Tips on dressing for family portraits...

I get asked all the time, "what should we wear?", when preparing for a family portrait shoot.   My short answer is always, whatever you feel best in, but there is definitely more to it.

Here are my top tips for putting together the wardrobe for your family portraits:

1.  No busy patterns!  Stripes on one person, flowers on another, polka dots on a third....  you'll look like your having your pictures taken to apply to clown school, not for a beautiful portrait to put on your walls.  Solids always work best, or a subtle pattern.


2.  Think of the colors that are most flattering.  Many families like to wear white on top and jeans or khakis on the bottom, I personally like this look, it's classic, but it's not for everyone.  White can really wash out skin tones, especially when taken with artificial light in a studio setting.  Jewel tones are flattering to most everyone, and really give a pop of color to your portrait.


3.  Think long term, we've all seen those pictures from the 70's with the wild patterns and orange/gold/brown colors, or worse, the pictures from the 80's (can you say big hair and blue eye shadow).  Try to stick with the classics, and not what is "in style" at this very moment.  You don't want to date your portraits before they are even hung on the wall.


4.  This tip is mostly for the Mom's, since I find women are most critical of themselves in pictures (myself included), wear something that you feel good in!  If you have a color you love on yourself, dress the family around it.  If you have a top that you feel pretty in every time you put it on, then that's the one for you.  Put on your clothes and sit in them, make sure your happy with how your body looks in them, sitting and standing, you want to feel good.


5.  This may be the most obvious, but make sure everyone is wrinkle and stain free, if you've got a child that can't go more then 5 minutes without getting a stain, it may be best to bring the clothes to the photo shoot to change into.


And most of all, just have fun with it!  

Comfort food... it's that time of year.

As soon as the weather starts getting cold I immediately start to crave comfort foods.  Stews, soups, pot roast, chicken pot pie, etc...  We had our first snow last night, it's only OCTOBER!  It was only a coating, but it was still snow in October, definitely not how I want to start the winter (it's still only fall by the way)!

I am always looking for new recipes to try, and am super happy when it turns out delicious! I tried a new beef stew recipe the other day, and it got two thumbs up from everyone (even Juliana, the worlds most picky eater).  I will definitely be using this again.  Anything that I can make in the crock pot in the morning makes for a great day.  Walking into a house on a chilly day with the aroma of something yummy cooking for dinner.... ahhhh...

Recipe:
Ingredients

• 2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups beef broth
• 3 potatoes, diced
• 4 carrots, sliced
• 1 stalk celery, chopped

Directions

1. Place meat in slow cooker. In a small bowl mix together the flour, salt, and pepper; pour over meat, and stir to coat meat with flour mixture. Stir in the garlic, bay leaf, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, onion, beef broth, potatoes, carrots, and celery.
2. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 10 to 12 hours, or on High setting for 4 to 6 hours.

Eight is GREAT....

October is birthday central here in our house.  Juliana and Tyler's birthdays are 8 days apart.  It get a little chaotic with all the planning, but the kids always say they have great birthdays and since that's my goal, it's worth the stress.  This year in stead of having a big party for Tyler at the house (I vowed never to do a big boy party at my house again after last year, boys are way too crazy), we let him invite 4 friends and took them out to lunch.  We went to a chinese buffet, we figured there would be something for everyone.  They really enjoyed it and behaved pretty well (pretty well considering there were 5 boys all the same age).

After lunch I tried my best to get a picture of them all together, but like I said, boys are crazy and I have to settle for what I got.  Actually the pictures make me laugh, they may be crazy, but they are entertaining as well.

We then took them all back to the house to watch the movie Zoo Keeper.  I had bought them way too much candy, but I didn't hear anyone complain about that!  They watched the movie and Ty opened gifts and then the party was over.  I think fun was had by all, and I didn't loose my mind with a house over filled with crazy boys.

The next morning was his Birthday, both kids were up bright and early (even though it was a Sunday and they had stayed up super late the night before).  Tyler got a new pair of pajamas and a huge Lego set that he had been really, really wanting.

