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Happy New Years Eve!

We spent the evening at a friends house. They had a family-friendly fun filled night. Lots of food and lots of fun toys and props for the kiddos. Since there was lots of little ones it ended early. We told Alexis she can stay up as late as she wants tonight, she is so excited and up to the challenge to see if she can watch the ball drop! We'll see how long she makes it. =) 

........ and now it's over. 365 pictures in 365 days.

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Paxton is loving his new trains! 

Is there really only ONE more day left of Project 365? EEK! I am so excited to get this last month of pictures printed and put into my Project Life binder and to know that it is completed.

I decided to do a Project 365 because everyone was saying that it would make my photography so much better. I was in a rut and needed to be challenged and pushed. This definitely did that for me. It wasn't until about 6-7 months in that I could really start seeing a difference in my images. But now that I've gone back and looked at that first months images compared to this last months.... wow... I think I've come a long ways. I'm proud of my progress and I feel like I've taken some big steps towards where I want to be. Overall I am very happy with my decision to take on this huge project and to stick with it.

I've thought long and hard about doing another 365 in 2014. In fact, I even made a pros and cons list. (ha!) I've decided that I'm not going to do another one. At least not for 2014. But I AM going to do a Project 52- which I'm so excited about. =)

I think a Project 52 will be more manageable for me. I'm planning on posting once a week and doing a overview of our week- with lots more pictures! I love that I have this past year documented and reading back through all the posts puts a huge smile on my face. So I want to continue with documenting my family, but not feeling like I have to post daily.

Congrats to all you other 365ers that I've followed and who have followed me! We did it!

If you're thinking about doing one in 2014- I say go for it! You won't regret it!

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A quick picture of Alexis playing with her new Sofia the First Castle- which she adores!

I spent the entire day in my office editing pictures. I only took breaks to eat, use the bathroom and watch the Bronco game. I have 3 client sessions still to edit. I have hundreds of Christmas and Birthday photos that needed culling and editing and I have another 3 client sessions coming up this week. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. But it's a good thing I love photography and editing so much!

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEXIS!

My baby girl is FIVE today! How did that happen? We woke her up with breakfast in bed and sang Happy Birthday. Chocolate Chip pancakes with blueberry syrup- her favorite. She then wanted to play with all her Christmas presents, we let her. We told her she could pick what we ate for lunch. She choose Subway. Then we got the house and everything ready for her family party. All our family came over and there was some more gift opening and cake eating. Later we had Christmas with my in-laws and went out to dinner at Chili's. Alexis told the waitress is was her birthday. She really wanted them to sing to her. They didn't, but she did get her free dessert! We then went over to the hotel that more of my in-laws were staying and visited for a couple of hours. It was a late night. I think the birthday girl had a fabulous day.

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(picture taken with iPhone)

Today was a busy day. I spent most of the day getting everything ready for Alexis' birthday tomorrow. I had 2 senior sessions in the afternoon- that went so wonderfully and I can not WAIT to start editing them! I came home and my brother and sister-in-law were pulling up. They said they were watching the kids so Cory and I could have a date night. So sweet of them. We decided to head to Party City to get the remaining items we still needed for Alexis' birthday. We had a quick dinner at Panera and then we went to see the movie Catching Fire! I have been waiting so long to see it! It was nice having some alone time with my husband in the middle of a very chaotic week. 

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(picture taken with iPhone)

We spent the whole entire day getting every toy out of the boxes, organzing them all and finding a home for them in the playroom or kids' bedrooms. Here was our trash pile. Luckily our trash comes tomorrow morning! Our house looked like Toys R Us threw up in it. I'm so happy it's all cleaned up now. =)

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Christmas morning the kids were up early and eager to see what Santa brought for them. Here's the big gift Santa dropped off for them! They were so excited! We spent the day over at my parents house, eating lots of food. It was a wonderful Christmas.

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All ready for Christmas Eve!

We went over to my grandparents house. We had a big dinner and then everyone opened gifts. The kids got a pretty awesome loot. Spoiled. =)

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Christmas Tree Bokeh

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I bought these little ornaments on Black Friday for under $1. The kids can paint them and I put a picture of them together in the "O" on JOY. The perfect gift for the great-grandparents. We have a LOT of great-grandparents.

