It is Midnight Madness tonight, are you coming? If you are, please stop by and see us!

In preparation for tonight, we have been doing a little bit of decorating; putting up lights, the stockings are hung, and of course we are displaying all of your beautiful holiday cards from 2012. It is always fun for us to see this year’s cards up against last year’s cards and the year before that and the year before that. We love getting to see how your families grow, to watch your little people grow into not-so little- people, and to capture your family at this point in time so that in 20 years, well, maybe not even that long,  you can look at your photos and say, “Where does the time go ?!?”

Happy Thursday!

Click here to view the slideshow

(Note this slideshow requires a password)

she gets her own post.  Happy Birthday Baby Girl!  We love you to pieces (even if you’re a little less than delightful first thing in the morning   xoxoxoxox

Isn’t that all of us as parents wish we could prescribe to?  When they first lay that little person in our arms, heck even before that, those that are parents before us all say “it goes so fast,” “the time flies,” “don’t blink or you’ll miss it”…these are all phrases that we tire of hearing and sometimes even roll our eyes about because it just doesn’t seem possible that during the sleepless nights with a newborn, and what often feels like an endless period of time from 4-7 in the afternoon that the time will fly.  But, oh, does it ever.  This fall marks year 5 of my business, which means that alongside watching my own children grow, I’m marking the time and changes over the years for my clients, many of whom I’ve seen every year for those 5 years.  In what feels like the blink of an eye, I’ve watched some of these children go from brand new babies, to tantrum throwing toddlers who refuse to give up a binky (you know who you are into toothless grade schoolers who are far more interested in talking to their friends about video games then crawling into their momma’s lap.  How possibly can this happen so quickly?  I’ve got one of those little people on my screen now, which is what brought all of this to the forefront of my mind, as if to say it’s not there every day as I watch my own little people grow up too quickly.  My baby girl is two today.  As in TWO YEARS OLD. Yes, I’m talking about the little girl who was in my belly as I barfed through spring sessions and wobbled through holiday minis just 2 years ago…doing my best to chase your little people without losing my breath, or falling over in the process.  I simply refuse to believe it.  I can still taste the chili (thanks Tom) that I believe ultimately sent me to the delivery room that night, immediately following a big Terps win (weren’t those the days) and just can’t believe it’s been two years.  Her big sister (who is still a baby in my eyes by the way), brought it all home this morning when she announced to her sissy that she was “not one anymore” and I felt the tears well up and I pouted in disbelief.  I could go on and on, but I won’t (and I can’t because I’m still buried alive in client images), but I will leave you with proof of what I’m talking about.  No, it’s not images of my own children, because as I said, I’ve got work to do and can’t risk electrocuting myself or wrecking my keyboard with more tears than are already streaming, so I’ll leave you with this one…of my very first client…and who he has become.  Wow.  Go hug your babies.  I’ll be celebrating with mine shortly.

It is fall.. can you believe it?! The craziness that is back to school is upon us.. school, soccer, art classes, the homework; does anyone really understand that new way that they have of teaching math? Not to mention, the endless scramble that is the week day.. the mornings are crazy, the afternoons and evenings, even crazier. We are lucky if we get out the door with a hat on our heads and shoes on. But, we wouldn’t change any of it.. well,  most of it for the world. Those little people are all worth it, even if we have to take the back seat a little bit.

We have been passing this article around for the last few days and wanted to share it with you all. It is the loveliest reminder on how important it is for us moms to be IN the pictures of our family’s story. Yes! even though most of the time, we really can’t stand the idea of having our picture taken. And like Allison Tate says, if you can’t do it for yourself, do it for your kids. Here’s to a very happy and healthy fall.. and to lots of pictures as proof

Good food, drinks, tiki bar, steel drums, great raffle & auction items &  Dr. Pat Brown from John’s Hopkins, is the guest speaker.  The event is a great excuse to spend an evening hanging out on the water in Annapolis supporting an important cause!  Details on the event are below.  You can register online at http://leukemiacupmd-eorg.eventbrite.com or by calling Beth Prensky at 443-471-1608.  Go team Sam!!

Dear playground enthusiast, please pass this on to whomever takes you to the playground…

I LOOOOVE to swing, and climb and slide…wwwhhhhhheeeeeeee!  Sometimes I get to slide by myself, with someone holding my hand, but much of the time, I ride on a grown-up’s lap (because they think it’s actually safer that way).  Um.  WRONG!  A couple of weeks ago, I was doing exactly that, when all of a sudden, the rubber on the sole of my shoe caught the edge of the slide and YIKES, my little ankle stopped but the rest of us kept going and you can imagine how bad this HURT!  Lots and lots and lots of tears, and eventually we went to the ER.  (I will say that the Pediatric ER at AAMC is fan-tabulous so if you should happen to find yourself in an ER this is DEF the one to choose….but I digress).  So after watching a little Nick Jr, and being looked after by some wonderful nurses and docs, Mommy and I were wheeled down for X-rays of my legs and sure enough, the left one was fractured (this is a fancy word for broken for you Fancy Nancy fans).  Apparently, the spiral fracture I have is a VERY common result of sitting on a grown-up’s lap while sliding.  I’m not one for statistics (and quite frankly, neither is mommy) but THIS article she read, says it happens to a LOT of children my age.  I’ve tried to argue the point that wearing shoes causes more harm than good, but I don’t think I’m getting very far with that.  Personally, I’d rather just be barefoot all the time, but she’s not buying it.  I hope I’ve saved just one of you (and your limbs) from this injury…and can you believe swimsuit season is just right around the corner?  You’ll see in the photo though, that my cast has in no way impacted my ability to play firefly fairy princess with my sister – she’s just about to put my wings on me

Wishing you all a beautiful and happy Mother’s Day! (and hopes that maybe, just maybe, you get to sleep in)