I took the opportunity to say that I wanted for him to shoot a mini session of me and the girls as my gift. I take these chances when I can get them since he’s not always available to me because of work! And in my brief 4 years of experience as a mom, I’ve already learned that these photos mean so much to me as time goes by. I’m hoping that someday the photos we take will be appreciated by the girls as well. Photographing the kids by themselves is cute, and I’m sure they will value those images on some level as they age…but in my humble opinion, it is the images WITH either myself or Rich (or both of us) that will truly allow them to see tangible reminders of how much they were/are loved. How much we value them. How blessed we consider ourselves that God placed them in our temporary care. How thankful we are that He chose us to be their parents. How much joy they bring to our lives. How much fun we have together as a family.

We had a fall family session in October last year, but it had been since last summer in Dauphin Island that Rich had done a mini session with me and the girls (you can see those photos here and here). Sierra was only 5 months old and Alana has changed a ton since then as well.

So we ate a quick dinner together before heading out for our photo shoot. It was ironic, because it was a particularly frustrating meal time…Sierra has been teething and a bit sick and oh so fussy…just not herself lately. She cried the entire way through dinner, so I got her out of her high chair and held her while feeding her (and I may have eaten a few bites of my own dinner) but nothing really seemed to fully calm her down. At one point she got hysterical and I wondered if a photo shoot was the best idea. I mean, who wants to remember THOSE moments? That wasn’t exactly the type of photo shoot I had in mind. I was hoping for some fun, some laughter, some love…

Rich was looking at me like “Tonight? Really? Are you masochistic or something?” I laughed and told him that I wanted to do it anyway because it was one of the precious few days lately that I actually felt fine…no terrible sinus headache. Plus, the sun was out, it was warm but not digustingly hot, and I hoped that getting outdoors would help Sierra’s mood regardless of whether we got any fabulous images. I consciously adjusted my expectations as we headed out the door for a nearby field.

The session started off a bit rough, with Sierra mainly interested in running around and playing rather than being held by me. Check out her opinion of this photo shoot:

But things quickly improved and Rich was able to capture images that I love. Not just for their aesthetic value, but because he captured my relationship with the girls. He captured our calm side, our fun side, our loving side. This is the best Mother’s Day gift I could ask for. I love my family and I’m so thankful for these girls. As I think about how difficult it is to be a mom, and how often I struggle with whether or not I am being a great mom, I also relax in the knowledge that God is well aware of all of my shortfalls, and His grace is at work. So Rich and I do our best, and we pray for these amazing girls.

And so, here are some of my favorite images from my Mother’s Day session with Alana and Sierra!

To my mom and my mother in law, Happy, Happy Mother’s Day. We love and appreciate you more than words could possibly express.

And Happy Mother’s Day to every mom reading this blog post!

Why the last project, you ask? Well, it’s simple, because after my red jeans project, green jeans project, and this project, I simply have no more clothes to show you I’ve now exhausted my wardrobe on these 3 experiments…and I have no plans to buy anything new for the time being.

What started off as a fun idea to mix and match as many outfits as possible with my new red and green jeans that I got at Gap will now conclude with one last super fun project! This Chambray shirt is my newest item of clothing and it has become my favorite top for it’s sheer versatility! It can be dressed up with a pencil skirt and pumps, it can be a chic weekend look when paired with a maxi skirt and belt, it can be everyday comfort when paired with skinny jeans or trousers, and it can be flat-out beach ready with a pair of shorts and sandals. I love clothing like this – no thinking involved, just throw it on and go! Effortless style.

Just as with my previous two projects, Rich and I waited until after we put the kids to bed and knocked this project out in two hours flat. I told him it was the last fashion-related photo booth project for a while, so he agreed to do it for me on that condition! He’s such a good sport when it comes to me and the ideas that pop into my head that I just have to follow through with

I had a ton of fun with this experiment, and was surprised to find 21 outfits for this one new shirt. Nothing else is new (except the colored jeans that I used for my earlier projects), and some of these items are SEVERAL years old. Hopefully I revived them in a way that inspires you to dust off some older pieces and put them to good use. Pretty sure I said this about my red/green jeans, but it’s amazing what one new item can do for a wardrobe!

