See Ya Next Year!

My Dad is Taking the Plunge

Over the years, many people have asked us "Who takes all of your gorgeous photos?". When we explained that we have a very talented photographer in the family (my dad), the next question was always "Do you think he would be willing to take our pictures?"

And then the answer has always been "No."

You see, my dad has always been a hobbiest when it comes to photography and in my opinion way too humble about his work. He has often felt like he couldn't charge someone because he was afraid they wouldn't like it, or they wouldn't turn out very well. Silly I know!

That is...until this year. After the umpteenth person told him that his photography skills are amazing and way too good to just be a hobby, he finally got the courage to do it professionally. (I don't know why courage was ever needed since it is so obvious the man has SKILLS!)

So here I am to tell you that if you are one of those persons whom had asked in the past about hiring my Dad and he turned you down, well, he will probably change his answer now. :) Check out his website - you won't be sorry. Not only does he take pristine portrait photography, but even better his landscape is awe-inspiring. http://www.ronsouthworth.com/

Go ahead...check him out, and leave him a comment on his guestbook. It would make his day I promise. And if you want awesome photos, contact him.

And by the way, here are just a few samples of his work over the years that he has done for our family in particular:

Dough! Er, Uh, I Mean Doh!

This is what happens when you think your awesome breadmaker is the 2 lb pan, not the 1.5 lb...so you go ahead and put, like, double the ingredients in.

The dough isn't even supposed to be near the peek-a-boo window at all.

After scraping dough from the top of the breadmaker and having to dig through it to find the handle to pull the pan out....it was by far the yummiest bread I've made from scratch yet. Er, uh, by "scratch" I mean I personally put the ingredients in and didn't use a box. :)

Preston REALLY dislikes Rice Cereal

A Little Preview

Well, we went and had Family Christmas portraits taken today at Alki Beach in Seattle - thanks to my talented photographer dad.

Since we want to save our favorites as a surprise for our e-Christmas card this year for everyone, we thought it would be fun to give you a little preview though with the ones that didn't exactly make the cut.

Enjoy!

I think this next one was a combination of being cold and confused.

It was hard to get everyone looking at the camera at the same time...one person looked great, but someone else was looking away. Preston is so cute in this one, but look who is not looking at the camera?

Next: Putting on some lipgloss. "Will how do my lips look?"

Okay, the next ones were seperate from our little family photo session.

Preston had his own private photo shoot with Grandpa. He got to sit on our piano bench in front of our Christmas tree and be cute. We are calling these his 6 month pictures because he will be 6 months old on Dec. 13th.

I have to say...um....I loved them ALL. I am a tad bit biased though. But these were a couple of my favorites...just classic Preston expressions.

I still need to Photoshop out the "Baby Gap" on his socks. We are not doing a commercial here.

And then if those weren't cute enough, check this guy out!

Pretty handsome eh?

I have to laugh at Will's shirt though. I told him that we were all wearing red and white for our Christmas pictures, and he brought all of these clothing possibilities to me to pick from for him. None of them which were red or white. So we went to his closet and found he only had one reddish shirt. This plaid one was it. He doesn't usually wear this shirt because we both think it makes him look like a backwoodsman or a logger or something. So the entire time we were getting ready in the bathroom before leaving, he was making up this logger song and was singing it in a deep voice. It went something like "I'm a logger man yes I am and I can sing bass....cuz I'm a logger man yes I am..."

So I laughed pretty hard, but I'm pleasantly surprised by the pictures. His shirt was actually perfect for these.

It's Recital Time!

I had my student recital last night, so that is one more down this week. Two concerts to go.

I wanted to make something creative and music-themed for the recital, and a friend of mine found this piano-shaped cake recipe for me. It was fun to put together!

And my wonderful Will:

Our little guy was my own personal audience as I practiced the piano.

The recital went off without a hitch. All of my students despite being incredibly nervous, performed super well. I was proud.

