himself. Pure joy.

Family Pictures {Not on the Christmas Card}

I won't lie. At the beginning of October I was STRESSING about family pictures. Brooke has always taken pictures for us (when we lived in Michigan) and since she ditched us for Iowa...I was stuck. I started asking around and did some research, but every photographer I looked at was WAY too expensive. Tyson said it best one night when we were discussing how much it would cost. "Kady, we don't look good enough to spend that kind of money." I agreed. And I knew that with two toddlers - we'd have an hour - MAX - for their cooperation. A mortgage payment for an hour of photographs wasn't in the cards. So I started my research.

One night I stumbled upon Craigslist and looked through the "Creative" ads. And to my own surprise...I found a photographer that caught my eye! He had a website, too! So I started talking to him and we agreed on a price (and it was an AWESOME price). We set a date & time...I got outfits together...and candy to bribe my children. It was a GO!

As most of you know, Tyson and I have fallen in love with Detroit. Sure, we live in the suburbs...but we honestly LOVE what the city has to offer. Detroit gets a lot of bad press. We decided we wanted our pictures set in Detroit. Our first stop was Comerica Park.

I have a feeling - over the years - this kid will spend a lot of afternoons at this ballpark!

After Comerica, we headed to Belle Isle for a shot with the Detroit skyline. That huge building to the left of Tyson is the Renaissance Center where he works.

Our final stop was the Heidelberg Project in the heart of the city. It's a really amazing open air art project that has really united the city of Detroit.

Overall, I was SO happy with the way our pictures turned out! It was exactly what we wanted and more! As predicted, our children only lasted an hour. And getting Jack to stand still (at any point) was a HUGE challenge!

Thank you, Brian, for such amazing work! Make sure you check out his site!

Oh, and we will have more pictures...like these, but even better, on the Christmas card!