I wanted to do an updated photo booth spring/summer project with Alana now as a four year old, but also knew that I didn’t have the time to be ultra creative and include props this time. So I figured it would still be fun to go ahead and do it, changing nothing but outfits between takes!

We took the opportunity to tackle the project last week while Sierra napped and got it done in 2 hours. Alana absolutely cracked me up with her silliness and her poses. There must be something innate about a girl and her ability to act like a model because I promise I didn’t teach her how to pose!

So I present to you Alana: Spring/Summer Catalog 2012 Her lil’ clothes, shoes, and belts are from Baby Gap, Old Navy, Target, and Forever 21.

And on a random side note, after doing my red and green jeans projects recently, I decided I wanted to do ONE more project: using my chambray shirt to create a bunch of outfits…so be looking for that sometime in the next two weeks (hopefully)! Anyway, I was pretty excited to find a miniature chambray shirt for Alana while shopping with my mother in law last week! Too perfect! I promise we won’t wear them on the same day – mother daughter matching would be a bit much, I think. But isn’t it adorable???

This year was special to me because it was Sierra’s first time to experience an Easter Egg hunt (she was only 3 months old last Easter), and it was adorable. She is 15 months, runs everywhere she goes, she’s into everything, makes massive messes, hugs me all the time, adores her big sister, says mama, dada, nahnah (Alana), bird, bubble, and lots of nonsensical stuff She HATES sitting in high chairs and having her diaper changed (or anything else that requires her to be still). She makes us smile and laugh every single day, and our little family cannot imagine life without Sierra.

For her very first egg hunt, I took the girls into the front yard and did a simple little hunt before we headed to Randy and Susan’s house for the annual cousins egg hunt – tons of fun and tons of activity! I wanted to be able to get some photos of her first hunt, and I knew we might lose daylight if I waited until the cousins egg hunt. So here are a few from Good Friday afternoon. At this point, she has no idea that there is candy inside the eggs. She’ll figure that out by the end of the weekend

Thank you to Rich for this shot of me and the girls before we left for some time with the cousins! 

At Randy and Susan’s house, it had gotten chilly, and it was getting late, but Rich grabbed a few photos anyway! Jake is absolutely incredible with the girls, always helping out and taking care of them. For the egg hunt, he followed Sierra around with her easter basket, helping her to spot the eggs and get them into her basket! He is so sweet!!!

Alana had a blast with her cousins! Cousins, and egg hunts, are the best!

I am pretty sure that Sierra, in this photo, is far more excited about Sadie, the dog, than her newly found easter egg! She LOVES animals! Look at that face!!!

Rich taking a photo of me self-portrait-ing with my phone  

Awesome group of cousins!!!

Then, on Easter Sunday, we enjoyed a really incredible church service followed by some time at my in-laws house! We had a delicious lunch and then went outside for a non-candy easter egg hunt! Since she knew the kids had already gotten candy, my thoughtful mother in law put stickers, hair things, whistles, and other fun mini toys in the kids eggs! Sierra, once again, was to-die-for-cute, and Rich and I tag-teamed with the camera  

And once again, Sierra got wildly excited about Milo, the kitty cat, but not so much the eggs She abandoned her easter egg basket for a cat chase, shrieking and laughing all the while  

She still hasn’t figured out that the yummy stuff is inside the eggs. Although, for this particular hunt, the toys would not have been too tasty anyway! 

Those cheeks!!!

My sweet, amazing 4 year old! She seems like SUCH A big girl lately. She’s growing up so quickly. 

Some daddy time! 

I’m so glad I made grandmama and grandpapa gather up with the kids for a photo! Isn’t it precious?!? The newest addition to the family, Wyatt, is adorable!

Yay! And thank you to Rich for this photo of me and my girls!!! I am so thankful for these two! 

