Updating our little blog....and family pictures. {Grandparents do not spoil your Christmas by looking at this}

I'm finally breaking into the world of blog design...baby steps, I know!  While using the old template was easy, it just wasn't very personal and didn't really reflect our family's personality.  I think this new design does a much better job!  

The pictures are from a recent photo shoot with Chelsea Simmon.  She did an awesome job and I highly recommend her.  You can check out her website here.   

Let me describe our traditional photo shoot at JC Penney.  I have nothing against JCP- I even worked there as a teenager, but I'm guessing many in-store studios are similar.  All six of us cram into a busy, teeny-tiny, waiting room on a Saturday morning in November.  By the way, everyone else has the same idea.  We wait, because they're always behind.  Then we squeeze into the teeny-tiny studio.  They show us a bunch of cheesy backgrounds and I choose the white and gray ones.  The photographer is always disappointed I don't chose the fake tree/fireplace picture.  "This is for Christmas, right?"  I explain that I like the focus of the picture to be on the people, not the background.  She looks confused.  We get into posed, formal positions and she says, "say cheese!"  Some of us say cheese, others start fidgeting, some cry.  We are lucky if we are all looking towards the camera.  We beg her not to wait for all of us to smile, because if she waits that long....more of us will be crying!  We leave exhausted, and when we got home, we realize the pictures we purchased are identically posed from the previous year's photo shoot.  Different clothes, one year older, otherwise the same boring picture.  But this year was different.   

When we met Chelsea at the park it was much more natural.  The kids just goofed around and were themselves.  There were no, "say cheese" commands.  She'd position us at times, and at other times just catch the kids being kids.  And we LOVE how the pictures turned out!  Here are a few more of my favorites. 

Aren't they adorable?  I really love black and whites!

That's her in a nutshell.  Just a super happy little girl, with a lot of pep in her step!

Cute!

Yep.  That's her too.  She'd rather be hanging upside down from a monkey bar or tree. 

LOVE it!  Because, I see these faces.  A lot.  Sometimes more than their smiles!

And just because.  We're a goofy family so we should have a goofy picture!