I don’t know what you all are doing this Christmas Eve, but our family had the crazy idea of going to the mall to see Santa this morning.  The kids were actually pretty good in the insanely long line and I was impressed with Santa’s good hygiene.  He had really white beard and teeth!  One year Jake asked me why Santa had butter in his (yellowish) beard…ewww.
Now, we are just tucked in at home, starting to bake for tomorrow.  Speaking of baking (well, not really baking- actually making) we had Ethan and Talia over this week to make mini-gingerbread houses.  It was a great excuse to get rid of all the extra candy I had from Jake’s birthday pinata.

The kids were actually more into eating the candy then building with it…but it was fun nonetheless!

Talia has been in front of my camera before, but she was a little shy this time.  I finally got a cute little grin from her. 🙂  Oh and don’t you love her new bob!?

And here’s Ethan in front of his naked house…he and Cooper abandoned the project half way through to go play on the computer.

Oh and I made some new textures today to try out.  I gave this image a vintage color, then added some scratchy texture:

And here’s another different texture I made:

They’re not anything mind-blowing, but if you’d like them, leave a comment and I’ll email them to you!
-Kristin

This morning I was running around delivering all my last minute packages to a few great customers, so I thought it would be a great time to showcase some of their cards.  This was my first Christmas designing cards and I had a blast doing it!  When all is said and done, I’ll have over 1000 cards going out with my name on the back.  So exciting!
I designed 10 templates this year and as you can see, there were a few favorites!

And just because I’m sharing card designs, here’s a birth announcement I made awhile back…

Thanks to the many wonderful clients I was able to work with this holiday season!
-Kristin

I thought I’d post the images from our Christmas card this year.  I did a tri-fold 5×5" card, so there is a lot of space for pictures and text…I love it!
It was quite a process to get it all done.  I decided to take the 3 kids out to a trail by my house for pictures together and individuals.  My original idea was to have a couch out on the trail, but the logistics were just too difficult!
So, in one afternoon I took care of all the kids’ pictures…now for our family picture!  On a different day (so this the second time getting everyone out of the house looking decent) I had Brent come home from work early to meet us on the trail for a family picture.  I went to set the timer on my 5D and realized I’d never done it before, so I couldn’t figure it out!  We were running out of light, so I ran home to get my manual (note:stress level rising).  I got back with the manual and still couldn’t get it to work, so we just went home.
A few days later we decided to get everyone together on the way to school, so on the third try we were sitting out on the trail first thing in the morning in front of the camera.  I knew the kids wouldn’t be patient enough to give it a couple tries, so thankfully the timer worked and we got a good picture on the first try. 🙂

Next post I promise to show the many different Christmas cards I designed this year!
-Kristin

Last weekend was Jake’s birthday.  I can’t believe he’s seven years old!  He was born at the end of 2000, which seems like forever ago, yet how can I have a seven year old?  It’s also gone by really fast.
About a week before his birthday he lost his two front teeth.  Perfect for a seven year old…and right before Christmas!  I had him pose for a birthday picture.  His gap looks a little scary up close!

A softer, sweeter Jake…

His party was low-key and consisted of a few classmates.  Here he is make a birthday sign for himself.

This was the first year that I didn’t make his birthday cake.  We’ve had several big holiday parties, so I just needed a break!  I brought home this transformer ice cream cake, which perfectly fit the bill!

A few random things to end the post with…I finally finished my holiday baking and we went off last night to deliver them to all our neighbors.  Here’s the finished stack of goodies.

And I’m working on a new brochure right now, so I thought I should update my picture.  I took this self-portrait yesterday in the mirror.  It’s hard to look natural without the camera showing up in the picture…I got lots of weird angles, but this one was somewhat normal!

-Kristin

On Friday we went into San Francisco to see the Christmas lights.  I love the Union Square area.  Pay close attention to all the clothing signs you see in the pictures and you’ll see why I love it so much!

We got there just at dusk, so this is the view driving over the Bay Bridge.  You can see the distinctive San Francisco sky line.  Believe it or not, we can actually see this sky line from the second story of our house, a half hour away!

This tree is gigantic…it’s really hard to see the scale in this picture, but ornaments are the size of basketballs!

It’s so fun to enjoy all the lights with kids.  We’ve seen it all year in and year out, but for them Christmas is still new and has so much excitement!

-Kristin

I’ve spent the day at home baking, listening to Christmas music and just enjoying some down time!  I found a recipe for White Chocolate Cherry Shortbread Cookies on this website.  Can you say yum!?
I know this picture looks like cheese, but it’s actually chunks of white chocolate ready to go into the cookies…

Combined with the cherries…it’s divine, I tell you!

Thankfully for my hips the cookies will not be living here!  They are going to be delivered eight teachers tomorrow.  Can you believe my 3 kids have eight teachers…that’s a lot!!
Here are all the cookies, lined up and ready to be boxed.

I’m trying 3 other recipes, so I’ll post more later!!
Back to the kitchen-
Kristin

Jillian was in her first Christmas program last weekend.  I’m late blogging about it, but I just couldn’t skip over it.  It was amazing to see ALL THESE KIDS up on stage in the nativity scene.

The younger classes (which includes Jillian) were part of the "heavenly choir."  Both my boys were in the heavenly choir, so I got a little tear thinking about this being my last time having a child wear this cute little collar.

I took these pictures indoors- with lowlight and no flash, so I was playing around with a bit of film grain and a vintage sort of color.
Here is her teacher, Miss Lydia tying on her collar.

I bought Jillian this fantastic patent headband to wear for the night and she kept calling it her "husband" instead of headband.  Too cute.
Okay, another favorite part of the heavenly choir is that they all have to hold on to these rope.  Imagine dozens of 3 year olds trying to walk in line.  Mass chaos.  Hence, the rope.

Here’s what it looks like when you get lots of kids on different ropes…

Of course the boys came to see Jillian sing…so here’s a picture of Cooper enjoying the show with Brent.  He was the inn keeper last year and remembered all the songs, so he was singing along.

Thanks for letting me share!

-Kristin

Yesterday morning I went to court.  I’ve never been to the Oakland Courthouse before…it’s really beautiful.  And it’s right across from Lake Merritt…hopefully I’ll be back to take pictures there!
But my purpose yesterday was to take pictures of Carolyn.  She’s a lawyer- updating her head shots.  Carolyn was great to work with…very relaxed and easy going.
Not only does she have a nice personality, but she’s an extremely talented lawyer AND a great dresser!  I loved her outfit choices for the shoot.

She had the great idea of getting the eagle in back of her for this picture…

In front of the courthouse…

We actually started the session off at her home and took some pictures in a nearby field.  I love the contrast of her sharp outfit and the relaxed look of the field.

And the chair in the field was Carolyn’s idea…which I love!  I love when clients come to a session with lots of ideas…collaboration is so much fun!!

Thanks Carolyn…I hope you enjoy the pictures!  It was fun hanging out with you for the morning!
-Kristin

Despite a last-minute location change and freezing weather, the pictures from my session yesterday afternoon came out beautiful!  Mostly having to do with the subjects!!  These adorable kids are all cousins…and what a great idea to do pictures of everyone together as a Christmas present for their grandma.
Here’s a picture of everyone together…

One of my champion helpers from the afternoon is Sarah…

And here she is with her big brother Joshua…

Joshua was so great at holding Baby Garrett…what a huge help!  When I took each of the kids alone to take pictures, he pulled this pose out for me.  What a sweet guy. 🙂

And here’s little Garrett, who has already changed SO much in the past month since I took his newborn pictures.  He’s the guy up there on my banner, but you’d never know it by looking at him now!

And here’s his big brother Keegan…a 2 year old that kept me running to get this smile!

Joshua and Sarah have 2 little brothers…Caleb (who was trying out some new smiles for his session).  This one is my favorite. 🙂

And his baby brother Nathan…who thought the working conditions too cold!  He made us work for it…but isn’t he so cute!!?

And a last picture of the big boys of the family…

Thanks you guys for braving the cold…enjoy the pictures!!
-Kristin 

At the beginning of this year, my Dell computer died and I decided to make the switch to Mac.  I love my new iMac and do all my photo editing and designing on its fabulous 17" screen.  Brent is also a huge Apple fan and has a Mac Book Pro…but we didn’t fully become a Mac family until Jake came home from school with this…

He asked if I wanted to borrow his computer, or if I needed to use his cell phone.  (It’s not an iPhone, but we don’t have one yet…I think it’s Brent’s razor phone)
The kicker is that he drew an apple on the top of his "computer."

I love it!  Someday he’ll have his own messy computer area like mine…

I’m finishing up the last of my Christmas orders…hence the blurred out stacks of cards and projects.  I have a family session tomorrow…6 kids 7 and under!  So I’ll have lots to share this weekend!
-Kristin