When we got back home from my in-laws house on Easter Sunday, Alana reminded me that we needed to have one last hunt in the yard so that she could use her lamb easter basket that she’d given up for Sierra over the weekend! So Rich hid the eggs that the girls had already hunted at their cousins house, and Alana took her lambie and the girls went for it one more time!

And since Sierra had gotten her sweet little cream-colored dress dirty (from the earlier hunt), I put her in this 3-6 month size dress that I’d gotten her LAST Easter and only NOW fits her perfectly! Haha! She actually wore this dress (at 3 months old) last Easter, which you can see in that blog post. I knew it was a little big at the time, but I thought she’d grow into it over the summer last year. Well, here we are a year later and finally it’s a perfect fit. Hilarious!

Now HERE is when she discovers that there is yummy stuff inside the eggs A kit-kat bar, to be exact. Here she is trying to get that darn wrapper open! 

So she gnaws on the package a bit. I opened it for her and let her have it…and then it was a new game to get all the eggs open and try to eat what was inside. She had a whole new level of interest now! I had to work very hard at only letting her get into a couple of eggs!

She melts me. 

Seriously, giving her a piece of candy was the ONLY way to get her to sit still for ONE second so that I could get this shot. In that regard, it was staged. So sue me. At least I didn’t ask them both to look at me and say “cheese”

And I am excited to end on this note…a fully unstaged, authentic sister moment. I love this photo! 

And just for fun, here’s my Easter blog post from 2010 – crazy to see how quickly things change from year to year! Alana was a wee one!

It occurred to me just a few minutes ago that it was 10 years ago today that I was in Ireland, celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day! The year was 2002, and I was a junior at Covenant College. I cannot believe it’s been ten years. In some ways it feels like yesterday and in a way, it feels like another lifetime! I finally got around to blogging my Ireland adventure back in 2009, and you can see that blog post here if you’d like! But be warned, the photos are from 35mm cheap point and shoot cameras and are extra super grainy now that they’ve been scanned in, seeing as how I didn’t even have the negatives to digitize! What I would give to go back with our pro gear and document the trip WELL!!! Not to mention experiencing the trip with my hubs and kids, who weren’t even a glimmer in my eye at the time! Could I have sounded any older in the way I said that?!?

But moving on to the present…a few days ago I set up our photo booth in the living room in order to take some Saint Patricks Day photos with me and the girls. Then I got distracted with the red and green jeans projects! But we did get around to taking the photos I wanted, and here they are, in all their silliness! Thank you to my sweet man for taking these!

I hope you all enjoy your day, and be sure to wear green! As for me, I’ll be wearing my new green skinnies…and now that I’ve already thought up 15 outfits it should be a breeze to pick one!

When I first saw these greens jeans at Gap, I squeaked. No, really, I let out a little yelp! They were already sold out online, and my local store had just a few pair left. Oh, and there was an incredible storewide sale going on  The sales people said that, much like the red, they can’t keep these green jeans in the store. They’re selling too quickly to keep them stocked. So I am happy I grabbed a pair, and I think I’ll wear them all spring and summer! Not only is green my favorite color (well, most days. I admit that I am a bit fickle, though), but it makes me feel all happy and nostalgic. I cannot look at this particular shade of green (kelly green) without thinking of Ireland. It reminds me of some of the most beautiful scenery that I’ve ever laid eyes on.

The point of this project is exactly what it was for the red pair, only with an additional challenge. As with my red jeans project, the goal was to pull anything out of my closet that would work with my new pair of jeans…without buying anything else new. This can be very challenging, if you’re anything like me, because you don’t feel like your closet is full of the latest and greatest. Especially after spending just ten minutes on Pinterest and seeing all of the fabulous things that people are wearing! But I digress.

But this time, I gave myself an additional challenge! Rather than using some of the same tops/vests/jackets that I used with my red jeans project (which was tempting since some of those stripes would have also looked great with green), I decided to use only items that I had NOT already used in the red project.