And then everyone mingled and ate dessert, and the kids showed off for each other on the piano. Ahhhh I remember doing that when I was 10 too.

This morning it was:

The End.

And Now For the Maincourse and Dessert

I gave you the tidbit yesterday. Now it's time for the main course and dessert.

You should know first off that this post has a bajillion pictures. So you might as well just let it upload for a minute while you go check your email - Hehe.

Okay, Back already?

Preston is looking at me like "Mommy, you are not allowed to blog today. You are supposed to be practicing, doing yesterday's dishes, taking care of daddy cuz he's got a cold, you need to exercise and more importantly play with me! agooooo boo boo jibber jabber..."

Well, he does have a point.

Okay, so you want to hear about our Thanksgiving? Let's cover that first.

Preston experienced his

And now we want one. He loved being up high with the rest of us.

Will and Preston enjoyed many jogs together over the weekend.

My Dad enjoyed

while I worked on creating a website for him. Check it out - http://www.ronsouthworth.com/. It's not finished yet though. But you can somewhat see my hardwork. And his too. :)

My mom and I cooked Thanksgiving dinner, although I have to say she did most all of it. I only did the potatoes.

Our turkey was on the larger side.

And as always, Mom's table looked great. Very festive.

We really enjoyed

Preston:

All weekend long, Preston and Will got

and some Mommy time too.

I bjorned him a lot, although he is

And of course we had to get family pictures taken in front of the fireplace.

Preston was just loved by everyone. Anyone who saw and met him over the weekend usually either made comments about his beautiful red hair, or that he was a "very healthy baby". Ha! Yes....we do have a chunky monkey. :) VERY healthy. and strong too. Holy cow.

He also got

But...

Well, we shall now tell you about the night Preston got sick. It was so sad. :(

Grandma was just trying to be a good grandma and introduce Preston to new foods. Solids mostly, to perhaps help him sleep through the night, thus, helping us parents out as well.

So...

I sat there thinking to myself..."hmmm that is probably not a good idea." Preston has only had applesauce, and only on very rare occassions.

He

But with

and a mug like this:

We laughed and thought it was cute.

Later that evening while we were at a church holiday party and got to

Preston began to

You could see he was

He was getting restless so Will walked around with him. A few minutes later I hear Preston coughing and Will taking him into the mens restroom.

This picture was taken

He wasn't just spitting up. He was vomitting - the sort that you do when you have the stomach flu. We had to hold him over the sink while he threw up. We basically just stayed with him in the Mother's Nursing Room until he got most of it out. It broke my heart watching him though. His face would turn all red and his eyes would get big. You could see how confused and scared he was.

We left the party early and I sat in the backseat with him on the way back to Grandma and Grandpa's house. He started throwing up again while he was in his carseat and choking on it. I unbuckled him as fast as I could and took him out and turned him over so he could get it all out. After that he let out a very exhausted cry and fell asleep in my arms within a matter a seconds. His little body was so weak. Preston usually never falls asleep in anyone's arms without a fight (he is a spirited kid).

I slept with him all night long. I was too afraid that he would start throwing up again and choke on it. He only threw up once more after the car incident (mostly just stomach bile) and the next morning he woke up with a smile and was

The little guy will be sticking to a breastmilk-only diet for a while longer until Mommy feels he is ready.

We drove back home on Monday with just enough time to put up the Christmas tree and decorate it before my student piano party on Tuesday.

Preston

I won't name any names but...

Because he

But Preston had fun watching me put the ornaments on while he sat and ate the popouts from his book.

Will refers to these jammies as his "Who" pjs. As in the little Who's from The Grinch.

Eventually we got the

And things organized for

I made

And what party would be complete without

We went over the recital agenda, talked about ediquette, played games and then my students

and then

And that's all.

Oh, wait. One more tidbit. I just finished writing my first article for Music Teacher Helper's Blog. I am a contributing author. I wrote about different personality types and teaching. If you would like to read - here's the link.

Bye.