Quincy turns 1!!

Yesterday we had the pleasure of helping sweetheart Quincy celebrate his first birthday with an Ugly Doll (little-monster) themed party.   It is mind-boggling to me that I've been taking his pics for an entire year and I have already claimed dibs on senior pictures someday.
His party was a bit of a last minute decision and you would have never known.  The food spread was amazing and delicious and temps in the 70's made for a perfect day to enjoy the Long's huge backyard and some Broncos football. The decor was very cute with several paper pennant banners and almost as many photo banners filled with Quincy's cutie mug.  My favorite part was the favors and I failed to get a pic.  Jill had a big basket full of ugly dolls with instructions for each kiddo to adopt one before they left.  Ben was THRILLED to find a black one and loves his "batty ninja" who is at home in his bed beside Jelly (who was also a gift from Jill.)  The whole afternoon was absolutely delightful and I was floored by the execution of every detail from a working mama with very little planning time.  Amazing job Jill!! 

We all waited quite a while for Quincy to care about his cute cake.  Jill made a special applesauce cake and decorated it herself!

more Lineberrys

My camera had barely cooled off last Sunday evening when I had the pleasure of snapping some pics of the Lineberry family.  This time it was the other Lineberry, Cole's brother Jay, and his wife Nikki, son Turner and daughter Payton.  They are such a beautiful family and were natural posers.  The spot we found was breathtaking and would be perfect for a sunrise shoot as the sun was on the wrong side at sunset to get some of the views.  I will definitely be dragging my poor family there bright and early one day in the spring.  Here are a few of my favorites.....

 Thank you guys for the honor and opportunity to learn.  I learn so much with each new venue, family, time of day and season.  Spending time with friends is a fantastic bonus!

Luke David

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of snapping some newborn pics of my new nephew, Luke David, who had been born one week before.  We had headed down on his birthday to see him at the hospital and it was a shocking reminder of how much they change in just a week at that age.
Luke was welcomed by Ryan's sister, Christy, her husband, Dave, and big brother Ian, who is nine months younger than Ben.
Luke wasn't having several of the poses and props but really snuggled in comfortably to a near-by toy basket I filled with a soft blanket and gave us some good shots.......

Halloweeeeeeen "Banana"

Sadly Ben had a pretty high fever the day before Halloween and still wasn't quite himself despite being fever free, on All Hallow's Eve itself.   I kept him from school due to their 24-hour fever free policy so he missed the parade and party there but won't have any idea until he reads this someday. ;)
We were also supposed to take the "EEEEEEE" train to see Tante and trick-or-treat at her work but we also cancelled that in attempts to keep our germs contained.
Thankfully after a very long nap we convinced Ben to don his minion costume once more and headed out the festivities on South Gaylord St.  This year was more fun and easier than last but still controlled chaos.  Ben didn't quite have the stamina to hit up every candy post on Gaylord but I'd say he covered 80%.  The highlight of the night for all of us was running into Ben's minion brothers on our way home.  He was just stunned and thrilled to see so many minions and even went running into the house we ran into them at where the poor homeowner who had baby in one hand and the candy bowl in the other and was helpless to stop the minion intruder.  Ben even found the tiny sleeping infant twin of the baby said homeowner was holding but thankfully Ryan grabbed him before he woke the baby up.

love his animated little black hands :)

this minion is DONE!

the discovery

the diving-in

 

the squeals of delight

One of the homeowners at this house hangs out in the street scaring people.  Despite the broad daylight, he got me again this year. :)

un-edited gorgeous colors in the sunset

my sick but hangin'-in boys

We also stopped at a few houses to trick-or-treat on the way home and Ben did great being polite and even tried to give the candy back several times. :)

MeeMee had joined us for the fun and by 530 we were back home for chicken tortilla soup. A crock pot meal worked so much better than battling the crowds to eat on Gaylord like we did last year. 

Despite Ben shedding much of his costume by the end of dinner, he was ready for another round of trick-or-treating shortly after we bid MeeMee adieu. He and Ryan ventured out while Luke and I manned the candy bowl at home.  Luke soon knew there was no need to bark and even went out on to the porch to sweetly greet lots of the candy-seekers. 

Thanks to an extra long nap due to his sickness, Ben did NOT want to go to sleep but finally did just before ten. This morning-after was quite painful but he is now successfully at school with about half of his usual classmates. Clearly many parents had the same battle but just let their kids sleep. I feel badly for Ms. Corina today but we discussed that it was Friday and she had just brewed more coffee as I left.  She was doing everything possible to set herself up for success. 

*Halloween has never been my favorite holiday but Ben's delight his year did make me very happy. I look forward to the years ahead as he cares more and more and gets excited. This year he was really into all the little Broncos and if he had to pick a costume today, I'm sure it would be a football player.  We'll see what he loves a year from now......