Christmas on the Farm

This was our first Christmas in Iowa, and even though it wasn't a white one this time, it was a warm and love-filled Christmas.

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day on the farm (and some of it in Gowrie at Ruth's house as well) and it was wonderful. 

Elayna had so much fun this year and was really excited to see what Santa left her under the tree. She loves the doll that he got her (that she can feed), and all of the other exciting surprises of the day. She even played and won her first game of Chutes and Ladders! :)

Christmas Eve cookies, and my favorite captures to date...

Elayna and Gram Jackie enjoyed making cookies together on Christmas Eve. They put on their beautiful homemade aprons (Jackie sews the prettiest things!) and set out to decorate these tree cookies with M & Ms (Elayna may have had to eat some of the broken ones along the way).

These were some of the first images taken with my new camera body, but that isn't why I think they are so wonderful.

Those of you who know me personally, know that I am a sappy mommy. I mean super sappy. I am probably one of those moms, who the other moms think is ridiculous because I will cry just because E is growing so fast, or because she said the cutest thing (again), or because I am quick to point out that she is everything I could have wished for in a daughter. Well.. I don't care if the gushing is silly to some, everything about watching E growing up makes me so happy that I can't help it!!

Anyway, that sappy mommy stuff sometimes carries over to my photography. When I feel like I captured a little piece of Elayna's life that she might actually appreciate being able to look back on one day. It makes me very sentimental.

This set of photos, of Elayna and Gram making cookies, is perhaps my favorite set of images I have taken yet. They turned out great, they took minimal effort, and they were "lifestyle" shots... meaning I didn't pose them for these. They truly represent a moment. Sure, one of many such moments that E has and will spend with Gram Jackie, but a special moment nonetheless.

I guess the point is that these are exactly the moments I am hoping to capture when I am behind the camera. These cherished memories are why I adore photography so, why I have been gearing up (with lots of camera gear), and yes... why I cried when I edited this set.

I would give just about anything to be able to pull out some pictures like this of me and my own grandma, Elaine Grace (one of the strong women E was named after).

I know, I know... I have rambled and gushed enough. You want pictures. ;)

Here you go... 

A Minnie Mouse Birthday

Elayna had a fun birthday party! Next year we will likely try to incorporate a larger group of kiddos, but she is still at the age when a get together with family and close friends makes sense. Thankfully, good friends of ours (The Gustafsons) offered to let us use their beautiful home for the party. It created the perfect space to have a warm, fun, birthday party. Thanks, Mike and Sandy (and Bella and Noah, too!). You all rock.

I took very few pictures of the actual party (shocking, right?) and so I have limited photos of guests and actually missed capturing some of them altogether. Luckily, I have a photographer for a brother-in-law and he took pictures too. So nice not to have to carry my camera the whole time! :) 

Anyway, enjoy this overshare of what I did manage to get. And thank you to everyone who made her birthday party super fun!! 

She wanted to go ice skating...

She's been talking about this for a while now... and ever since she spotted the outdoor skating rink downtown, she has really been asking to try it. Repeatedly. She told Santa she wanted "To go skate" when he asked what she wanted for Christmas, and she even "practiced" by gliding around as if she were skating (here at home, at the mall, next to the rink, anywhere). So, when we couldn't think of anything super special to do on her actual birthday, we thought this would be it. 

We got to the rink and spent quite a while (probably forty minutes) getting our stuff and getting all geared up and ready to hit the ice. Jake skated around the rink to be sure he was steady on his feet and then we decided it was time to go. 

Well... there is a reason you only see pictures of her getting her skates on and getting ready to step out onto the ice. She decided as soon as her first skate hit the ice that she didn't want to do it. She kept repeating "I don't like this. I don't like this. I DON'T LIKE THIS," while we kept coaxing and gliding her along between the two of us (both Jake and I held onto her hands). She then started to cry, poor thing. So... even though I would have liked to have made it some sort of teaching moment about overcoming fears, I caved and we left. I didn't want to make her birthday miserable, after all. So, she did technically go ice skating for her birthday, but it probably lasted two whole minutes. Haha!

The skate rental guy gave her a giant chocolate chip cookie for her birthday and that cheered her up pretty darn quick. She told us she wanted to visit Santa for her birthday, so off to the mall we went to get the annual cheesy Santa picture. 

Guess what she told Santa she wanted for Christmas. To go skate!! I reminded her about that morning but she says she wants to try again. That is good news, but we may hold off for a while... ;)