So…here are my 15 outfit combinations with my kelly green jeans!

***edit to add: a link to my third project, my chambray shirt project! Enjoy!***

Basically, I noticed that colored jeans are the “in” thing this year, and it seems they are all I’m seeing everywhere. Initially I loved all of the colored jeans but wasn’t sure I knew how to pull off this trend. My first thought was that I would love to have a red pair but didn’t feel like that was a practical decision because, after all, what would I wear with red jeans??? This is a critical question, because I didn’t want to buy something new (red jeans) that would necessitate buying OTHER new things to coordinate with it. Money’s not growing on the trees in our yard, not sure about yours.

But the more I saw colored jeans, the more I wanted a pair. So when I saw these fabulously soft and stretchy legging jeans at Gap (and I had a 40% off coupon), I figured I’d jump. I brought them home and started looking through my closet. I decided to issue myself a challenge. I would find as many outfit combinations – for this one pair of red skinny jeans – as possible.  I would not buy anything new, I would be resourceful. I would conquer. I would prevail.

And so, I bring you 15 outfit combinations with my new pair of red skinny jeans. Nothing else is new…which means that I could definitely love some of these outfits MORE, but I had to stick to my challenge. So I piled some tops, cardigans, vests, a couple of jackets, and a blazer on my bed, thinking they all had potential to work with my new jeans.

Then I asked Rich (who wondered what on earth I was up to, with my clothes piled all over the bed) to take photos of each outfit in our photo booth (which was already set up in the living room for some St. Patricks Day photos of me and the girls) while Sierra napped for two hours yesterday. He agreed, and took these resulting photos. He ended up being really impressed that I’d managed to create 15 outfits with one pair of new jeans. Everyone wins

I didn’t pay much attention to accessories and jewelry, even though I feel like they add a ton of character to an outfit, because I was trying to keep it simple (i.e. feasible) and wanted to squeeze it in as quickly as possible. Hey, I was just proud of myself for remembering to change shoes before each photo!

***edit to add a couple of links! I had so much fun with this (my first project) that I did two more! Here is my green jeans project and my chambray shirt project! If you enjoyed this red jeans project you may enjoy those as well!***

]]> http://www.richandheathersmith.com/2012/03/14/my-red-jeans-project/feed/ 12 http://www.richandheathersmith.com/2012/02/15/gymnastics/ http://www.richandheathersmith.com/2012/02/15/gymnastics/#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2012 01:08:05 +0000 Heather Smith http://www.richandheathersmith.com/?p=5692 After months of twirling around the house, dressing up in ballerina outfits, and pretending to be a princess, Alana put in her first official request several weeks ago.

I don’t remember exactly what we were doing or what spurred her request, but she paused what she was doing, turned to me, and said, “Mom, can I please start taking ballet?”

So there it was. The first ever request to be enrolled in a class of any kind. Adorable.

Knowing Alana very well and knowing her busy, bouncy, impatient personality, I wondered silently if gymnastics might be a better fit for her, even though she does often prance around the house like a little ballerina. I said to her, “Well, it’s great to know that you want to do ballet! Why don’t we go watch Addy (Holritz) at one of her gymnastics classes, and you can let me know if you’d rather be in gymnastics or ballet.?”

So that coming Wednesday we headed to the Gymnastics Center of Chattanooga to watch Addy’s class (along with many other classes that were in session at the same time). For an hour I chatted with Amber while Alana watched the girls of all ages, captivated. After seeing how excited she was about it, we decided to let her come the following week for a trial class, after which we would see how she felt about continuing.

So here are the photos we grabbed that night, as she’s officially signed up for 8 weeks of gymnastics with her awesome instructor, Miss Emily. Alana looked so little in that massive room full of girls with all levels of experience. She listened really well and did everything she was told, even though I think she was a little nervous.

In this first image, Alana is second from the left, in black.

Here she is, on the mats, doing a somersault the way Miss Emily taught them to.

