This is Binky.  He’s our family Elf on a Shelf.  Despite what you’re most likely thinking, no… he’s not a trapeze artist, even though he’s always had an urge to run away from Santa’s workshop and join the circus.  Nope, he’s just one of the many elves who report to Santa’s ear the behaviors of many a child from all over the world.  This little guy (and I do mean little) was assigned to my family.  He came to live with us last year.  He arrived by mail on the day we moved into our new house, complete with a letter from Santa and everything.  My kids love that Binky is here to spy on them and bring a little Christmas magic into their lives!  They were beside themselves with excitement when Binky popped back into their lives a couple of weeks ago for Christmas ‘09!

Yesterday Binky surprised us all when we found him dangling from the fan… I guess he was trying to get a good look at the kids that day.  Who knows?  Wonder where he’ll end up next… Hmmm!  Only time will tell!

Edited To Say:  Help B + B receive a FREE 5×7 by commenting on this blog post…  They only need 25 comments!  So, please, leave a note and let them know how fab they look! 

Wow!  The session from yesterday evening was wonderful in so many ways…  The clouds provided the perfect filtered light.  The candles provided the perfect amount of romance to compliment their sweet relationship.  And, the happiness and love that these two exuded was incredibly uplifting.  Congrats, B + B… I’m sure your upcoming destination wedding will be completely wonderful and magnificantly beautiful!

Here are just a few many of my faves:

I love it when I get some laughter… Always makes me smile!

A change of outfits… and, voila!

Okay.  I’m gonna leave you hanging now… There are so many more I’d love to share, but I really want to keep some of my other favorites unseen until B + B get to see their gallery!  Sorry… please forgive me!  ;)

xox, reata

These past few months feel like one never ending children’s birthday party where I’ve been playing pin-the-tail on the donkey and someone has blindfolded me, spun me around several times, and yelled GO!  I’ve been so busy with all the holiday sessions, destination sessions,  holiday orders + cards, 2 of my kids birthday parties, Thanksgiving, Christmas shopping…  the list goes on and on.  But, although it’s been a whirlwind of a fall season, I’ve somehow managed to keep my sanity and enjoy myself!  

Life is grand.  Here are some random photos from my life I haven’t had time to share with you, until now.

I took this over the Thanksgiving holiday of my three girls…  Check out the wide range of emotions A2 displays in only about TWO mintues time!  What a hoot!

The photo I used for A2’s holiday themed birthday party invite…

An impromtu photo shoot while the girls were scouting locations with me one afternoon…

And, I also have to mention that this afternoon I had an AWESOME engagement session with two totally sweet and obviously in love people…  Here is a completely random sneak from their session!  I can NOT wait to post more from it tomorrow when I’m not so dead tired!  I’ve been thumbing through their images tonight trying to pick out my faves and I can tell it’s going to be hard to narrow it down for their real sneak…  :)  

I don’t know how it happens, or why it happens, or if it’s just my imagination for that matter… But, I seem to always get the HAPPIEST babies EVER during my photo sessions!  This sweet little lady just turned one and proved to be one of the most smiliest (is that even a word?), bouncy, cuddly, cheerful babies out there!  Seriously, she was just too. much. fun!!  And, even though we pushed her session to the max amount of time (a FULL two hours!), she never ever shed a tear or gave a frown.  Just pure bliss.  I fell in love instantly and wanted to take her home in my pocket (and/or carseat) so she could come play with my 2 year old, A3.  And, because she was such pure bliss, I knew I’d love her images just as much as I loved being around her (and her mom and dad, might I add)…  

So, even though it was hard to narrow it down, here are some of my faves!

As soon as I saw her strike this pose, I thought to myself: Holy cow, did she reeeally just do that dance pose?  Apparently, she did!  My camera doesn’t lie!

And lastly:

xox, reata