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We took the kids to see Santa today! We got there a bit early thinking we would have to wait in line. Nope! He was already set up and we got to walk right in and he spent 15 minutes talking with the kids!

Alexis had no problem walking right up to him and telling him that she really wants a baby doll for Christmas. They even talked about their favorite colors and Alexis asked where the reindeers are. I didn't hear his answer. Paxton was very shy at first and wouldn't even look at Santa. But this Santa was so good and really took his time to talk softly and gently to him. Eventually Paxton gave in and told him that he would like a choo-choo train and some cookies for Christmas (ha!). We were so blown away with how amazing this Santa was. I was so appreciative that he took his time with each child. Truly special. I wish I would have gotten a better picture of the both of them with Santa once Paxton warmed up. But I was too busy enjoying the moment.

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Today was Alexis' Pajama Christmas Party at Preschool. I got to come and help out. They made gingerbread houses, christmas trees, drank hot chocolate, did a gift exchange and sang Christmas songs. It's days like these where I am so happy that I get to be at home with my babies. I couldn't imagine missing these fun moments. 

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Alexis got to be "Star of the Week" at Preschool this week. We had fun putting her poster together and since I'm a picture person, I put some of my favorites from this last year on it! =) 

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Alexis and I spent the afternoon watching Christmas movies and making and decorating Christmas cookies. It was the perfect way to spend a Wednesday afternoon. 

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It got up to 64 degrees today! That's rare in Colorado in December. So I wanted to take advantage of it and take the kids out in their Christmas outfits to get a few cute shots. Paxton wasn't having it... not at all. This was the best one, Mr. Grumpy Pants.

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Today we had out annual Gingerbread House Decorating Playdate with our friends! I host it and I make the houses. Our friends bring all the candy and icing to do all the decorating. The kids sat still for a good 30 minutes and decorated (I think there was some sneaking candy to eat too- shhh!) It was such an abnormal hot day today so the kids played in the backyard the rest of the time while the moms decorated the remaining houses and talked. It was so much fun! I love having little traditions like this each year.

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Ice-lashes

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Today was Alexis' birthday party with all her friends! We decided to keep it pretty low-key this year and just have it at a location that does all the set-up and clean up. She decided on a gymnastics party. We invited her entire class at Pre-K and a few of the kids in our neighborhood that she plays with regularly. They got to play in the gym for an hour. Jumping into the foam pit seemed to be everyones favorite part. Then we ate cake and opened presents and it was over. I'm kind of sort of loving this whole low-stress party planning. She had a fabulous time with all her little friends. I had a fabulous time watching her smile and enjoy herself. My (almost) BIG 5 year old.

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As I was headed out for a photo session I saw her quitely playing on the iPad. She got a new app that reads her Christmas stories. She is loving it.

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Our Christmas lights ... I just love them!

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Merry Christmas, my love.

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Tonight we took our annual Christmas Tree pictures. I love looking back through the years at these pictures and seeing the kids grow... and my photography grow too. =)

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Oh, Silent Night

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I love having a girl because I LOVE all the clothes and matching accessories! I just can't get enough. 

The first few years of her life I would take pictures of her in every single outfit. No joke. Back when I had my little Canon Rebel with the kit lens, shooting happily in auto mode and thinking my pictures with the bomb.com. Seriously. I would spend so much time getting a "set" set up. Usually placing her in front of some sort of flowers. I love those pictures!

I'm mad that I stopped once I started shooting in manual and upgraded to my Mark ii. I need to start again. I just love love love little girl outfits. =)

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Someone had a really long nap. He wasn't fully awake yet, but I had to get a quick shot of that hair! Ha!

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Santa Claus is coming to town!

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Oh my goodness guys.... I am a total pin-head! (you know those people who love Pinterest so much and are always wanting to re-create the pictures) Yea, that's me.

Here's my latest Pinterest re-creation. I love the bokeh Christmas lights. It's fun and festive. Nothing original, but still cute! =)

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Today we had parent/teacher conferences for Alexis. Her teacher told us how wonderful she is doing and there was nothing but great things said about her.

I am so proud to be her mommy.

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Milk & Cookies. His favorite.