Some sort of jumping/balance exercise…

I was a little overjoyed when she looked for me and Rich to smile and wave as her class walked to another location Pretty sure this won’t happen when she’s older

I could have died of a cuteness overload when the girls moved into this little gymnastics room, which was perfectly age appropriate and adorable. They even did little flips on this bar!

Balance Beam…
She looks so grown up to me in this photo! Yikes!!!

So I don’t want to be “annoying mom” but I was seriously floored by her form! I don’t know what Miss Emily told them, but Alana looked as if she has some natural gymnast in her. I don’t know where that would come from, since I’ve only ever been an ice skater and volleyball player. And not overly awesome at either  

The girls moved to a large trampoline that honestly made me want to drop the camera and join in the fun! 

They play a little game at the end of each session called “popcorn,” and Alana sings it around the house now. 

The conclusion of Alana’s very first Gymnastics class. Walking to get a dumdum lollipop and find mom and dad!

Sierra keeps me buuuuusy. She, like Alana, is busy, full of life, and completely hilarious! We had an absolute blast visiting with Nana and Papa and Uncle Shawn over the holidays, and if my birthday being 4 days before Christmas isn’t crazy enough, Sierra’s birthday is 3 days after Christmas…exactly one week after mine.

So, for her first birthday, we were in Fort Lauderdale and had a sweet little party for her. Particularly exciting was the fact that Amber Holritz had some sessions booked in the Fort Lauderdale area, and was going to document Sierra’s party to conclude Sierra’s first year of sessions with her! Oohhhhh! So exciting!

I wanted to share a few of my favorite photos here, but the full blog post and slideshow are on Amber’s blog – and crank up the volume for the slideshow song…so much fun!!!

Uncle Shawn had to leave very soon after Amber arrived, so he and Sierra were able to take a few photos together! Hooray for Uncle-Niece time!

Sweet, sweet, happy girl!

Some party details!

My beautiful, wonderful, amazing mom!

Sierra and her Aunt Pixie! Oh the adorable factor here is through the roof!
Fun games with Nana!
Sierra is, um, a well documented baby

Wonderful, wonderful Papa! It was almost as if Sierra was asking permission with this cake sitting in front of her!

She got into it
Poor Alana! Oh the patience she had to channel while watching Sierra chow down on cake She grabbed a bite or two after asking me oh so politely!

Oh, the video we have from these moments is insanely cute. And like I said, well documented!

Slowing down…
But definitely still going…

She hung in there so well while sleepy, and opened some presents. 

Be sure to head to Amber’s blog to see the rest of the photos and the adorable slideshow!

Amber, Amber, Amber!!! How to thank you for all of these PRICELESS captured moments??? Oh, words are so inadequate!!!

It also bears mentioning that this special blog post is my 500th!!!! It hardly seems possible that I’ve been blogging since October of 2006 and have written 500 posts, starting before either of our children existed!

So since we try to alternate holiday locations, this year we headed south to bask in the warm Fort Lauderdale sun! We had an all-too-brief (but very wonderful) Christmas celebration with Rich’s wonderful parents and then left the next morning for 11 hours in the Pilot with our little ones. And let me just say that we are SO proud of these two! The trip from Chattanooga to Fort Lauderdale can often be 12-13 hours depending on the number of stops we make, and of course the traffic, but we actually made a beeline there and arrived in just under 11 hours! The girls did an amazing job of tolerating the drive, and are turning out to be fabulous little travelers.

It’s actually been a little over a week since we have been back in town from our 3 weeks in Florida (yes, 3 whole weeks. Running our own business requires a ton of hard work, but it also allows for some flexibility in the off-season). The latter half of our week home has been spent sick. Well, let me rephrase: the girls have been sick and Rich and I have been waking up in the middle of the night for 3 nights straight to clean up vomit So I’m feeling sorry for the girls and going a bit stir crazy myself. And if I do another load of nasty laundry, it is highly likely that I will go completely insane.