Tyler dove right into putting it together, and in record time it was almost complete, Juliana even helped a bit.

We then went out to lunch and Go Kart racing (that's what he chose), it was fun.  We had a little cake for him, and then it was time for bed.   I am excited to see what the next 8 years has in store for him!

An average night in our house...

Ty loves to dance, hip hop to be exact!  We were picking Juliana up at school today and he caught a little music from the open gym window and couldn't help but start dancing (in the cold rain).  Any night that he can he is dancing for us (or anyone that will watch).

Ty Dancing Video

A perfect morning...

I am not happy about it getting darker earlier in the evening and especially not about it being dark when we wake up.  However, when I opened my curtains this morning I was greeted with such a beautiful sunrise it made me (temporarily) forget about the dark mornings...

And she turns ten...

I can't believe it, my baby girl is ten years old!  It's strange to think that I am the Mom to a ten year old (a tween).  In some ways the time has flown by, I can remember the day she was born like it was yesterday.  In other ways I can't imagine my life without her, feels like she's always been in my life.  She's becoming the most amazing young lady, so beautiful, so caring, so full of life. There's never a dull moment when Juliana is around.    I have many hopes and dreams for her in her life, most important that she is happy and healthy.

Her birthday was a on a Saturday this year, both her and Tyler had soccer games, but before leaving for the games she wanted to open her gifts.  She got a pillow pet from Tyler, and Pajamas and a netbook (small laptop) from Steve and I.  She was so excited with the computer, she keeps saying she can't believe we bought her one (feels so good to get her the perfect gift).

We went out to dinner that night, she got to pick the restaurant, she is always careful to pick a different restaurant every year (photos are a bit blurry as they were taken on a phone without the flash).

We had a little cake for her when we got home.

The next day we had her birthday party.  She is not so good with making decisions, and I had to kind of push her into make a decision.  She finally settled on a "Mystery" theme.  I only had two days to throw it all together, but I think I did well, I saw many smiles and the girls all said they had fun.

We spent the morning decorating and getting the house ready.

The snack table was set and ready for the girls:

The first game we played was "who am I", they all had a person, place, or animal taped to their backs and could only ask YES and NO questions to figure it out.  Once they did they got a little prize.

Next we played 20 QUESTIONS, the questions ranged from "how many toes does Juliana have" to "name the 7 continents".  The person with the most correct answers got a prize.  All the girls guessed the correct number of toes FYI.

 Next was the girls favorite part.  I put a lot of time and brain power into developing this game (with a little help from Steve).  You see Juliana's Great Aunt Stephanie had left her a necklace, there was a video message explaining this.  In order for the girls to find the necklace they had to find clues that were hidden through out the house.  Each clue led to another clue.  Some were difficult some not so hard, at the end they each got a small prize.

They thought Great Aunt Stephanie was hysterical:

While I was getting the cupcakes ready they played the pass it on party game.  A player says, "when I go to a party I like to bring X, and then the next player says, when I go to a party I like to bring X and Y, and so on" it was really funny hearing the things they came up with, one person said a mustache trimmer, another said a dog, another said tweezers for spare hairs...  very entertaining.

They also did a sketch artist game where they had to sketch someone I gave details about, they figured out that it was Great Aunt Stephanie.  The best two pictures won prizes.

Finally it was time for cupcakes, Juliana had requested I make Key Lime Cupcakes.  They are super tasty, but also a lot of work.  But they all loved them, so it was worth the time and effort. 

The girls had a little time left so we sent them outside to run off the sugar.  Steve got out the leaf blower and ended up blowing air onto the girls, they LOVED it.  Seriously it really sometimes just is the simple things.

It was a great party, and Juliana thanked me 1000 times for having it.  Now it's time to start planning Tyler's party in 7 days!

Our town...

I live in a little town in Connecticut, it's about 20 minutes from the beach and 25 minutes from the capitol.  It's quaint and has many beautiful features.  The other day I took a ride around with my camera and photographed what caught my eye.  Here is a sampling: