Serious things and Halloween!

We've gone from extreme to extreme this week...

from mourning the loss of a dear friend's son to watching the nuptials of a precious couple,

I have been reminded over and over of the power of friendships.

This life is full of beautiful things, but it's also full of the very hard.  God has given us sweet relationships to help us through all of it.  He promises He'll be with us and then we have the honor of being part of His reaching out to people.

On this day of Halloween, 

let's remember when to take off those masks and be real with people.

*******

Now, since that was so serious, I'll leave you with this photo that is anything but serious:

Mr. Connell as Jim Carrey.

That's exactly how he left for work on Friday!  His company was having fun dressing up for Halloween and everyone there wanted Jim to make an appearance.

Happy Halloween!

xoxo

Maternity swap - photos of us!

Just found that Brianna posted these on her facebook page!

I couldn't wait to show you...

Hope you enjoy!  More to come for sure!

Ohhh, I am so excited about these pictures, that man, and our precious baby who is on her way!

xoxo

Maternity swap

Having friends who also love photography definitely has it's benefits.

A few weeks ago Brianna had a brilliant idea.

This little lady is expecting her second child and thought it would be a fun idea to do photos of each other for a maternity swap.  I'd take photos of her and her family and she would do the same for me.

I couldn't think of a better idea!

Being pregnant is truly amazing.  I'm in awe of how God has designed this reproduction process - how our bodies naturally grow and make room for these little souls.  So, capturing this time for other mommas is so special to me.

The beauty of a glowing woman and the love of her man...

Not to mention the innocence of the first born who doesn't know how his world is about to change.  For the good, of course!

It's a beautiful time for this family...

The love...

and excitement...

is magical.

and more than magical, pregnancy points to the beauty of the Lord's creation.  He has designed us this way.  Our creator and sustainer of life.

The One who is creating this little girl in her mother's belly.

Brianna - thank you for sweetly thinking of this!

I hope you love these photos for a long time as I know we will love the ones you create for us.

xoxo

*Thankfulness*

 I am thankful for...

• for that precious baby bump in my mid-section
• clothes that fit and are super comfortable
• honey crisp apples and hot apple cider
• the softest furball you've ever known
• the golden colors of the changing trees
• game day chili with close friends
• the message in this Gospel video
• the little nip in the air and lightweight jackets
• our large and beautiful family
• fall mums bursting with yellow and red
• my Mr. Connell, who I know will be a wonderful daddy
• quilts to cozy up in beside that Mister 
• the Father, who wants more for me than just my happiness  (read this)
• YOU

 What are you thankful for?

the house we call home

As I've mentioned before,

our house is on the market!

We really love this house, but the time has come for us to move on down the road.

Let's talk about it's great selling features:

a lovely open main level

5 bedrooms (which was always part of my ploy to get Chris to have 4 babies with me...  I'll have to think of another game plan...)

 3 full bathrooms

bonus room upstairs

laundry room

beautiful neighborhood with sidewalks (perfect for family walks!)

quality details

hardwood floors on the main level

great school zone - Sequoyah, Bearden Middle, and West High

large, private backyard that's mostly level

perfect back porch for cookouts

county - so no city taxes

Let's now talk about the only thing that has been not so nicely mentioned about it:

the driveway

We can list all of this house's finer qualities for sure, but we also want to take on the negative as well.  No house is perfect and you can tell our driveway isn't exactly, well, level.  Honestly, it really hasn't bothered us.  The occasional ice storm kept me at home (not my husband), but we've enjoyed being higher up (rather than lower).  Since the top of the driveway is level, we haven't had any trouble out of the front of it.

I know the Lord is already orchestrating the perfect buyer to come for this house, just as he is preparing our new house.  I want it to be such a great house for whoever moves here...

For them to truly love it and do life (as we have) within these walls. 

My home is wherever my husband + animal + child(ren) are and for that I am grateful.

A house is just a house, but family makes it home.

 

Our desire is for this house to be a great HOME place for one sweet family.

If you're interested or know anyone who would be,

we're having an open house this Sunday from 2-4pm!

You can check out more details about it here (we just reduced the price!)

and feel free to just come by to look or for cookies.

Help us spread the word about our lovely house!

It needs a good "home."

Allison Krauss

A night on the town with Drew and Laura??

Absolutely.

It made it even better to go see Allison Krauss at the Tennessee Theatre.

We decided to go matching with Chris and Drew in their polos

and Laura and I with our baby bellies.

Such a FUN night with friends!

xoxo

Family photos

Capturing moments in time

is what photography is all about for me.

It's seeing the beauty in each stage of life and freezing it.

When my friend Melissa told me what she wanted in some family photos,

I knew exactly what she was saying.

She wanted to capture her family just as they are right now.

Thomas Trains and all.

Daddy hadn't made it on the scene yet, so we focused our pictures on the boys first.  In all their cuteness, sitting on their very loved Thomas train on real live train tracks.  That was Melissa's idea and I couldn't have been happier with the way they turned out.

Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero. 

Marc Brown

Melissa and I share a love of taking pictures... and like most mommas, she's behind the camera more than in front of it.  So one of our goals for that morning was to make sure there were lots of family (and momma with her boys) shots.

For that matter, we all need to make sure we get in front of the camera every now and then.  It's important to remember and be remembered through each stage of life.

This is what life looks like for their family right now.  One baby in each set of arms. 

But it won't be long until Mom and Dad are a bit out numbered...  #3 is on the way!

The family is both the fundamental unit of society as well as the root of culture. It ... is a perpetual source of encouragement, advocacy, assurance, and emotional refueling that empowers a child to venture with confidence into the greater world and to become all that he can be.

MARIANNE E. NEIFERT

One can easily see how precious this family is.

Two parents loving their young children with all they have.

This is another reason I love photography.  I want to bottle up these emotions and feelings and project them on a blank piece of paper.  Like putting paint on a canvas or words to music.  With each calculated click of my camera, those beautiful moments are frozen and documented.  Documented to be remembered.

What's great about the little ages of their boys is you can't force pictures. 
So when they wondered away, we made a couple of their parents.

You've gotta operate on kid time...

Side note:  All parental units come with 12 eyes so they had all of the other 8 on the two boys.

... but not forgetting to cultivate that beloved relationship between you and the one you love.

The one you chose.

Love is not getting, but giving...  It is goodness and honor and peace and pure living.  Yes, LOVE is that and it is the best thing in the world and the thing that lives the longest.

Henry Van Dyke

I had such a fun time with this family.

What they didn't know is that the day before we took these,

Mr. Connell and I found out we had one of these on the way:

In girl form of course.

They did mention little Connell babies at one point and I stumbled through with some vague answer...  something about trying to talk the mister into it...

all the while glowing from the inside knowing that soon we'd tell the world of our good news.

but at that point, it was a secret for just me and my love.

Derek and Melissa -

I hope you love and treasure these photos for a long time!

It was an honor to take them.

xoxo

A (random) update if you will...

1.  Not looking my best, but how cute is baby Cole?!  Those cheeks are even better in person. 

She's already destined to be baby Elizabeth's best friend for life.

That's part of the definition of family.

2.  This is the crib we {finally} decided on.

It's in my nature to spend an annoying amount of time researching A.L.L.B.I.G.P.U.R.C.H.A.S.E.S.  I adore spindle cribs and probably looked at every last one of them online.  This Jenny Lind spindle crib beat out all the competition in my book.  Mr. Connell agreed.  I wanted him to like it too (he entertains me by giving his opinion, which I do appreciate - sometimes I think he gives it just to help me commit, but I need help there too).  So, when we made the purchase on Saturday (thank you, Mom and Dad!!), I know he was relieved to be done with that phase.

He now has until the 3rd week of October (when the crib should be in) to move the big bed out of the nursery room.

The decorating itch has hit.

Let's just say I'm not one to procrastinate on things such as this.

3.  In case you're interested, this is the bedding I we like.

The pretty pink and ruffled bed skirt had me at hello.

If day dreams decorated rooms, the nursery would be long done.

We'll also take one of those babies there in the photo as well.

4.  These are unbelievable!

via

Starbucks Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate.

At the last pre-natal visit, my doctor told me it was time to start gaining weight.

Shouldn't be a problem now that these babies are back on the menu!

5.  Granted, none of my clothes fit any more and most maternity things are a bit too big, but I really love this gift the Lord has given us.  I feel those tiny movements and, if we're quick, Mr. Connell gets to feel them too.  Pregnancy is really attractive.  (with clothes on, of course!  I'm not sure how I feel about it in my birthday suit.)  It's amazing how there is this tiny baby growing stronger and stronger every day in my (getting.bigger.by.the.day) belly.  It took us 10 months before we were blessed by that positive pregnancy test and I'm loving every minute of this 2nd trimester.

To those who are getting those negative signs and want to be pregnant, hang in there.

God has a plan for each of us.

Our babies will come...  One way or another.

Thankfully, the Lord already knows exactly which way.

xoxo