So hopefully I’ll get through this blog post: it’s the kind of mommy day that makes me feel the need to go to the loony bin. Sierra is soooo fussy, clingy, needy, and clearly just doesn’t feel completely back to normal yet. As I type, she is loudly fighting a nap in her crib. Give in, baby, just give in. Mommy wants to blog. An overdue blog, at that.

Most of our Christmas vacation was spent in absolutely beautiful weather, in the 60′s, 70′s, even 80′s, which allowed the girls to play outside and have a blast. The pool water itself is actually really cold in the “Florida winter” even when it’s warm outside, so the girls mainly played with the sand and water table and enjoyed all of the pool toys.

Examining the sand…

And deciding to eat some. 

And deciding that it doesn’t actually taste good at all.

Alana has an absolute blast hanging out by the pool, even when she doesn’t go in the water. She has always loved it out here.

Her own little pink net for cleaning the pool – she loves it and hey, she helps the pool stay clean. Nana is brilliant  

Go Miami Heat  

Thank you so much to Rich for these photos of the girls (minus Aunt Pixie, whom we eagerly awaited the arrival of on Christmas Eve)!!!

I loooooove this series…

This was Sierra’s adorable little Christmas Eve dress – too cute

Thank you for the Christmas Eve family photo, mom! 

Christmas Day was just the sweetest thing. Since it was Sierra’s first Christmas, Alana wanted to properly introduce her to the wonderful presents. She was a little smothered, but hopefully she felt loved

Since Aunt Pixie had flown in late the night before, the girls had not seen her yet. So when we’d all waited as along as we could handle, we snuck in with the girls and let them crawl onto Amber to wake her up. It was so cute. Sierra was only 6 months old when Amber moved to South Dakota, so it had been 6 months, but her reaction was adorable and we all deduced that she totally remembered Aunt Pixie

We ate a delicious Christmas morning breakfast together and then began opening presents. 

I love my “I’m taking a picture of her taking a picture of her taking a picture of him” image  

Sierra didn’t actually make it too far before she needed her morning nap. So most of our gift opening was spent sans Sierra. But at least we had a happy baby later on! 

I put Sierra down for a nap and the opening continued! 

I made fun of my mom for getting dad – among other things – socks for Christmas. But dad reeeeaaalllly wanted some new socks. And the fact that he’s rubbing them on his face, well, that’s a really funny family joke going back a few Christmases  

Dad surprised mom with an iPad for Christmas – so cute! She was so excited! Mom and I found the MOST hilarious slippers for Amber – they looked like the abominable snowman – we were pretty happy with ourselves. Sadly, they shed like crazy! Might as well have a pet!

Gifting dad some happiness:

Ya, you really can’t go wrong with cash.

Alana sporting Aunt Pixie’s new slippers  

Yep, Rich got the coal in his stocking – I think he may have gotten it last year as well He and my mom have a special (i.e. feisty) relationship. But don’t feel bad for him, he can dish it out!

Stockings!My adorable mom, checking out her new work toy! 

Sierra woke up in time to have stocking fun – she kept putting candy canes in her mouth with the wrapper on, probably wondering why in the world we like them  

Then we let Sierra open her Christmas gifts that had been left unopened while she napped. Oh, she did not disappoint. I’ve come to expect babies to have more fun with the paper and boxes than their gifts, but Sierra, on Christmas Day, was an exception. She let Alana help her with the opening, but then she would hold up her gifts, give Nana a HUGE smile, and then proceed to play with and enjoy her new toys. Really, I was so impressed with her! It was the most rewarding baby gift opening episode I’ve ever seen  We might be the last young family on earth who did not yet have Sophie the Giraffe, but Nana got her for Sierra!

Both girls LOVE to be on Papa’s shoulders, mess up his hair, slap his head, giggle while he runs around the house…

And giggle when Nana comes to get them!

Then, once Amber was in town, we needed to take a few more photos with all 3 girls! Thank you again to Rich for these photos! They make me so happy  

Soon I will be able to blog Sierra’s first birthday party because the one and only Amber Holritz flew down to document it! We are so excited to share those photos as well!